New Deal Bird Art (2/10): Fuji Nakamizo's Bird

Above: An artwork by Fuji Nakamizo (1889-1950), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, ca. 1935-1939. On the website of the General Services Administration this artwork is described as a woodpecker print. However, I think it's more likely a Blue Jay (which is not a woodpecker species). Note the striped tail feathers, the checkerboard-like design on the wings, the raised head feathers, and the black necklace-like design beginning behind the eyes. There isn't a ton of information about Nakamizo on the Internet, but it appears that birds were one of his favorite topics to paint, draw, etch. The New England Art Exchange states that Nakamizo was born in Japan and "exhibited widely in the United States until his death in 1950." And a 1936 newspaper article reported that he took photographs and made drawings for East Way, West Way, a book about Japanese women by Baroness Shidzue Ishimoto ("Books to Grow On..." The Pittsburgh Press, November 15, 1936). Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the New Deal Gallery in Mount Morris, New York.