W/C, SLR, 17 x 39", Still- Life, Born in 1913 in California, Fred Ochi became one of Idaho’s most famous artists. He focused on watercolor landscapes and made a living doing graphic design for theaters and businesses.“Even when we were just tiny kids, he was always painting,” said Jon Ochi, his son, who lives in Idaho Falls. “His gift was that he was very spontaneous and free in what he did.”And most people who remember Fred Ochi remember a man who, above all, was kind.“I think that’s just who he was,” said Rex Ochi, his son, who lives in Seattle. “He was a very gregarious individual.”Fred Ochi’s unique style drew on his dual background in both western and eastern art traditions.At age 8 his mother died, and his father sent him and his older brother to live with their grandparents in Japan. He remained there for three years, learning Japanese painting and brush calligraphy techniques while studying in the city of Iwakuni.“Japanese brush painting is not only an art form but a philosophy,” Jon Ochi said. “The way you ended the stroke, the smoothness with which you carried the stroke, was the meditative process you went through.”He studied at a California art school before taking an apprenticeship making movie displays for theaters. He would go on to paint such posters for more than a dozen theaters throughout the area.Fred Ochi’s life changed dramatically on Dec. 7, 1941, when the imperial Japanese navy bombed Pearl Harbor, igniting simmering anti-Japanese racism into a blaze.President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered all persons of Japanese ancestry to leave the West Coast.Fred Ochi got out quickly, moving to live with friends in Ogden, Utah, where he would spend much of the war painting displays for a few local theaters. Others who weren’t as lucky were rounded up and imprisoned in internment camps for years.While Fred Ochi was spared indefinite detention, he nonetheless experienced racism. Once, when he traveled to a theater in Nampa, he was greeted with handbills warning that “Japs” had been sent to take American jobs. The handbill warned 25 foreigners were on the way, but it was only Fred Ochi, who was born in California, there to paint a movie display.Jon Ochi said his father was never angry about his treatment, however.“My father was never angry at anyone — people that knew him will attest to that,” he said. “He considered everybody a friend.”When Jon Ochi would ask his father about such displays of racism, Fred Ochi would reply: “Oh, they don’t really mean that.”In 1948, word spread that presidential candidate Harry Truman was coming through Idaho Falls on a train tour. Fred Ochi decided to paint a portrait of the presidential hopeful, and he decided to present it to him when he arrived.The Secret Service tried to move Fred Ochi away from Truman, but Truman waved for him to get up on the train. He did so, and Truman signed the portrait. It was the beginning of a long tradition.Fred Ochi would go on to paint portraits of a host of state and national political leaders.“He was always doing those kinds of portraits,” Rex Ochi said.Fred Ochi was also a very active participant in civic life in Idaho Falls, with a 40-year perfect attendance record at the Kiwanis Club. He co-founded the Eagle Rock Art Guild and was an active member of the Japanese-American Citizens League.“He had a gift — there’s no doubt about it — that he was born with,” Jon Ochi said. “But he also worked very hard.”

Frame is loose

17 x 39 in