Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at rinzlerarchives@si.edu or (202) 633-7322 for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright restrictions apply. Contact archives staff for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Moses and Frances Asch Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at rinzlerarchives@si.edu or (202) 633-7322 for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright restrictions apply. Contact archives staff for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Moses and Frances Asch Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Wenley, A. G. (Archibald Gibson), 1898-1962 Search this
Extent:
24 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Photographs
Diaries
Maps
Place:
China -- Description and Travel
China
USA -- New York -- New York
Date:
1904-1998
bulk 1935-1980
Scope and Contents:
Papers of art collectors Pauline Baerwald Falk (1910-2000) and Myron (Johnny) Falk Jr. (1906-1992), 1904-1998. Created and collected by the Falks, this collection includes: biographical data; black-and-white and color prints of art objects and people; photo albums of art objects in the Falk's art collection; symposium papers, scholarly reviews, and newspaper articles on Chinese art; Professor Alfred Salmony's lecture notes, Metropolitan Museum; purchase invoices for Chinese art, Japanese art, and Korean art; photographs, receipts, itineraries, one seal, atlases, and journals relating to the Falk's various trips to Asia and Europe, personal correspondence and correspondence with art dealers; guest books from 17 East 66th Street, New York and 888 Park Ave., New York, signed by guests from 1949-1997; committee papers; exhibition loan forms, Mr. Falk's notes about the collection and sale results from property consigned for sale; and four reels 16mm motion picture film taken during the Falk's 1937 trip to Asia.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into five series. 1. Correspondence; 2. Personal papers; 3. Professional papers; 4. Travel related materials; 5. Falk art collection related materials.
Biographical / Historical:
Myron S. (Johnny) Falk Jr., and his wife Pauline Baerwald Falk were active philanthropists, prominent Asian art collectors and were both active in the Jewish and Art communities.
The purchase that started their collection happened while on their 1935 honeymoon in the English countryside where they came upon two blue-and-white Ming Dynasty porcelain dishes. Later, taking one of the inaugural Pan Am Clipper flights to China in 1937, their collecting began in earnest. There are home movies in the collection taken by Johnny that document their trip to a largely untouched China. However, because China was closed to the West starting in 1950, they were unable to return until 1979.
As collectors, the Falks made a good team. Due to his engineering background from school, Johnny became an expert on firing techniques and glazes; while Pauline was known as the ''eye.'' Their fervent and long-term involvement in the Asian art community led them to become close friends with the biggest dealers in America and Europe.
Johnny and Pauline collected wares of the Song dynasty, archaic bronzes, jades, stone sculptures, several fine Ming and Qing porcelains, Korean ceramics, and nearly 100 Japanese paintings. After more than fifty years collecting their art work totaled over 700 items.
Johnny and Pauline lent their artworks to museums, advised art institutions in the United States and abroad, and fostered the training of a new generation of curators, scholars and other professionals in the Asian art field.
Johnny was an investment banker, philanthropist and prominent collector of Asian art. He was a longtime trustee of the Asia Society and helped found the Oriental Art Council, Roebling Society of the Brooklyn Museum and Japan Society Gallery. He also served as a director of the New York Foundation and Hebrew Technical Institute, a board member of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and chairman of the Bennington College board of trustees.
Pauline was a philanthropist, collector of Asian art, president of the Jewish Board of Family and Children Services, and founder of the New Lincoln School in Manhattan. She worked with displaced Jewish refugees before and during World War II. She was active in the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and became a founding member of the National Refugee Service, the Council for Jewish Women and the Jewish Social Service Association.
Together they were strong supporters of the Asia Society, the Chinese Art Society, they helped establish the Friends of Asia House Gallery in 1971, and founded the Friends of the China Institute in America Gallery. They also established the "Archives of Chinese Art" in 1945 an important scholarly journal that is published today by The Asia Society as the "Archives of Asian Art," and are among the founding members of the Friends of the Far Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Friends of Asian Art at the Brooklyn Museum.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2002.03
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Mair, Francis M., 1916-1991 (commercial artist) Search this
Container:
Box 23, Folder 4
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1986
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Copyright for a portion of the collection held by the Smithsonian Institution. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: fees for commercial use.
Collection Citation:
Francis M. Mair Papers, 1938-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of LaVeda Mair.
Strange, Edward Fairbrother, 1862-1929 Search this
Extent:
600 Items (illustrations)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Illustrations
Place:
England -- London -- London
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Over 600 illustrations of Japanese prints, with the artists' names, subjects, date of sale, name of collection, etc., noted on the reverse of each illustration. Arranged and mounted in four boxes.
Arrangement:
Illustrations housed in 4 boxes.
Biographical / Historical:
Edward Fairbrother Strange (1862-1929), an assistant keeper at the Victoria and Albert Museum and a member of the Japan Society, was the author of several books on Japanese illustration, including "The Colour-Prints of Japan" and "Japanese Illustration".
Local Numbers:
FSA A2008.02
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Papers, 1959-1987, of Elizabeth Gordon, editor of the periodical, House Beautiful from 1941-1964, mostly related to her research for the August and September 1960 issues of House Beautiful regarding the Japanese aesthetic concept of "shibui", and the subsequent travelling "shibui exhibition" from 1961-1964. Included are correspondence, some photocopies, 1959-1963; notes; drafts for articles and lectures; printed material including magazine and newspaper clippings, 1959-1987; 2 books, and exhibition announcements; drawings of paper and foil art; a photo album containing photos of exhibition installations; and photographs, slides, color transparencies, and lantern slides depicting people, sites, and objects reflecting the "shibui" aesthetic.
Scope and Contents:
The Elizabeth Gordon Papers measure 4.5 linear feet and span the years 1959-1987. The collection mainly documents Ms. Gordon's research for the August and September 1960 issues of House Beautiful regarding the Japanese aesthetic concept of "shibui", and the subsequent travelling "shibui exhibition" from 1961-1964. Included are correspondence, some photocopies, 1959-1963; research notes and materials; articles; lectures; printed material including magazine and newspaper clippings, 1959-1987; 2 books, and exhibition announcements; article materials; a photo album containing photos of exhibition installations; and photographs, slides, color transparencies, and lantern slides depicting people, sites, and objects reflecting the "shibui" aesthetic.
Arrangement note:
This collection is organized into eight series. 1. Biographical data, 2. Shibui research, 3. Shibui issues of, House Beautiful, 4. Correspondence, 5. Shibui promotion, 6. Exhibition files, 7. Printed materials, and 8. Photographs.
Biographical Information:
Born in Logansport, Indiana in 1906, Elizabeth Gordon served as editor of House Beautiful magazine 1941 to 1964. Ms. Gordon first became interested in Japanese aesthetics during the mid-1950s. As a result she began to read and study Japanese art, history and culture. In 1959, Gordon travelled to Japan with three staff people from, House Beautiful. In Kyoto she met Eiko Yuasa, a young woman then employed by the City of Kyoto to handle foreign V.I.P.s, who was assigned to assist Gordon during her stay there. It was Ms. Yuasa who, in the course of discussions of Japanese aesthetics, introduced the term "shibui." Around that term and its related concepts ("iki", "jimi", "hade") the theme for the issue began to crystallize. In August and September, 1960, House Beautiful, under the editorial control of Ms. Gordon, published two extremely popular issues devoted to the subject of "shibui". Due to the popularity of the issues, museum exhibits devoted to the concept of "shibui" travelled around the United States. Ms. Gordon died in Adamstown, Maryland in 2000.
Biographical Overview
1906 -- Born in Logansport, Indiana
1920s -- Attended the University of Chicago
1930s -- Moved to New York to work as a promotional copywriter for several newspapers
1930s -- Syndicated columnist on home maintenance for The New York Herald Tribune
1930s -- Editor at Good Housekeeping (here for 8 years)
1937 -- More House for your Money by Elizabeth Gordon and Dorothy Ducas published by W. Morrow and Company: New York.
1937 -- Married Carl Hafey Norcross
1939 -- Appointed editor of House Beautiful
1964 -- Left the magazine world
1972 -- Published a special issue on Scandinavian design and awarded the insignia of a knight, first class, in the Finnish Order of the Lion
1987 -- American Institute of Architects made her an honorary member
1988 -- Carl Hafey Norcross died
September 3, 2000 -- Died in Adamstown, MD
(The following biography of Elizabeth Gordon comes courtesy of curator Louise Cort. Written in consultation with Elizabeth Gordon, October 23, 1987)
The research papers, memoranda, magazines, books, photographs and color transparencies and other materials in this archives are related to the publication by Elizabeth Gordon (Mrs. Carl Norcross), editor of House Beautiful from 1941 to 1964 and creator of the August, 1960 issue of the magazine on the special theme of the Japanese aesthetic concept of "shibui". The "shibui issue" was followed by the September, 1960, issue of the same publication on the theme, "How to be shibui with American things." As a by-product of the issues, a "Shibui Exhibition" travelled to eleven museums in the United States during 1961-1964. Each exhibition was opened with a slide lecture by Elizabeth Gordon.
Miss Gordon first became curious about Japanese aesthetics in the mid-1950s when she began to see Japanese objects being displayed and used in the homes of Americans who had spent time in Japan during the Occupation and Japanese influence began to appear in wholesale showrooms of home furnishings manufacturers. It was clear that the time had come: she HAD to go to Japan!
She read for five years before going to Japan - history, social mores, art history. (Many of the books on Japan that she collected during this time have been presented to the library at the University of Maryland, College Park.)
An important bit of advice came from Alice Spaulding Bowen, owner of Pacifica, the highest quality shop of Asian antiquities in Honolulu, who told her, "Be sure to read, The Tale of Genji - then you'll understand everything."
She made her first trip to Japan in April, 1959, accompanied by three staff people from, House Beautiful. In Kyoto she met Eiko Yuasa, a young woman then employed by the City of Kyoto to handle foreign V.I.P.s, who was assigned to assist Miss Gordon during her stay there. It was Ms. Yuasa who, in the course of discussions of Japanese aesthetics, introduced the term "shibui." Around that term and its related concepts ("iki", "jimi", "hade") the theme for the issue began to crystallize.
Miss Gordon came home, planning to spend the summer researching "shibui" with the aid of the Japan Society. But she found virtually nothing written in English on the concept. So she returned to Japan in December, 1959 together with staff member Marion Gough, to dig deeper and to work out details and get better educated with Eiko Yuasa. One of their devices was to walk through department stores and discuss with sales personnel whether objects for sale were "shibui", or were "jimi" or "hade", and why. Between themselves, they did the same for the costumes of women they saw on the streets.
Lacking printed sources for information on "shibui", Miss Gordon sought out and interviewed experts, including Douglas Overton, head of the Japan Society in New York. In Japan in December, 1959, she met Yanagi Soetsu, founder of Japan's Folk Craft Movement and head of the Craft Museum in Tokyo (with an introduction from Tonomura Kichinosuke, head of the Craft Museum in Kurashiki). She met the chef Tsuji Kaichi, who was commissioned to write an article on "kaiseki" (that could not be used because of an inadequate English translation) and Frances Blakemore. She met several times with Bernard Leach and attended his lecture at Bonnier's while he was in New York in March, 1960. (He would later write a "fan letter" for the issue)
As the concept of "the shibui issue" began to take shape, a third trip in the spring of 1960 focused on photography - to produce the shooting script decided on the preceding December. This was executed by the noted photographer Ezra Stoller of Rye, New York, and John DeKoven Hill, House Beautiful's Editorial Director. (Mr. Hill worked with Frank Lloyd Wright except for the ten years that he was a member of the House Beautiful editorial staff)
Miss Gordon was back in Japan in Mid-August 1960 as the "shibui issue" was causing a sensation. Altogether she spent sixteen months in Japan.
As one of the experiences that influenced her strong interest in Japanese costumes and textiles, Miss Gordon remembers a spectacularly thorough exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno on, 1200 Years of Japanese Costume. She saw it on the last day of its exhibition (possibly 1964).
The August 1960 issue sold out quickly. Copies of the magazine, which sold for fifty cents, were sold on the "black market" for ten dollars.
The publication of the August 1960 issue was followed by an unprecedented avalanche of "fan mail". Many department heads in colleges and universities, including the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (where Miss Gordon had worked as an undergraduate) wrote to comment on the issue. Many people in other fields of endeavor wrote: heads of firms concerned with interior design, landscape architecture, and related areas expressed their interest in the concept of "shibui" Other writers include Bernard Leach, Gertrude Natzler, Laura Gilpin, Mainbocher, the architect Yoshimura Junzo, the textile artist Marianne Strengell, Walter Kerr, Craig Claiborne, and Oliver Statler.
The "shibui issue" was followed immediately by the September issue dealing with the use of non-Japanese objects to express the concept of "shibui." (Miss Gordon convinced her advertisers, who had been skeptical about the potential success of the August issue, by promising the September issue dealing with American products.) Four American firms were involved in the production of an integrated line of paints, wallpaper, furniture and carpets expressive of the concept. Products were designed by the firms' designers following the clues offered by objects and fabrics purchased by Miss Gordon in Japan in December 1959 and spring 1960. Miss Gordon has expressed her dissatisfaction with the September issue, although public opinion was positive. She feels that some of the firms failed in the "shibui" project, though some "caught" the message: namely the paint company and the fabric/wallpaper company.
In response to strong public interest, the House Beautiful staff prepared a travelling exhibition to introduce the concept of "shibui" through a series of vignettes, mixing fabrics and objects, colors and textures. The museum installation was designed by John Hill of House Beautiful. Japan Air Lines underwrote shipping costs.
The exhibition began in Philadelphia in late 1961. Ezra Stoller was sent to photograph the installation in considerable detail at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in January, 1962, so that his photographs cold serve as guidelines for installations at the other museums, which included the San Francisco Museum of Art (April 1962), the Newark Pubic Library, and the Honolulu Academy of Art. Miss Gordon presented a lecture on "shibui" at each of the museum installations.
In appreciation of her work to introduce Americans to the concept of "shibui", the city of Kyoto presented a bolt of especially "shibui" kimono fabric executed by a Living National Treasure textile artist. Miss Gordon eventually tailored the fabric into a dress and jacket. She received the 1961 Trail Blazer Award from the New York Chapter of the National Home Fashions League, Inc. In June, 1987, Miss Gordon was named an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, with her introduction of the concept of "shibui" and her promotion of an understanding of other culture cited as her major contributions to American architecture.
Provenance:
Elizabeth Gordon donated her papers to the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives in 1988.
Elizabeth Gordon donated her papers to the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives in 1988.
The Elizabeth Gordon Papers. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Elizabeth Gordon, 1988
Offprints of articles by Sherwood F. Moran compiled by Alexander Coburn Soper, accompanied by photographs, a reproduction, and Soper's introduction typescript, assembled in preparation for an unpublished book of Moran' writing entitled "Studies in Japanese Art Treasures."
Arrangement:
Organized in 3 boxes: 2 boxes contain files from 1977-1992 regarding Artibus Asiae. 1 box houses an introduction to the typescript, Moran's offprints, photos.
Biographical / Historical:
Alexander Coburn Soper was a preeminent professor and historian of Asian art, concentrating primarily on Japanese and Chinese architecture, Chinese art from the Tang through the Northern Sung period, Gandharan Indian art, and Buddhist and secular art of the Six Dynasties period. Published widely, he became the editor of the journal Artisbus Asiae in 1958. Over the course of his life he was active in the American Oriental Society, the Japan Society, and the Association for Asian Studies. He was a professor of Art History at Bryn Mawr and the Institute of Fine Arts in New York.
Sherwood Ford Moran (1885-1983) was a missionary, social worker, Marine, World War II PoW interrogator, and Asian art scholar. He studied Union Theological Seminary in New York and was then enlisted for work initially in India, but rerouted to Japan in 1917, mostly in the area of Osaka, remaining there until the entry of the United States in World War II in 194. During the war, he was an active Marine and a PoW interrogator at Guadacanal. He became extremely interested in Chinese and Japanese Buddhist art, publishing several articles in Artibus Asiae.
The papers of New York City arts administrator Porter A. McCray measure 12.3 linear feet and date from 1936 to 1989. The papers include scattered biographical materials, correspondence, and writings and notes. The bulk of the collection consists of professional files documenting his advisory and consulting work for museums, institutions, organizations, and foundations. Also found within the collection are printed materials and photographs of McCray and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York City arts administrator Porter A. McCray measure 12.3 linear feet and date from 1936 to 1989. The papers include scattered biographical materials, correspondence, and writings and notes. The bulk of the collection consists of professional files documenting his advisory and consulting work for museums, institutions, organizations, and foundations. Also found within the collection are printed materials and photographs of McCray and artwork.
Scattered biographical materials include appointment books, curricula vitae, a transcript of an interview conducted by McCray with Dr. Grace Morley, and an unsigned painting.
Found within the general correspondence are letters that relate to his work as an arts advisor and consultant, but which appear to be more personal in nature. The bulk of correspondence related to specific projects is found within the professional files. Correspondents include Hubert Humphrey, Mrs. John Lockwood, Grace Morely, Kazuko Oshima, Donald Richie, John D. Rockefeller III, and Tenzin Thetong among others.
Writings and notes include lectures by McCray and writings by others including Brock Cutting, Lord Sherfield, and Nam June Paik. Also found are travel notes for McCray's travels throughout Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Professional files document McCray's work as an arts advisor and consultant for numerous museums, foundations, organizations, foundations, and special committees, as well as his membership in various arts committees and boards. Files document McCray's work for and/or membership in the Asia Society, Asian Cultural Program of Cultural Exchange, Byrd Hoffman Foundation, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Cunningham Dance Foundation, Indo-United States committees, International Council of Museums, Japan Society, John D. Rockefeller 3rd Fund, Museum of Modern Art, Society of Architectural Historians, UNESCO, and the United States Foreign Service.
Printed materials include clippings and articles, a Drawing and Architecture exhibition catalog, and a book by Robert Wilson. Photographs include personal photographs and oversized photographs of sculptures by an unknown artist.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 6 series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1959-1982 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1959-1986 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1960-1983 (1.5 linear feet; Box 2-3)
Series 4: Professional Files, 1936-1987 (8.2 linear feet; Box 3-11, OVS 12-13)
Series 5: Printed Materials, 1965-1989 (0.5 linear feet; Box 11, OV 14)
Series 6: Photographs, 1945-1980s (0.2 linear feet; Box 11, OV 15)
Biographical / Historical:
Porter A. McCray (1908-2000) was an arts administrator working in New York City, New York.
Born in Clarksburg, West Virginia in 1908, McCray recieved a degree in English literature from the Virginia Military Institute in 1930, and a degree in architecture from Yale University in 1941. McCray traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, developing relationships with individuals and organizations across the world.
In 1941, McCray worked as an exhibition specialist in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs and collaborated with the Museum of Modern Art on an American exhibition at the Guatemala National Fair. After serving as an ambulance driver in World War II, he was employed by the architectural firm of Harrison and Abramovitz where he worked on some preliminary designs of the present site of the United Nations.
While working for Harrison, McCray met Nelson Rockefeller, who was chairman of the board of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). In 1947, Rockefeller asked McCray to serve as the director of circulating exhibitions at MOMA and be responsible for the Museum's national and international traveling exhibition program. McCray accepted and remained at MOMA until 1961. The following year, he orchestrated the preparation of a MOMA exhibition of Mark Rothko's work in Paris in 1962. In 1963, McCray became the executive director of the JDR 3rd Fund, a non-profit started by John D. Rockefeller III to promote artistic and cultural exchanges between the United States and Asia. McCray also worked as a consultant for the Japan Society's visual arts programs, the Asian Cultural Council, for the dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine's visual and performing arts program, and for MOMA's International Program after retiring.
McCray died in 2000 in Hightstown, New Jersey.
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview of Porter A. McCray conducted by Paul Cummings from September 17 to October 4, 1977.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 1994 by Porter McCray.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Porter A. McCray papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers (1906-1976) document the professional and personal lives of a Japanese-American family in Boston during the twentieth century. The patriarch, Yatsuhashi Harumichi (1886-1982), was an influential Asian art dealer and the papers also document the professional experiences of Asian art dealers in the United States during the early and mid 20th century. Mr. Yatsuhashi worked at the antiquities firm of Yamanaka & Company before starting his own Asian antiquities shop in 1945. Included in the papers, portions in Japanese, are correspondence; catalogues relating to the Alien Property Custodian's 1944 liquidation of Yamanaka & Company's New York branch's holdings; photographs depicting art objects and shop interiors, the Yatsuhashi family, Yamanaka & Company, and extended family, friends, and colleagues; and items belonging to Mr. Yatsuhashi's wife, Shigeki, and some of their children.
Scope and Contents:
The Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers (1906-1976) document the professional and personal lives of a Japanese-American family in Boston during the twentieth century. The patriarch, Yatsuhashi Harumichi (1886-1982), was an influential Asian art dealer and the papers also document the professional experiences of Asian art dealers in the United States during the early and mid 20th century. Mr. Yatsuhashi worked at the antiquities firm of Yamanaka & Company before starting his own Asian antiquities shop in 1945. Included in the papers, portions in Japanese, are correspondence; catalogues relating to the Alien Property Custodian's 1944 liquidation of Yamanaka & Company's New York branch's holdings; photographs depicting art objects and shop interiors, the Yatsuhashi family; Yamanaka & Company, and extended family, friends, and colleagues; and items belonging to Mr. Yatsuhashi's wife, Shigeki, and some of their children.
Arrangement:
The collection has been organized into three series.
Series 1: Yatsuhashi Harumichi papers, 1912-1965, undated
Series 2: Other family members, 1937, 1966, undated
— Subseries 2.1: Yatsuhashi Shigeki
— Subseries 2.2: Yatsuhashi S.
— Subseries 2.3: Yatsuhashi Masao
— Subseries 2.4: Yatsuhashi Sumiko
Series 3: Photographs, 1907-1976, undated
— Subseries 3.1:Still prints and portraits
— Subseries 3.2: Photo albums
Biography:
Asian art dealer and merchant Yatsuhashi Harumichi (1886- 1982) was born in Tano, Japan, on December 15, 1886. Upon completion of his studies in Osaka, Mr. Yatsuhashi secured employment in the Osaka office of the prestigious Asian antiquities firm, Yamanaka & Company. (For more information about Yamanaka & Company, please see: Lawton, T. (1995). Yamanaka Sadajiro: Advocate for Asian art. Orientations, 26 (1), 80-93.) In 1907 he joined Yamanka & Company's branch office in Boston, Massachusetts, as its general manager and treasurer of the company's Asian division. Located at 424 Boylston Street, the store was a center for Chinese art, as well as for Japanese assorted goods.
In 1913 Yatsuhashi married Shigeki. They produced two sons (Michio and Masao) and two daughters (Sumiko and Kukiye). (Harumichi Yatsuhashi, Oriental art authority and Brookline resident. (1982 December 3). The Boston Globe, obituaries.)
Following the United States' entrance into World War II, the Alien Property Custodian seized the Yamanaka shops in New York, Boston, and Chicago. The holdings were sold at auction in May and June, 1944. In 1945, Yatsuhashi Harumichi and his son Michio opened their own Asian art dealership at 420 Boylston Street in Boston.
Yatsuhashi Harumichi fostered exchange between his native and adopted homeland. He was a member and officer (president in 1931) of the Japan Society of Boston since 1921, an avid supporter of the Boston Marathon, and a founder of the Boston-Kyoto Sister City Foundation. (Boston Globe, 1982 December 4. )
Michio Yatsuhashi, who helped his father open the Yatsuhashi antique shop, died prematurely as a result of cancer in 1981. One year later, Mr. Yatsuhashi died in Boston at the age of 96. He was survived by his daughters, Sumiko and Kikuye and one son, Masao.
1886 December 15 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi born in Japan
1905 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi graduates college in Osaka, Japan
1905 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi joins the antiquities firm of Yamanaka & Co.
1907 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi joins the Boston branch of Yamanaka & Co.
1913 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi and Shigeki marry
[ca. 1918 - 1919] -- Masao Yatsuhashi (son) born
1944 -- Yamanaka & Company New York, Boston, and Chicago shops are seized by the Alien Property Custodian and its holdings are sold at auction
1945 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi and son Michio open an Asian antiquities shop in Boston
1961 -- Yatsuhashi Shigeki dies
1981 -- Michio Yatsuhashi dies
1982 December 1 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi dies at Massachusetts General Hospital at the age of 96
Provenance:
The Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers were donated the Archives by James Arthur Marinaccio in 1994.
Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of James Arthur Marinaccio, 1994.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Collection Citation:
Print Council of America records, 1951-2020. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Print Council of America.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Collection Citation:
Print Council of America records, 1951-2020. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Print Council of America.
