cape for Superman, used in Seven Kabuki Plays Project

Roger Shimomura, artist

born 1939

cape for Superman, used in Seven Kabuki Plays Project, 1988

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: satin; sewing; dyeing

Dimensions:
Object Length/Width (Length x Width): 385 x 275 cm
Object Length/Width (Length x Width): 108 1/4 x 151 9/16 in

Credit line: Gift of the artist

Accession number: S2019.012.b

Not on display

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Shimomura intentionally appropriates Superman to subvert the significance of this iconic superhero. In Seven Kabuki Plays where this gigantic prop was first used, Superman embodies the looming threat of the U.S. government and the eventual incarceration of Shimomura’s family under the War Relocation Authority created through Executive Order 9006 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942. During WWII, Superman appeared in anti-Japan propaganda urging Americans to “Stamp Out the Japanazis.”