Unforgotten New York Stories: Japanese and Japanese Americans in the 1940s (UPCOMING in March 2025)
Born in Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, to a high-achieving family, Amemiya (whose name sometimes was spelled as “Amemya”) immigrated in 1908 to Tacoma, WA, where he painted designs on Christmas boxes and worked as a photograph retoucher. He moved to New York City by 1914, where he was encouraged in his art by the architectural photographer John Wallace Gillies. During the 1920s Amemiya was making ends meet via architectural and commercial photography while gaining artistic recognition.
Source: https://turbot-lavender-jpj8.squarespace.com/ndc/amemiya#page/n199/mode/1up/search/Yosei
Genesee Valley Council on the Arts / New Deal Museum, Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration, WPA, Federal Art Project, 1935-1943
