Seattle’s pre-WWII nihonmachi, or Japantown, looked very different than it does today.

In the decade before the war, three Issei artists flourished in the thriving Japanese community before the mass incarceration changed the face of the neighborhood forever. Kamekichi Tokita (1897-1948), Kenjiro Nomura (1896-1956), and Takuichi Fujii (1891-1964) received widespread recognition and praise for their paintings, which provide an intimate view of what nihonmachi’s familiar streets, alleys, storefronts, and houses looked like before the war.

In the American post-war years, the three artists fell into obscurity as the Japanese community struggled to rebuild their lives, but recently their life stories and artistic achievements have gradually been brought back to light. Side By Side features their work from the 1930s during the height of their artistic recognition and is the largest exhibition featuring the three artists’ work.