The Ordinary World of Tomoo Handa and Yoshiya Takaoka

Tomoo Handa and Yoshiya Takaoka were leading artists in the Japanese Brazilian immigrant community. This article argues for their art’s contributions to the history of Brazilian modern art and, as a result, a revision of its historiography. Handa and Takaoka emerged as artists in the artistic scene in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro while people of Japanese descent confronted repression and violence during the Estado Novo (1937–45) and World War II. These historical conditions affected their ability to gather in groups and the subjects they represented. Through an analysis of their portraits, genre scenes, and landscapes, I consider the representation of the ordinary to understand the artists’ experiences and their sense of place making and life in the diaspora as immigrants to Brazil.