Inventing Asia

This publication has been made possible by The Andrew W. Me llon Foundation.

Generous s upport has been provided by the publication support program of Sophia University, Tokyo.

We also tha nk Quon Yuk Lan.

Fenway Coiirt, no. 33

Copryright 2014 Isabella tewart Gardner Museum All ri ghts reserved.

ISB

978-0-914660-32-3

Design: Geoff Kaplan, General Working Group Editing: Alan Chong a nd

oriko Murai

Printed in China Distributed by the University of H awai' i Press

Cove r : John S. So rg e nt, Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gordner, 1888 . Oi l o n convos.

Isa bella Stewa rt Gardner Mu se um Opposite: Jam es M c Neill Whi stl er, Purple and Rose: Th e Longe Leizen of the Six Marks, 1864 . Oil on ca n va s. Philad e lphi a Museum of Art, John G. John son Co ll ec ti on

INTRODUCTION NOR I KO MURA I

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Introduction Noriko Murai & Alan Chong

A century ago, Asia captivated America. Of course, Asian commodities such as tea and porcelain had long been popular, and Americans had profited from these trades as well as less savory activities such as opium dealing and the forced "opening" of Japan in the 1850s. But the period around 1900 witnessed a heightened awareness of the cultures of the East - its reli gions, architecture, gardens, fashion , and its art. American interes ts were far-reaching and manifold, if equivocal. The period around 1880 to 1920, when the controversies of East Asian immigration and Japanese militarism intensified, al th e same time represents a kind of golden age of cultural absorption, witnessed by a range of phenomena, from Madame Butterfly, fascination with Asian religions, and the development of major collections of Asian art in American museums, to an efflorescence of Japanese themes in Hollywood movies.

We enter this vast field through a single histori cal personality, the noted art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924). The essays address not only her own engagement with Asia, but also her fascinating circle of friends - including some of the most prominent experts on Asian art in America - and themes which closely parallel her own activities. Gardner was the subj ect of an exhibition, Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia, held at Lhe Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, in 2009, and its catalogue considered her multiple responses to Asia, from Lraveler and gardener, to collector and decorator. 1 Mo t of the essays in this volume were first presented a t a symposium held in 2009 at the museum.

That Isabella Gardner and many of her friends were deeply entranced by Asia is no surprise given the wide enthusiasm for Japan in the late nineteenth century, but the depth and extent of their response is remarkable. The spectrum ranges from the increasing specialization within academia to Lhe popular following of "Oriental gurus." These modes of engagement with Asia that began around Gardner's time were steadily elaboraled and became firmly rooted in America in the course of the twentieth cenlury. This hislory urges us to revise the standard historical perception that American cultural interests in Asia, prompted by the West's reencounter with Japan in the 1850s and epitomized by French-based japonisme, peaked by the first decade of the twenti eth century and 路waned thereafter only to be revived with the Beatnik Zen boom in Lhe lale 1950s .2 And it is worlh remembering Lhat E urope had gone through an

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earlier phase of fascination with Asian objects in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, ~wi th the avid collec ting of Japanese lacquer and Chinese porcelain, and that Western trade with Japan never completely ceasecP It should be made clear that this volume makes no attempt to survey turn-of-the-century American encounters with the arts of Asia. or are we concerned with localing Isabella Gardner within tb e history of well- tudied art movement such as japonisme. The topic of American artistic encounters with Asia, especially Japan, has commanded sustained scholarly attention in recent years. In 2009 alone, in addition Lo the exhibition and symposium at the Gardner u e um, one was afforded the opportunity to see the large-scale exhibition The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860- 1989 at the Guggenheim Museum, as well as attend an equally arnbitiou conference A Long and Tumultuous Relationship: East-West Interchanges in American Art, held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1 The history of modern art is no longer exclusively conceived from the standpoint of individual nation stales, and we have become more aware of the importance of cross-cultural contac t zones in shaping the distinc tive configuration of cultural trait that we have come to regard as characteristic of the modern age, including national consciousness. We hope this volume adds Lo this emergent academic field and cultural awareness.

Moreover, we recognize the shifting nature of th e term "Asia," and do not intend to propose a fixed definition of what it is or was. or do we mean to suggest that Asia was an especially American invention or concern. It seems tha t a broad geo-cultural category such as Asia is an idea that has always been invented and re-invented, especially in reaction to the West, as evident in the critical writings of Okakura Kakuzo and Ananda Coomaraswamy - topics considered in this volume. What we seek to und erstand is a particular inflection on this idea by following the trajectory of interests that ~were laid out by Isabella Gardner and her circle of friends.

Gardner's experience of Asia was largely personal, not bound by diplomatic or institutional obligations, and not in the least academic. Nonetheless, her art museum and her extensive if informal c ultural network carried considerable weight in the making of elite American culture around 1900. In one sense, she was merely representati ve of her class in pursuing spiritual and artistic interes ts in Asia, and certainly the contingen ie of her po ition and location conditioned her relationship to the East. Gardner was not compelled to relate her affinity for Asia to the di visive issue of working-clas Asian immigration, for example, which concerned her counterparts in California like Jane Stanford. 5 In the grand style appropri a te to their elite status, Isabella and Jack Gardner made a journey through Japan, China, Southeas t Asia, and India in 1883 and 1884. Isabella did not immediately become a significant collector of Asian art, although she purchased souvenirs on her voyage and was close to such early connoisseurs as Edward Morse, John La Farge, William Sturgis Bi gelow, Ernest Fenollosa, and Percival Lowell. Gardner had many other passions, and the art of Europe became her prime passion as she formulated a personal art museum tha t opened in 1903. Shortly after, in 1904, she began a remarkably intimate friend hip with Okakura Kakuzo (1863- 1913). Strangely, he did not advise her on purchases of Asian art, for

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it was only after his death in 1913 that Gardner began to buy a few significant works of Chinese art. Certainly contact with personalities like Bigelow, Okakura, and Sara Bull furthered her interest in the philosophico-spiritual aspect of Asian cultures, even if Gardner did not convert to Buddhi m, like Bigelow, or join a devotional movement, like Bull. onetheless, she created a te mple-like pace a t her museum to memorialize Okakura, although with characteristic ellipticism, this was never made explicit and the space was never open to visitors.

Above all, Gardner's experience of Asia was diver e. nlike Fenollosa and Bigelow, Gardner did not aspire to become an expert in Asian art. Instead, Asia conjured up a constellation of images, forms, activities, places, and fri ends that she regarded as an alternative to her quotidian environment. It was experienced in an array of cultural regi ters, some of which were popular and generic while others were more authentic. She organized a "Japanese bazaar" for local charity, an activity that was so widespread that it had effectively become middle-brow by the early twentieth century (like Tupperware parties), but she also had the honor of hosting a tea ceremony - perhaps the :first in America - conducted by Okakura, no less, author of the Book of Tea. While she purchased run-of-the-mill souvenirs such as Japanese paper fans, Chinese snuff bottles, and Indian jewelry, she later also acquired ancient Chinese objects of the highest quality and at great expense. And she was possibly the first notable American visitor to Angkor Wat. Gardner's modes of experiencing Asia were, as Christine Guth eluci dates in her essay, multisensorial, involving sight, touch, smell, sound, and tas te - an integrated experience that connoted feminine qualities. For these reasons, it seemed appropria te to widen the scope of our investigation beyond the realm of fine arts.

Guided by Gardner's eclectic yet interrelated mixture of interests, the subj ects covered in this volume also include religion, travel, gardening, photography, dance, personality cults, and Hollywood movies. These different registers of engagement are collectively reflective of the American cultural imagination of "Asia."

Isabella Gardner's exposures to Asia spanning forty years demonstrate that a familiarity wi th Asian arts and cultures had become expected for the cosmopolitan American elite by the encl of the nineteenth century. Asia was not just fashionable, it was a sign of taste and erudition. Important roles were played by charismatic cultural intermediaries, such a Swami Vivekananda, Okakura, Rabinclranath Tagore, Coomaraswamy, and Sessue Hayakawa.

Engli h-speaking and commanding international careers, these cosmopolitan :figures formed the basis for a specific vision of Asian culture (and a mode of what was received as an Asianinflectecl masculinity) in the United Sta tes that persis ted through the twentieth century. These men depended not only on their undeniable talent and skill, but also on their charis ma or even sex appeal - and they fostered a devoted following of American and European women. 6 Their careers, moreover, complicate the simple binary of the silent East ver us the active West that consumed it. Although their reception was often implicated in cultural stereotypes, they were none theless far from being a passive object of an American Orientalist gaze.

Indeed, the work of Coomaraswamy and Okakura remains influential to this clay. And ye t, precisely (and paradoxically) becau e they actively arbitrated between the culture they wished to embody and the culture to which it was directed, the reputation of these transnational :figures is sometimes divided, as demonstrated by Nagahiro Kinoshita's es ay on Okakura in this

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volume. Their suitability Lo represent their culture and ethnic heritage (who defines it and for whom) has similarly been contested. Lud ing behind such unease is the fear of hybridization and cross-pollination and the privileging of cultural purity as an ideal. It has been expressed that these figures have somehov1r lost (or had never even posses eel) "native" authenticity by virtue of their exposure and acc ulturation lo Western c ultures. Their alluring alterity is lost, or worse, is suspected lo have only been feigned, as they became too much like "us." Such purist discussion of who is c ulturally more authenti c does not seem useful. The contemporary philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah has apLly declared that cultural purity, by definition, is an oxymoron.' The transnational careers of these :figures challenge us to define culture not as a prede termined monolith but as an evolving proce of interpre ting cl [fferences and affinities.

Isabella Gardner lived at a time when the movement of people across national borders was becoming ever more fluid, and it must be acknowledged that the national framework of American culture is not always adequate lo under tand the cultural environment in which she lived. We have thus considered the parallel interests of her close fri ends who lived mainly outside America - in Italy (Bernard Berenson), England and France (James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent), and Japan (Okakura). The extent to which these personalities traveled across continents and oceans is remarkable, even by our jet-setter standard. Interna tional contac t and rivalry had also become central to the culture of art collecting by the encl of the nineteenth century, and the new field of Asian art collecting was from the outset a t the heart of this international ph enomenon.

It is therefore :fitting tha t we start the volume with two of Isabella Gardner's closest friends and advisors who lived primarily outside America, Berenson and Okakura. The two essays consider unexpected aspects of their careers. Berenson's references to non-Western art are often dismissed as belle-le ttrist generalities, but Robert Harrist demonstrates that Berenson was deeply interested in Japanese and Chinese painting, and the eclectically decorated rooms at his residence at Villa I Tatti take on add ed resonance as a result.

Nagahiro E inoshita's corrective essay shifts our perception of Okakura Kakuz6 by critiquing the posthumous myth of Tenshin that was propagated in Japan during wartime and continues lo shape the popular image of him. Kinoshita argues for a closer adherence to Okakura's original values and an avoidance of the na me Tenshin. Kinoshita shows that Okakura's writing was misrepresented in the 1930s and 1940s, using Okakura's off-hand sta tement, "Asia is one," as justification for Japan's imperialist aggression. His close analysis of sources and docum ents gives an insight into Okakura's afterlife in Japan and the influenti al role played by Okakura' di sciple Yokoyama Taikan, who in his early career was friendly with Isabella Gardner, but la ter emerged as an ardent supporter of Japanese militarism and international Fascism.

Thomas Tweed and Ellen Conant consid er two oth er close fri end s of Gardner, Willia m Sturgis Bigelow and Joseph Lindon Smith. Bigelow and Isabella Gardn er spe nt mu ch time together in Japan in 1883, a key mornent when Bigelow was embarking on his close engagement with Japanese culture. Bigelow is famed as a Buddhist convert and Tweed places him in a complex and multilayered Boston context. The painter Joseph Lindon Smith , on the other

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hand, is usually associated with Egypt rather than Japan, buL diaries and le tters published here for the firsLLime by Conant doc ument Lhe artist's fruitful work in Japan around 1900.

Gardner's own respon e to the expanded notion of th e East is taken up a t Lhe beginning and end of her career. Lawrence Berman analyzes the Gardners' trip Lo Egypt in 1874 Lo 1875, a journey which prepared Lhem for Lhe lengthier voyage of 1883 Lo 1884. Isabella's diaries, sketches, and collected photographs are set in the conLexL of other American and European tourists of Lhe age. Already many of the sympathetic impulses can be discerned, although Isabella is noL entirely free of Western prejudices and perceptions. Christine Guth considers Lhe climax of Isabella's career - the creation of Fenway Court, the original name of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The nmlLisensory and multicultural approach to the installation of a collection, while yielding comparisons to other museum-makers of the early LwenLie th century, reached extraordinary heigh ts in Gardner's hands.

James McNeill Whistler was another close friend of Gardner, and Aileen Tsui considers Whistler as a collector and depicter of Chinese and Japanese porcelain. Another pioneering American Japanist was the architect Stanford White, whose dining room of 1880 for E ingscote in fashionable Newport is, as Ellen Roberts demonstrates, perhaps the first struc ture to emula te the essential aes the tic principles of Japanese vernacular architecture, rather than just its superficial appearance. Japanese Zen painting made a significant impac t on writers and thinkers of the period , and Gregory Levine trace the early appreciation of Buddhist art in Lhe United Stales.

The final set of essays considers the American visualization of Asia beyond Gardner's immediate time and circle of friends. Later generati ons of American women also developed intimate connections with Asian culture. As •~ endall Brown discusses in hi s essay, Gardner had fashioned a supposedly Japa nese garden in the 1880s, but her successors elaborated on this theme in many different ways, :from close re-creations of real sites in Japan to more fantasti cal evocations. Anne McCauley examines Ananda Coomaraswamy, who, like Okakura, positioned himself as an intermediary between Ea t and West while serving as curator at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Coomaraswamy also depended, it seems, on a succession of ·women Lo ac t as muse, especially in Lhe realms of music and dance. Coomaraswamy integrated the performing arLs and folk crafts with Lhe high art of culpture and painting. And he employed photography not just for research but also as a creati ve endeavor in itself; his photographs of Stella Bloch resemble Stieglitz's images of Georgia O'Keeffe.

Daisuke Miyao discusses how American cine ma Look up Japanese subjects and made Sessue Hayakawa one of Hollywood's early stars. He analyzes the long Western fascination wi th Japanese swords, evinced in the unending Madama Butterfly narrative as well as in mo Lion pictures and later by Japanese propaganda. We know that Isabella Gardner went to the movies, for example, in Lhe company of John Singer Sargent. And the Asia-inspired theatricals that Gardner reveled in a t Fenway Court in the company of friends such as Okakura and Smith evolved into ever more lavish and popular structures in Hollywood, whether al the Yamashiro esta te or Grauman's Chinese Theater, Lhe symbolic land mark of Hollywood glamor.

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T h e Chi nese Room of Fenwoy Court, the lso be llo St ewort Gordner Mu seum, Boston, in 1903. In 1914, l sobel lo Gordner reconceived th e ga ll ery os the Room of Eorly ltolion Paintings. Photograph by Th omos Morr

America was certainly fascinated with Asian cultures and arts, but Asia was equally interested in what the West made of them. A great deal of what 路we now believe as genuinely and authentically "Asian" has a reflective property. In the case of Japan, its cultural embodiments of the tea ceremony, ikebana, bonsai, gardening, and - as Miyao aptly demonstrate - the cult of the sword were enhanced and codified partly because of foreign attention. In this way, "Asia" in early twentie th-cenlury America was not only a part of American cultural history. It challenges us to reconsider the cultural history of moderniLy beyond Lhe nalional narrative. The very idea of a national culture or a region-specific identily, and the need Lo define such entities to begin with, have been necessitated precisely by an opposite force: the constant, increasing, and heterogeneous flow of peoples, ideas, and things across the e projected boundaries.

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~ 路e are grateful to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 11hich supported the conference and this publica tion. Valuable support has been provided by Anne Hawley and Piera nna Cavalrhini. In addi ti on Lo the authors, we tha nk Geoff r aplan, Azusa Momoi. Ri chard Lingner, and Conan Cheong for their work on this book.

6. ee al o Yo hihara 2009: Mura i 2009.

7. Appiah 2006. p. J 13.

1. Boston 2009, with e says:

Chong 2009, Guth 2009, and Murai 2009.

2. Thi s vis ion has been ignificantl y revised in recent year . J. J. Clarke di sc usses the fascination of Western thinke rs with various Asia n thought traditions during the first half of the twe ntieth century in Oriental Enlightenment: Th e Encounter between Asian and Western Thought (London , 1997). This hi story began in the late eighteenth century: the East India Marine Society in alem, Massachusells (toda y the Pea body Essex Museum), wa es tabli shed in 1799. See Leven Conn, " Where is the East?" in Do Museums Still Need Objects ? (Philadelphia, 2010).

3. ee: Th e Dutch Encounter

with Asia, 1600- 1950 (exh.

Rijks111useu111, Am tercla m, 2002), by I ees Zandvliet et al. ; Encounters: Th e Meeting of Asia and Eiirope, 1500-1800 (exh.

Vic toria and Albert Museu m, Lon Ion, 2004); Oli ver Impey and Chri stiaa n Jorg, Japanese Export Lacque1; 1580-1850 (A 111stercla 111, 2005).

4. Munroe 2009; Mill el al.

2012.

5. On Gardner and Stanford . see Guth 2009.

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So mysteriously close E A ST ASI AN A RT I N TH E EA RL Y WRITI N GS O F B E R NA RD B E R EN SO N ' CA . I

8 94- I9 o 3

Robert E. Harrist Jr.

Displayed in the corridors and principal rooms of Villa I Ta tLi, works of Asian arl collected

by Bernard Berenson (1865- 1959) create an intri cate visual dialogue with Lhe Italian Renaissance paintings that dominate the interior decoration of the house and adjacent library.

A gilt bronze Chinese Buddhis t altarpiece dated 529 s tands to the side of a mall painting of the Virgin and Child by Sano di Pie tro of the :fifteenth century (:fig. 2). Tang dynas ty terracotta riders face each other on a low bookshelf to bracke t a :fifteenth-century cassone panel. And in the salon, a bronze head of a Buddha from Thailand, a s lone head of a bodhisattva from Cambodia, and two miniature Buddhist bronzes from China and Thailand are displayed on a sideboard in front of paintings of Saint Francis and two other saints from an altarpiece by Sassetta (:fig. 3). 1 Acquired during a brief period from around 1909 to 1917, Berenson's collection of Asian arl is a vivid Lestarnen l to the breadth of his tas te and knowledge, which extended far beyond the field of Italian Renaissance painting in which, for much of his life, his au thority was immense. These objects undoubtedly gave him much pleasure and were "life-enhancing," to use Berenson's famous term. They also 路were embodiments of cultures and religions that he longed to s tudy in more depth. In a letter of May 30, 1914 to Isabella Stewart Gardner, written when he was ac tively building his collection and also advising Gardner on the purchase of Chinese art, Berenson wrote of his longing to "chuck everything and go to China. " 2 On January 1, 1915 he wrote to Gardner, "How I wish I were now starting out in life ! I should devote myself to China as I have to Italy.":3 Althou gh less well known than his collection, many passages in Berenson's writing , especially from the period of aro und 1894 to 1903, concern the arts of Asia, above all, the painting of China and Japan. Woven through his s tudies of Giollo, Sassella, Crivelli, Botticelli, Leonardo, and other Italian painters are references Lo specific Easl Asian artis ts, among them Li Gonglin (ca. 1041-1106), Suzuki H arunobu (ca. 1725- 1770), and Ka tsushika Hokusai

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(1760-1849), as well as more general observaLions abouL Chinese and Japanese picLorial art. Rhetori cally, Berenson frequently deploys these references in unexpected compari sons intended to sharpen, for read ers who shared his knowled ge of art beyond Europe, his descriptions of Renaissance paintings. Thi s device embeds in his ornate prose what can appear to be a form of name dropping - a convenienL means of displaying his erudition and all-encompassing alertness to powerful formal values in works of art, whatever their origins.

2 . Villa I Tatti, Fl orence, with Sano di Pietro,

Vigin and Child (tempera on wood) and a Chinese altarpiece

Quite predictably, m recent scholarship, Berenson's attempts to wriLe abo uL Chinese and Japanese art and Lo compare them to the arts of Europe have aroused the ire of skeptical experts schooled in postcolonial theory. According to one commentator, by larding his pioneering 1903 article on Sassetta with allusions to Buddhist hanging scrolls of the Song dynasty, Berenson was guilty of "acts of appropriation broughL to bear upon the Chinese paintings." 1 A very different body of scholarship and interpreta tion makes it possible to see Berenson's 3. Interior of Villa I Tatti , Florence engagement with East Asian art more accurately, not as an orientalist encroachment but as part of a transformation in the criticism and practice of art extending from deep in the nineteenth century into the era of high Modernism in Lhe early twentie th century and beyond. As Paul Barolsky, Mary Calo, and others have shown , Berenson was a key figure in the development of what came Lo be known as formalism. This is an approach to critical and art his torical writing founded on the belief that the principal sources of pleasure and interest in a work of art are not found in its content - in the religious, ideological, or moral significance of images - but in the visual properties of line, color, and composition unique Lo painting, sculpture, and oLher media. 5 Barolsky has traced the roots of this concept in Anglo-American ae thetic theories to Walter Pater, especially to his book The Renaissance, published in 1873, which Berenson read and reread from the time he was a teenager. Unlike John Ruskin, who was profoundly concerned with the moral and social dimensions of arLand its impacL on human life, Pater, as well as Berenson , "insisted that Lhe values of art, however we may define Lhe m and whatever our politics, philosophy, or me Lhod may be, reside in form and LhaLiL is through its from, and only through iLs form, tha t a work of art expresses its significance to us."6

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Formalism has Lhe rneriL of requiring intense visual engagement with a work of art.

Unlike the practice of connoisseurship, which aims at settling problems of authorship and provenance, a formali t analysis seeks to discern underlying aesthe tic principles e mbodied in the way artists use their materials. In the early twentieth century, in the writings of Clive Bell and Roger Fry, both of whom were indebted to Berenson's theories, formalism offered a tool for describing and evaluating contemporary art, and Berenson himself, in spite of his later antipathy to the art of his own time, wrote glowingly of Degas and Matisse.7 Finally, because it focuses on properties of line, color, pa tlern, and composition, not literary, religious, or historical content, formalism potentially enables an acute observer, as Berenson , Bell, and Fry demonstraLed, to write compellingly about the art of widely disparate periods and cultures.

In Berenson's own vast output, formalism was only one dimension of his scholarship, which was informed by his comprehensive reading in philosophy, literature, history, and religion; with regard to writing about cultures remote from those of Europe, Berenson himself late in his life ruefully acknowledged the impossibility of truly understanding their arts without profound immersion in their languages. evertheless, few writers of the la Le nineteenth and early twentie th centuries, and, to my knowledge, none who were primarily specialists in Western art, looked at the art of Eas t Asia with more perceptive eyes or described with greater acuity essential aes thetic qualities of Chinese and Japanese painting.

The essay that follows traces Berenson's engagement with the painting of China and Japan reflected in his early wri tings.8 Its goal is to show that although he was guided by the publications of Western 路writers such as William Anderson, Loui Gonse, and Ernest Fenollosa, whose books remain in Berenson's library al I Ta tti,9 he developed critical insights of his own into Chinese and Japanese painting, above all into the role of line and gestural brushworl in these pic torial traditions. His observations not only widened the range of comparaLive examples and analogies that animate his descriptions of Renaissance paintings and drawings; they allowed him to posit a dialec tical relationship between Eas t Asian and E uropean art that in turn provided a rhetorical model for describing a fundamental contras t he perceived between the painting of Florence and Siena - a conLras t Berenson treated mos t fully in a landmark arti cle on Sassetta that is one of his fines t pieces of wriLing.

"A

PEH.FE CTLY EQ U AL S E NS E OF Ql A LITY "

Like his collection a t I TatLi, Berenson's alertness to parallels and rese mblances between European and East Asian art emerged from a pervasive cultural phenomenon of the late nine teenth century, in Europe and America. Indeed, among the Bos ton intellectuals, aes th etes, and collectors, including Isabella Gardner, who shaped the cultural environmenL in which Berenson came to maturily, just as among artists and collectors in Europe, where he arrived in 1887 after gradua ting from Harvard, it would have been diff1c ulL to find anyone who was not fascinated by the art of Asia. Earlier fads had :filled upper class homes on both sides of the Atlantic with blue and white vases, wall paper decorated with Chinese motifs, lacquered cabinets and screens, a nd ingenious Chinoiserie knick-knac ks that evoked a remote and exotic world. 10 The movement known as Japanism, et in motion by the increasing

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availability of Japanese woodblock prints in Europe in Lhe middle of Lhe nine teenth century, res ulted in far more Lhan a new 路wave of ornamenta] obj ects. The flat colors, sinuous lines, and strongly two-dimensional forms of Japanese prints 路were assi mila Led in Lo early mod ernist painting by the Impressioni ts and Post-Impressionis ts al the same time Lha L European decorative arts, fashion, and architecture incorporated aspects of ] apanese design. During the late nineteenth centmy, Western publications on Asian art, especially on th e art of Japan, expanded beyond th e belles-lettristic publications of the Goncourt brothers and other French collec tors of woodblock prints to include the specialized studies of Anderson, Gonse, and Fenollosa.

Arriving in Europe during the high tide of Japanism, Berenson had many opportunities to see and s tud y Japanese and Chinese art, even as he set aboul making himself into the foremost connoisseur of Italian Renaissance painting. He was in Paris, for example, in 1890, in Lhe company of his future wife, Mary Costelloe, Lo see the exhibition of over 750 Japanese prints a t the Ecole des Beaux-Arts organized by th e dealer Samuel Bing. At the same time, the future couple immersed themselves in contemporary art and developed a special passion for Degas. In a le LLer to Mary from January 1892, B renson wrote of s tudying Botticelli's Birth of Venus in Lhe Uffizi, a painting in which he believed "Florentine arl touched bottom, created something which invi tes no comparison, asks no explanation." To adequately characterize what he experienced in Lhe painting, which he claimed achieved " Lhe whole business of art" by bringing us "close Lo life," he turned to a surprising compari on, likening the effecl of Lhe painting Lo LhaL produced by works of Degas and Hokusai, and by Lhe ornamental vegetal scrolls carved around the door of San Pietro near Spole to, probably

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4. Katsushika H okusa i, The Falling Mist Waterfall at Mount Kurokomi in Shimotsuke Province (from the series A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces), ca. 1832. Woodblock print. Museum of Fin e Arts, Boston [21.6685]

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dating from Lhe Lwelflh century (figs. 4, 5). 11 Whal linked this triumvirate of painters - Italian, French, and Japanese - and Lhe ornamental carving was the "quality of line in drawing, force, decision ." 12 Transcending his torical and national boundari es, and independent of religious or literary conlenl, iL was their formal qualiLie thal nurtured Berenson's appreciation of works of s uch disparate periods and cultures. Implicit also in his arguments aboul Lhe primacy of form in his aes LheLic re pon es was Lhe convic tion Lhal the arls of Asia, e pecially Lhe pictorial arts of China and Japan, hared with early Renaissance painting, and wilh advanced painting of Lhe la Le nineleenlh century, a desire Lo transcend representational liken ess, Lo creale life-enhancing sensations more intense than those produced by actual experience of Lhe phenomenal world. i:3 The first of Berenson's bool s, Venetian Painters of th e Italian R enaissan ce, appeared in the spring of 1894 and quickly es tablished him, al the age of twenty-nine, a an authoritative practitioner of what was seen as a new, scientific method of connoisseurship founded by Lhe Italian physician Giovanni Morelli LhaL was seen to hold oul Lhe promise of de termining the authorship of paintings with unprecedented accuracy. The book consis ts of an essay - ass umed to have been vvrillen in large part by Mary - on the painting of Venice and iLs relation to the culture of the city followed by a list of artists and paintings, most of which Berenson had personally inspected during hi travels in Europe. The book includes Berenson's first published comparison between a work of Italian painting and East Asian art. Writing of Carlo Crivelli in the preface, Berenson observes that he "expresses with the freedom and spirit of Japanese design a piety as wild and tender as J acopo da Todi's ... in forms which have the s trength ofline and the metallic luster of old a tsuma or lacquer, which are no less temp ting Lo Lhe Louch." 11路 Berenson's evocation of " the freedom and spiril of Japanese design" is Loo vague to tell us much about whal formal trails he wished to single out in Crivelli's paintings; whaL he mean t by thi s becomes clearer in his later writings, in which he alludes repeatedly to the animation of Chinese and Japanese art achieved through a sense of linear movement - a quality he mus l have de tected also in the sinuosity of Crivelli's forms. More immediately graspable al this poinl in Berenson's burgeoning project of comparing Renaissance and East Asian art is his reference Lo Lhe "luster of old Satsuma" - a form ofJapanese earthenware painted with rich polychrome, often dominated by tawny gold Lones like those of Crivelli's palette.

A few months after the publication of his Venetian Painters , as favorable reviews were beginning Lo appear, Berenson returned to Bos ton in triumph, the success of his book confirming the confidence placed in the young esth ete by the wealthy Bostonian supporters who had financed his years abroad. Berenson spent his Lime back in New England visiting his family, his former Harvard professors and mentors, and various Bo Lon luminaries who welcomed him Lo their homes and private clubs. 15 lL was during Lhis visiL Lo Boslon Lha l Berenson experienced what he saw a t the time as one of Lhe grealesl aes the tic revelations of his life. On Lhe morning of October 25, 1894, Denman W Ross, a friend and later a professor of fine arls at Harvard, who was also a benefactor of Lhe Boston Museum of Fine Arls, took Berenson Lo the museum to meel Ernesl Fenollosa. A fellow H arvard graduate who had spent over ten years in Japan, first as a professor of philosophy and la ter as an imperial art commissioner, Fenollosa had been appointed curator of Japanese art at the mu eum in 1890 . ot only was he among the most knowledgeable auLhoriLies on Easl Asian arl in Lhe West, he had also acquired during his

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years in Japan a superb colleclion of Japanese paintings that ultimately were purchased from him for the mu seum in 1886 by Charles Goddard Weld. 16 As soon as Berenson and Ross arrived, Fenollosa began showing Lhe m paintings from the group he had collected in Japan and from a set of twelfth-century Chinese Buddhist hanging scrolls known as The Five Hundred Lohans by Zhou Jichang and Lin Tinggui (act. ca.

1150- 1200). The paintings had been loaned to the museum by Daitokuji, an historic Zen Lemple in I yoto, for an exhibition that 路would open in December of 1894 with a caLalogue by Fenollosa. 17 This vi ewing session is the subject of a long passage in a letter of October 26, 1894 Berenson wrote to Mary.

He [Fenollosa] began almost at once to show me things, starting out with a life size painting by a Japanese da ting from the 9th century, a figure of a saint with all the literary qualities and much of the charm of Lorenzetti, besides its own power. He then showed me a series of Chinese pic tures from the 12th century which revealed a new world to me. To begin with they had composition of figures and groups as perfec t and simple as the best that we Europeans have ever done. Then they had, 路what 路we never dream of in oriental art, powerful characterization, now surpassing Durer, and now Gentile Bellini.

Furthermore, and most astonishing, they are profoundly contrite, full of humility, love, humanity, or the quality of the tenderest pas ages in the Gospels, or in the story of St. Francis. And all Lhis (tha t we have approached) in terms of line, colour, and tone thal we Europeans have never approached, that no Japanese things you and I have seen together al all rival. I was prostrate. Fenelosa shivered as he looked, I thought I should die, and even Denman Ross who looks dumpy Anglo-Saxon was jumping up and down.

We had to poke and pinch each other to le t off some of the tension, and almost we fell on each other's necks and wept. o decidedly I never had had such an art experience ... Fenelosa picked out choice specimens of Japanese painting through the centuries. The decline seemed steady, and everything eemed rather flaLafter the 12th century series, ye t when I looked at them the other way, i.e. going backward, from the 17th to the 12th century, one thing seemed more wonderful Lhan Lhe other. I never had such a test of the relativity of aes the tic enjoyment. What we got oul of Lhe individual pic ture depended entirely on whether we took it in an ascending or descending series. And 路what is so wonderful we were unanimous. The same cry rose from all our lips at the first sight of the great thing, and I never made an adverse criticism wilhout it being seconded by Fenelosa. It was delightful. Here he had devoted twenly years to J apanese, and I seven Lo Italian art, and the resulL i a perfectly equal sen e of quality in line, grouping, colour and tone.

How it fortified me in my impressions! And I could see that he was even more delighted.

One series of painLings from the 14th century was so much like Fra Angelico only very much more beautiful. Oh the drift of the stars in the Milky Way that one represented!

I o it did not represent it, but so suggested it tha t I felt it instantly, and l<enelosa told me that actually was the subj ect as labeled by the pai nter himself. At one we ended with seeing a large screen by Kareen [Ogata Karin, 1658-1716], a wild sea with green waves, toothed and fanged like Lerrible beasts gnawing rocks as strange a in Lorenzetti.

22

So 111 ,nH 10 t '1 1 no, 1路

6 . Japan ese, Night Attack o n t he Sanj6 Pala ce, 13th ce ntury. Hand sc roll : ink a nd col o r o n paper.

Mu se um o f Fin e Arts, Bos t o n, Fe n o ll osa-We ld Co ll ec t ion [ l l .4000]

0 , the freedom, the wind, Lhe sunshine, Lhe salt smell, the coolness, and the great spirit oI nature there was in this!

Ross and 1 then went to lunch , and after lunch we wenL back and looked at prints, but such prints, the best Outarnaros [Kitagawa Utamaro, l 753?-1806] you have seen are as nothing to these, landscapes by Hieroshige [Ando Hiroshige] that b eat Whis tler, and figures ad lib. I looked until there was no more light in the sky, and then called on Lhe James in Cambridge. 18 Here, surely, was a day suffused by the "gem-like flame" of intense aesthetic experience that Pater's writings had inspired Berenson to seek. Although late in his life Berenson s ugges ted that he had exaggerated the significance of the works he viewed in the company of Fenollosa and Ross, he was perfec tly correct in telling his future wife that nothing they had seen in Europe approached the qualiLy and the art historical significance of the painLings then in Boston; ind eed, no one in Europe at tha t time could have seen a collection of Japanese paintings superior to those Fenollosa had assembled. 19 Only a few oI the works Berenson mentions in his le Lter can be positively identified, among them the six-panel folding screen by Karin, Waves at Matsushinia, and at leas t one of Lhe Daitokuji scrolls (fig. 9), which, as we will see, Berenson chose to illuslrate nine years later in his article on Sassetta. The Japanese painting that Berenson intuited was a depic tion of s tars in the Milky Way and found to be like a Fra Angelico likely was from a pair of hanging scrolls by an unidentified artist of the Kamal ura period (1192- 1333) titled Planets and the Northern Constellation that represenl Lhe descent of ethereal celestial deitie .20 The series oI Japanese painLings Fe nollosa selected almos t certainly included one of Lhe mos t importanL works from his collection, the Illustrated Scrolls of the Events of the Heiji Era , a LhirLeenth-century illus tration of a great miliLary epic tha t includes a spectacular represe nta tion of a burning palace (fi g. 6).

Several of Berenson's observations about Chinese and J apanese p ainting recorded in his effusive le tter, esp ecially his account of the powerful spiritualiLy he de tec ted in Lhe Daitokuji p aintings, presage ideas to which he would re turn in la ter published works. The comparisons h e draw between Japanese paintings and the Lorenze LLi are the firs Linklings of whaLwould become a major Lene t of his s Ludy of Sasse tta - LhaLpainLing in Siena mys teri-

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ou sly displayed formal q uali Lies akin to those of Eas l Asian art. His conclusion that Lhe Chinese Buddhis t paintings be saw in Bos ton s urpassed Dlirer and Gentile Bellini also would be echoed in writings Lo come. By far the mo L ignificant passage in his letter deals nol with specific works of art bul with a question of me thod. Berenson was delighted to find thaL while Fenollosa had spent twenty years s tudying Japanese art, and he seven s tud ying Lhe art of Italy, Lhe result 路was " a perfec tly equal sense of quality in line, grouping, colour and tone." Whal this confirmed for Berenson was the reliability of his judgment of, and alertness to, the purely visual effects in pictorial arl LhaL he laboriously acquired through his inte nse Ludy of Italian Renaissance painting. In addition, his encounter with Fenollosa gave him confidence that his approach to analyzing form in pictorial art could be deployed just as appropriately, and yield equal aesthe tic insights, when looking at the art of a comple tely different culture.

" TIIE Ql'Il\'TESSEN'CE OF i\IOYEi\IEl\'T " The most important of Berenson's four early volumes on Renaissance painting appeared in 1896, The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. In this book Berenson articulates for the firs t Lime his theory of tactile values - the sense of three-dimensionality or materiality that made paintings by Giotto and later Renai ssance artis ts radically different from the flat, imma terial images of their medieval predecessors. This effect in Renaissance painting was achieved primarily through modeling with light and shade. Berenson also describes, however, a en e of tactile values produced through movement, not, he s tresses, the mere representation of motion, but animated linear patterns and contours, s uch as those of bodies and draperies in works by Botticelli: ow there is a way of rend ering even tactile values with almost no body, and that is by translatin g them as faithfully as may be into valu es of movement. For instance - we want to render the roundness of a wris t without the slighte t touch of either light or shade; we simply give the movement of the wrist's outline and the moveme nt of the drapery as it falls over iL, and Lhe roundness is communicated to us almost entirely in terms of movement ... This kind of line, then, being Lhe quintessence of movement, has, like Lhe essential elements in all the arts, a power of s timulating our imagination and of directly communicating life . Well! imagine an art made up entirely of Lhese quintessences of movement-values, and you will h ave some thing tha t holds the ame relation to representa tion that music holds to speech - and this art exists, and is called linear decoration. In this art of arts, Sandro Botti celli may have had rivals in Japan and elsewhere in Lhe Easl, but in Europe never.2 1 Echoing in Berenson's celebration of the linear beauty of Botticelli's art, as Barolsl y has shown so clearly, are phrases from Walter Pater's The R enaissance thal attribute the unique charac ter of this arti st's works to "abs tract lines" and " the charm of line and colour." 22 What Berenson acids is a far greater visual specificity in hi a nalysis of the function of line in pictorial art. Nevi' also is Bere nson's conclusion Lha t linear movement in Botticelli's paintings was in some fundamental way like Lhal seen in the art of Easl Asia.

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Berenson conLinues Lhis comparison in his review of a publicaLion of Botticelli 's drawing for the Divine Coniedy also published in 1896: " His real pl ace as a draughtsma n is not among great ,.\ Europeans, buL with Lhe great Chinese l> /~ .. v ') I and Japanese, wiLh Ririomin [Li Gonglin], I(~ ,\ '1, Harunobu, and Hokusai . Like Lhese, he ; \ ,. l is a supreme masLer of the single line." 23 Purs uing the implications of placing Botticelli "among the great Chinese and Japanese," Beren on judges as "singularly Japanese .. . in movement ofline" the drawing for Canto 23 of the Inferno which depicts Virgil and Dante with the Evil Counselors, including the naked Caiaphas writhing on the ground , in the eighth circle of hell (fig. 7).21

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7. Sand ro Bo tt ice ll i, Th e

H ypocrites (draw in g fo r Ca nto 23 of th e Divine

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8 . Suzuki H aru n obu,

Woman Vis iting the Sh rine at Night, late 1760s . Wood bl ock pr int . Tokyo N o t iona l M u se u m [Al 05 6 9. l 00]

Berenson seems to use Japanese as a shorthand for EasLAsian, and the names of the three arLists he cites as BotLicelli's peers in the art of linear design (one Chinese and two Japanese) can be read as re presenLati ves of Eas LAsian pictorial arL in general or as exemplars of more specific stylistic traits. Of the three, Hokusai was by far the best known in the West in the late nineteenth century; the range of hi oeuvre is o vast, however, and changes in his prints and paintings so dramatic over the course of his long career, tha t it is difficult Lo speak of a single style or manner that charac terizes all his -vvork. 25 Harunobu's prints, also well known in the West when Berenson was writing, are both more limited and more distinctive, focused on female figures whose ethereal, elongated bodies, narrow faces, and small dreamy eyes make his images instantly recognizable. What the paintings and prints of both Harunobu and Hokusai display, as Berenson clearly grasped, is the calligraphic force of contour and interior lines, brushed in long sinu ous curve or crackling, jagged strokes that rapidly change speed and direction and impose over unmodulated colors a ne twork of linear anima tion. Looking closely at a print such as Harunobu's Woman Visiting the Shrine at Nig ht (fig. 8), it is not hard Lo under tand how Berenson might have detec ted a re emblance between the rippling silhoue tte of the figure and her wind-tossed robes and thaLof the nymph rushing forward with a billowing cloth to enfold the newborn goddess in Botticelli's Birth of Venus.

Li Gonglin, the Song dynas ty Chinese arLi s t Lo wh om Berenson compares

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Botticelli, was much harder to know. One of the mosl revered of all Chinese painLers, Li's name was loosely and misleadingly attached to all manner of paintings, especially Buddhist subjects and horses. Though acknowledging that the scrolls revealed the work of several different hands, Fenollosa believed that at lea t some of the Daitokuji hanging scrolls might have been painted by Li Gonglin him elf and the res t by artists workin g in his style. 26 P erhaps it was his familiarity with the name of this artist, acquired during his visit to Boston in 1894, thaL disposed Berenson to cite Li Gonglin as Botticelli's peer in the creation of linear movemenL. 27 The Daitokuji paintings are larger and painted in vivid colors, but they demons trate precisely the technique Berenson describes for rendering tac tile values without the use shading seen in Botticelli's drawings of the Divine Comedy. To indicate the roundness of a wrist, the example Berenson uses, the artist of the Chinese scroll indicates "the move ment of the wrist's outline and the moveme nt of the drapery as it falls over it," communicating the pla ticity of the forms "almost entirely in terms of movement." In the Dante illus trations, not only fabri c falling over wrists but also the lower hems of the figures' robes, the tops of sleeves, and the wriggling hair of Caiaphas show how sharp, angular strokes or rippling curves can suggest Lhe weight and density of different ma terial subs tances - effec ls achieved with more difficulty in silverpoint and pen than in the medium of brush and ink on silk used by the Chinese painter.

In 1903 Berenson published what many consider his most important contribution to the study of Renaissance art, Drawings of the Florentine Painters. This monumental work synthesizes some of his earlier writings, including the discussion of Botticelli's drawings quoted above. As anyone who had been reading his books and articles carefully would have expected, Berenson's studies of drawings inspired new compari ons of Italian art and East Asian painting. Of a drawing of Herc ules and the Hydra made by Antonio Pollaiuolo as a study for his painting of the same subj ect, Berenson observes that "one who regards drawing as the spontaneous and rapid nota tion by the artis t's hand of the idea in his mind" will find few drawings that surpass this one. Everything depend s on the quality of th e lines themselves: [The Hydra's] shape we scarcely distinguish. She leaps up like a conflagration and, as if to meet her in equal context, the hero's club flowers out in flame .

And there is some thing here almost more than flam elike, a suggesLion of a transparent, unsubstantial medium, thin and eLhereal, with body just sufficient to convey to us the joy of the hero's labour. It is the same abstemiousness of touch, the same asceticism of means that we find at times in Rembrandt and Hokusai. 28 What the Italian, Dutch, and Japanese artists shared, in Berenson's eyes, was the ability to suggest with the most succinc t graphic means, a sense of weight and muscular animation, achieved in the case of Pollaiuolo and Rembrandt with a pen, or, in the case of Hokusai, with an animal-hair brush. What may have attrac ted Berenson's attention in particular, are the "flamelike" lines of the Hydra's body, especially the line, cropped by the right border of the drawing, that grows from a thin, tapering point into a wide, firm contour as if drawn with the tip of a brush.

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Drawings by Leonardo also suggested visual analogies with East Asian art. A la ndscape, Leonardo's earliest known drawing, Berenson judges " true to its topography in a way that, a far as we know, no Italian work of this kind had been hitherto; and it has been done with an almost Japane e lightness of touch." 29 The varied, animated lines of another Leonardo drawing, one of Berenson's favorites, Madonna and Child in the Louvre, rival "the feats of the great artists of the Far East 路who prided themselves on producing their effect with the fewest strokes, and those of the utmost rapidity. Here, certainly, there has been no dawdling; what the mind perceived, that the hand unhesitatingly, unfalteringly executed. It is perhaps as near an approach to the actual transfer to paper of a visual thought as man has ever achievecl."30 The head and upper body of the Virgin and the back of the child's head are drawn in thin stroke of the pen tha t barely skim the surface of th e paper; but the Virgin's right hand and the lower body and legs of the child are a tangle of heavier, rapidly drawn, overlapping strokes that seek, rather than define, the forms they indicate. 31 Although Leonardo drew with a pen rather Lhan a brush, the impatient motions of his hand suffuse the drawing, as Berenson sensed, with the gestural spontaneity of Chinese and Japanese brushwork.

Here again, in locating the aes thetic value of drawings by Pollaiuolo and Leonardo in the rapidity of their execution, in the flame-like transformations of weight and orientation in their constituent lines, Berenson echoes his idol Pater, who wrote of the curious beauty of Leonardo's drawings residing "chiefly in the abstract grace of their bounding lines." 32 Berenson knew Pater's The Renaissance almost by heart. What he cannot have known, owing to the lack of transla tions al the time he was writing, was how much his notion of drawing as the spontaneous externalization of ideas resonated with Chinese evaluations of great painters.

Praising the figure painter Gu Kaizhi (ca. 345-ca. 406), the critic and biographer of artists Zhang Yanyuan (active ca. 84 7) noted that Gu's brush strokes were "strong in firmness and uninterrupted in continuity, circling back upon themselves in abrupt rushes . .. His conception was formulated before his brush was used, so that when the painting was finished the conception was fully present and its piritual animation thus achieved.":33

"A

SEKSE OF TIIIKGS SP !RITUA L "

nderlying what now might be termed Berenson's cross-cultural aesthetic is the premise that the essential visual properties of a work of art could be disengaged from its content to become the focus of analysis and the source of visual satisfaction. He labeled these two elements "illustration" and "decoration" and defined them in T he Central I talian Painters of the Renaissance, published in 1897: Illustration is everything which in a work of art appeals to us, not for any intrinsic quality, as of colour or form or composition, contained in the work of art itself, but for the valu e the thing represented has elsewhere, whether in the world outside, or in the mind within. If a work of art has no intrinsic value whatever, or if we fail to perceive it, for us it is nothing bul an Illustration, and it does not matter whether it be drawn, engraved, or coloured on sheets of paper, or painted on a panel or wall. 34

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Illustration, in other words, consis ts of s ubject maller, made up of forms recognizable as real or imaginary things; it engages the viewer by calling up associations, memories, or flights of imagination triggered by representation of figures, animals, objects, architecture, or scenery.

Decoration, which Berenson ultimately valued more highly, consis ts of " those elements in a work of art which appeal directl y Lo the sen es, such as Colour and Tone; or directly stimulate ideated sensations, such as, for in Lance, Form and Movemenl." 35 Unlike illustration, as Berenson explained much later, "decoration is presenlalive and nol repre entative."36 Decoration, in his usage, refers to what usually and more simply is called "form" in art historical and critical 路writing - Lhe combined effects of line, shape, color, and composition in a work of art.

The Central Italian Painters of the R enaissance introduces another element in Berenson's ongoing attempt to achieve a comprehensive statement of his aes the tic theories .

To the effect of three-dimensionality he called tactile values, and that of linear animation he called movement, Berenson now adds th e concept of space composition. Unlike surface design , space composition produces the sensation of space opening inward, beyond the pic torial surface; it i an expansion into depth to be seen especially in paintings by Perugino and Raphael and exists "not only in three dimensions but sugges t the amplitude and the compassed freedom of cosmic dimensions.":n Space composition is, in Berenson's terms, life-enhancing, "producing direct somatic effects in Lhe viewer" and feelings of freedom, well-being, expansiveness, or religious transcendence experienced also in the presence of nature itselP8 The formal and aesthetic principles that Berenson had been forging since the publication of his first book were intended Lo give his writings wide his torical relevance beyond his field of specialization in Italian Renaissance painting. In his two-parl article of 1903 on Sassetla, he attemp ts Lo do far more than simply introduce an important work by this artis t, almost unknown at the time. The article, published in the newly founded Burling ton Mag az ine, a ttempts to deploy Berenson's theories to answer profound que tions about the visual expression of spirituality in arL; it is also Berenson' mosl sus tai ned and coherent account of what he saw as Lhe essential na ture of East Asian painting.

The impetus for th e article came from their discovery in a shop in Florence of an

28

9. Zhou Jichang, Lohan Demonstrating the Power of the Buddhist Sutras to Daoists, ca. 1178 . H anging scrol l : ink and colo r s on silk. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (06 . 290]

exlraordinary painling of Sainl Francis Lhat Berenson and Mary, by then hi s wife, recognized as the cenlral panel of an alLarpiece by Sassetta from Lhe Churc h of an France co in Borgo Sansepolcro elating from around 1437 to 1444.39 In Bere nson's eyes, the painling raised a fundam ental his tori cal and aesth etic queslion, Lo which he ugge Ls a surprising an wer developed in the firs t part of Lhe arlicle: Are Lhe figure arls incapable of conveying a sense of Lhings spirilual? If we confined our allenlion Lo European art alone, it would almos l seem so, for our painting is apparently powerless to get out of the human figure more than an expression of heroism, of grandeur, of the s uperhuman - always something in the nature of the physically impre sive .

But if we turn to the extreme orient, we :find that their arts of design do convey a sense of spiritual things . 10 Berenson proceeds to support this observation Lhrough a comparison of Lwo works - one of Lhe hanging scrolls from the sel of Five Hundred Lohans that Fenollosa had shown him nine years earlier in Boston (:fig. 9) and a woodcut by Diirer (:fig. 10), an artis t, Berenson had noted at the Lime of his Boslon visit, s urpassed in "powerful characterization"

by Chinese painters .

In Diirer's print, Saint Gregory says mass in front of an altar miraculou ly Lransform ed into a tomb from which Christ rises, surrounded by

l 0 . A lbrec ht D(.irer, M ass of Sa int Gregory, 15 11 . Wood c ut . Mu seu m o f Fin e A rt s, Bos t o n [2 l . l 0 777 ]

the instrumenls of Lhe Passion. The faces and ges tures of the witnesses to this miracle, Berenson pointed out, seem to express surprise or indifference; only a kneeling acolyLe and a flying angel respond wiLh expliciL signs of devotion. Th e Chinese painting by Zhou Jichang, on the other hand, depicts a group of :figures responding wi Lh intense devotion and awe to a very different kind of miracle. 11 On a Liered plaLforrn in front of a cave or grotto rests a bundle of sulras, or Buddhis t sacred texts, surrounded but nol consumed by dancing flames Lhal radiate beams of colored lighl. Four lohans, Lheir hands clasped in prayer, gaze up beatifically al Lh e miracle. A fiflh lohan explains Lhe meaning of this event Lo Lwo men who are dressed in Lhe garb of courl officials and hold plaques indicating their official rank; both bow in response to the revelations.

Below, a Daois t priest converted on the spot to Buddhism throws bac k his head and raises his clasped hands in adoralion, while two fellow Daois ts, one pointing upward to the radiant sutras, engage in agitated debate .

Unlike the Durer woodcut, the Chinese painting, according Lo Berenson, is animaled by an intense spirituality. Here, he wrile , we :find "an ecstasy of devolion and vision .. . a trans ubs lanLiaLion of body into soul, whereof we rarely gel as much as a vanishing glimpse in our own art. Beside this design Lhe mos l religious achievemenls of a Diirer grow sterile and commonplace." 12 The superiorily of the Buddhis L painting could not be attributed, however, simply to the representation of figures displaying reverent wonder at the sight of the miraculous s utras: thi s would limit the achievement of the Chinese arlis t to th e level of illustralion in Berenson's aes the lic categories. In order Lo account for Lh e intense spirilualiLy he saw in the

29

11 IH HIST

Chinese painting, and more generally in Eas LAsian mt, Berenson had Lo expand his argument to analyze contrasting qualities of decoration. This required a bold summa Lion of the essential pictorial features of European painting and its fatal limitations: Its essential fault is an almost unsurmountable tendency toward transcribing mere fact; its essential quality is its constanL endeavour to realize the ma terial significance of objects, partic ularly of the human nud e, its chief instrument of expression. Our art early discovered that this mos t highly prized effect was to be reached more securely by modeling than by line.

But modeling not only prefers the sta tic to the mobile (wherefore our art ever strives toward the monumental and architectonic), but clogs movement even where it permits it. 13 The great achievement of European painting lay in its capacity to present to the viewer a compelling pic torial equivalent of three-dimensional form, conveyed through the tac Lile values Berenson had analyzed in his earlier writings; but in making visible things of this world, especially through the use of modeling with light and shade, the European artist surrendered the higher achievement of evoking intangible, spiritual qualities of things that lay beyond the phenomenal realm. Painting tha t succeeded in casting off the fe tters of the material world did so in two ways: through space composition - admittedly, one of Berenson's more ambiguous categories - and, more powerfull y, through the avoidance of modeling in favor of linear contours - not mere outlines but forms animated by a sense of movemenL and life . Best of all was to combine these, " to put .figures tha t suggest incorporeal life into effects of space that evoke Lhe au delct , the infinite." This, Berenson believed, was precisely what painters of Eas t Asia had achieved: Among the reasons, therefore, to be given for the great superiority as religious expression of Buddhist to Christian art, we must place to the front the fact tha t Sino-Japanese design is almost exclusively an art of contours, of values of movement, and , in its own way, not ours, of space-composi tion. 41 A first impression of the Chinese painting Berenson uses to illustrate this observation makes it seem a strange choice. Like many figure paintings of the Song dynas ty, it depicts convincingly three-dimensional figures surrounded by volumetric landscape forms. Although the modeling in the figures and the landscape setting is not governed by a consistent light source, slight grada tions of colors in the robes and contras ts of light and dark in the jagged rocks pro mote a ense of plas ticity or tac tile values tha t are not so remote from those of European pictorial art. It is the "contours and values of movement" in the scroll, as Berenson notes, tha t are the hallmark of East Asian painting. The brush strokes tha t define the outer contours and inner fold of the drapery thicken and thin rapidly, giving volume to the fabric through their change of direction and width. In many passages, the ges tural processes through which the strokes were brushed are easy to recons LrucLin imagination, producing a soma tic response like that produced by linear design in paintings and drawings by Botti celli that Berenson had described as " the quintessence of movement value."

30

Sn

111>1路 1ii1msi1 l.l!lSI'

What Berenson meant about the Sino-Japanese artist's use of space compos1t10n is harder to judge. In the Daitokuji scroll a ground plane marked by light horizontal brush strokes extend s upward to a firmly drawn horizon line in the grotto; figures placed higher in the composition and overlapped by other figures clearly are more distant from the viewer.

Ra ther than opening into a fic tive space, however, the painting insistently pulls the eye back lo the surface; the ground plane, the figures, and the contour of the rocks are locked into a strongly two-dimensional design. As Berenson's argument unfolds in the rest of the Sassetta article, it becomes clearer that it is the planar composition of the Chinese painting, along with its linearity, that make it, and Sino-J apanese pic torial art more generally, radically different from mo t painting of the Renaissance, which he found less spiritual owing to the European artist's goal of transcribing visual fac t within carefully constructed representations of threedimensional space.

There was, however, one school of European painting, Berenson concludes, that shared many traits with the art of China and Japan: that of Siena in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.

And so mysteriously close is the tie between certain tendencies that one seldom find s them singly, but almost always together. Thus, Sienese design, when it reaches to the height of great art, not only tends to avoid modelling in the round and to procure its effec ts by pure line, with values of movement alone; Lends not only, as follows upon pure line, to Hat colours; but - and this is not so easily explained- tends as well toward colour scheme imilar Lo those in use in old Chine e and Japanese art. 15 Here, arriving at his discussion of Sienese painting, Berenson draws on the logic of a set of polarities developed in his earlier writings and in the opening sections of the Sassetta article: Europe/Eas t Asia; transcription of visual fac t/evocation of a transcendent spiritual realm; modeling with light and shade/primacy of lines and contours; recession into depth/ tre s on two-dimen ional design.

The rhe torical and analytical payoff of constructing these polarities comes when Berenson shifts from contrasting the painting of Europe and Eas t Asia to contrasting that of Florence and Siena, and more particularly, illustrations of the stories of Saint Francis by Sassetta and those by Giotto in Santa Croce in Florence and in the upper church of San Francesco in Assisi, then a ttributed to Giotto. 路 nlike the frequently convoluted prose in which he set out theoretical or aes the tic principles, Berenson's analyses of the paintings are lively and acute; nothing escapes his gaze, and again and again, he guide the reader's eye precisely to the things that make Sasselta's paintings remarkable. His fundamental argument is that paintings of Saint Francis by Giotto are "too static; his figures are too well realized as mass and not sufficiently well articula ted. He is too much addicted to modeling and not enough Lo line to produce the effect of a poe tical as distinguished from an actual reality." Unlike the massive, stolid figures of Giotto's paintings, those of Sasse tta convey the spirit of the "seraphic youth . . . with his supple contours, eager movement, and silhouetted effect." 16 In illustrations of Saint Francis's dream of a heavenly city, " the Florentine builds you a firm palace 路which

31

11

n se massively from ils solid foundations, while Lhe Sienese plunges you into a visionary world, with his keep in the clouds." 17

11 . Sassetta, Saint Fran cis before the Sultan (from the San Sepolcro Altarpiece), 1437-44.

Tempera on wood.

National Gallery, London

Berenson's readings of Lhe individual narrative panel do nol allude specifically to East Asian art, thou gh he conclude tha t a "grea t Chinese mas ter would have been more on a level with the high in piration of the subj ec t." Throughout this section of the article, however, comparisons dra-wn earlier prompt Lhe reader to see the Florentine Giotto as more "European" and the Sienese Sasselta as more "oriental." For readers familiar with Berenson's other writings, details he singles oul in the Sassetla paintings, and the language he uses lo describe them, call up visual memories of Ea t Asian vvorks. Consider the flames in Sas etta's illustration of Saint Francis before the Sultan (fig. 11). In contrasting thi s image with Giotto's depiction of the same ubj ec t (fig. 12), Berenson writes: But th e flames! They are neither merely symbolic, as in Giotto, nor reali stic, as almo t any painter of our day might make them; but the soul of fire - of fire, " beautiful and joyo us, and most robust and strong," with all ils swiftness of line - taking th e shape of wondrous, lapping, leaping, changing curves, destined to Lrans ubs lantia te all substance inlo spirit. 18 What Berenson saw in the flames painted by Sassetta was the transla tion of the insubstantial ele ment of fire into writhing, calligraphic patterns; the flames in thi s scene belong Lo the same vocabulary of linear design as tho e surrounding th e miraculous sutras in Lhe Chinese Lohan painting and th e engulfing conflagration in th e great Illustrated Scrolls of the Events of the H eiji Era in Bos ton.

32

I H H ,, I

12 . Giotto, Saint Francis before the Sultan. 1325 .

Fresco. Bordi Chapel, Santa Cro c e, Florence

0 II\ >Tl HIOL SI\ Ll.!hl

13 . Sasse tta , Saint Francis in Glory (from the San Sepolcro Altarpiece) , 1437- 44 . Tempera on wood. Be rnard Berenson Collection , Vi ll a I Tatti

In using a Chinese Buddhist painting to launch his theoretical arguments about the Sassetta panels representing the life of Saint Francis, Berenson was re turning to an idea mentioned in his le tter of 1894 to Mary, in which he likened the "humility, love, and humanity" of the Daitokuji paintings to the story of the saint. As if picking up where he had left off in writing to Mary, Berenson explains in the 1903 article that the Chinese scrolls he saw in Boston "are singularly close to the themes of Chris tian, and particularly of Franciscan legend. Their inspirations have much in co mmon: for what can be more like in spirit than certain phases of Buddhism and certain phases of Franciscanism ?" 19 The climax of Berenson's account of the Saint Francis altarpiece comes with his description of the painting on view in the salon at Villa I Tatti showing the saint in glory (:fig. 13), "a real theophany, the apo theosis of a human soul that has attained to complete harmony with the soul of the universe by overcoming all tha t is belittling and confining, and opening itself out to all the benign influences of the spirit." This glorious vision is achieved by avoiding the subs tantiali ty of form that was the great achievement of Giotto's art. In the painting, Berenson concludes, " the eas t has all the trea ures of imaginative design, and Sasse tta with the quasi-oriental qualities of a Sienese has left us such a design, which, as a bearer of the true Franciscan perfume of soul, has no rival .. . everything is transla ted almost as it would be by the great eastern artists into values of movement and pure decoration." 50 In 1909 Beren on re-publi bed hi article on Sassetta a a small book with slight revisions and additional illustrations tha t did not appear in the Burling ton Mag az ine. In the preface he expresses regret at not being able to add other e says he had hoped to write, including one tha t would elaborate what he had to say about the religious painting of China and Japan. 5 1 Eight years la ter, in the preface to a book of essays on Sienese painting dated October 1917, Berenson alludes to a study of Far Eastern painting that he was not able to :finish in time for inclusion. 52 Two fragments of what appear to be this aborted proj ec t are in the archives of Villa I Tatti. One untitled fragment seems to have been written :first and consists mainly of rambling thoughts about the way received notions affect how we view works of art. The other fragment is titled "Sienese painting and the art of the Far East" and bears a notation that it was drafted in 19 17 a t Vallombrosa, the hill town where Beren on was spending the summer.53 Although the subj ec t announced by the title concerns painting, the opening paragraphs of the introduction, which is as far as Berenson got with the

33

11 \l!l!IST

essay, concern sculpture. After two paragraphs reflecting on parallels and resemblances between Chinese and European sculpture of the Medieval period that other observers had recognized, Berenson re turns to now-familiar polarities.

For all its merits, and few prize them more than I do, even the best Chinese sculpture precariously depends upon the genius of the artist, for it is not based on a canon of the nude such as the Greeks and Florentines attained to. And Sienese sculpture suffered from the same lack of scientific preparation. Both schools, therefore, when they reached out toward certain identical modes of expression, fall necessarily into the same exaggerations, for before Michelangelo at all events, the possibilities of bad taste in sculpture were narrowly limited. 5"1 There is no way to know where Berenson might have carried this analogy between the sc ulpture of Siena and that of China. The key observation in this unfinished essay returns to a point he had made in the 1903 article concerning the role of the nude in the artistic traditions he di c usses. Although the gap that Berenson posits between the art of Florence and that of Siena certainly is not as great as tha t separating the art of Europe and East Asia, he is absolutely correct in pointing out the absence of the nude of a source of canonical aesthetic or spiritual values in China or Japan, and he appears to have been one of the :first to note this profound difference.55

In the preface to his volume on Sienese painting mentioning a planned essay on Far Ea tern Art, Berenson expresses the hope that he would "find the leisure to treat the subject more fully and more generally." He never did. During the 1910s he concentrated on collecting rather than writing about Asian art, and none of his subsequent publications include more than passing references to the art of any culture outside Europe.56 What Berenson had achieved, however, by the time of his 1903 article on Sassetta, was a deep insight into the fundamental qualities of Chinese and Japanese pictorial art, above all the centrality of animated brushwork and the strong emphasis on two-dimensional design.

Focusing intently on their formal qualities, he also described polarities between European and East Asian art that are essentially the same as those accepted by most scholars writing today.57 Within hi own field of specializa tion, the contra t Beren on drew between art in Europe and in East Asia provided a rhetorical model for analyzing regional schools of Renaissance painting from a completely new perspective. It is now rare for scholars to venture serious observations about the art of cultures remote from th eir own areas of expertise.

Berenson did so at a time when the risk of being accused of academic poaching or morally suspect cultural appropriation was less severe, and the potential for achieving fre h insights perhaps was greater.

34

So

111 s TFH1 0L si 1 c 1osi-:

lunc h excep ted, I s penl in a

Bere n on's collection of Asian

4 . Levine 2004, p. 104: see also

12. Berenson lo Senda Bere nson

arl is doc ume nted in Roberl

Levine 2005.

Ab bolt, Oc lol er 17, 1892; ibid. ,

sorl of dream of ecslasy before

p. 37.

Chine e and Japanese paintings.

1991. My own s lud y is deeply inde bted lo Lhis work, as well

5. Barolsky 1984, Calo 1994,

as lo Ludi es by Paul Barols ky,

Calo 1994a.

They revealed a new world lo 13. This s lance is well um-

me." Ibid., p. 371.

marized by Calo 1994, p. 171:

Mary Calo, Mi c hael Rocke, and

" By e ncouraging the viewer to

19. Strehlke 2009, pp. 37-38.

Carl Slrehlke cited below. l

6. Barolsky 1984. p. 57. For

am grateful lo J o e ph Connors ,

German sources of Berenson's

be respon ive lo artistic form

form er director of Villa I Talli , for his kind hospilalily durin g

aesthetic theories, including hi s

itself as the vehicle throu gh

20. I am grateful lo Yukio Lippit

conlac ts with Adolf Hilde brand

which significance is expre sec!,

for his help in ide ntifying this

my visits lo I Tatli in 2007 a nd

a nd Hermann Obrisl. see Calo

Berenson sought lo deflect

painting. For a reprodu ction a nd

2008 and lo his colleagues,

1994, chapter 2. For a succinc l

atle nlion from the interpretation

Lhal of the Korin creen, ee:

especially Fiorella Superbi

accounl of Lhe origins of formal-

of subject."

www.mfa.org/collections.

Giofreddi, Giovanni Pagliarulo,

ist criticis m and Lhe 11rrilings 14. Bernard Bere nson, The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance, with an l nclex to Their Works (New York, 1894), pp. v-vi. This passage was

21. Bere nson 1967, pp. 68-69.

Mic hael Roc ke, and Louis

of Roger Fry, see Elizabe th

Waldman for their assistance

Prellejohn , Beauty and Art

and advice. I am grateful also

(Oxford , 2005), chaplers 3 and 4.

lo Carl Strehlke for sharin g wilh me while s till in manuscripl his

7. Calo 1994, c hapler 2,

22. Barolsky 1984, p. 5<1; Walter Paler, The R enaissance (London , 1982), pp. 48-49. 53.

essay on Berenson and As ian

e pecially pp. 62-64, 178-79;

incorporated in lo Lhe lexl of la ler

art ( lre hlke 2009). My thanks

Calo 1994a. For his defe nse of

editions of Lhis book; compare

23 . Berenson 1896, p. 363.

go also lo Alan Chong, William

Mati sse, see Bernard Berenson.

Berenson 1967, p. 13 .

Marianne Marlin, " Some

Hood, former di rec Lor of Villa

I Talti Waller Kai er, usa n E.

" De Guslibus," The Nation

American conlribulions to early twentieth-century abslraclion,"

(November 12, 1908), p. 461.

15. Samuels 1979, pp. 195-205.

Slrehlke who read and com-

8. Berenson also collected

16. Fenollosa's colleclion and

1980). p. 163, has called this

mented on drafts of this essay.

Persia n minia lures; di scussed by

Lhat of William Sturgis Bigelow,

passage a n "ecstalic near-

Ettinghausen 1961 a nd Soucek

also acquired in Japan, arri ved

orientalization of Botticelli."

l. The four Buddhist objecls on the side board in Lhe salon , previously known as the Music Room, were placed there during

2001. l have nol a lte mpted to

a l the Museum of Fine Arts in

Compare Roger Fry (Fry 1926, p.

deal wilh Lhese works as Lhey

1889, inslan lly maki ng Boston's

73): " Botticelli is another case of

do nol appear Lo have played a

holdings of Japanese arl Lhe

an essentially Chinese artis t. He,

significan l role in Lhe formation

finest in the Western world. For

loo, relies almosl e nlirely on lin-

Berenson's life time, th ough

of Bere nson's aes theti c theori es.

a hi story of Lhe Museu m of Fine

ear rh ythms for Lhe organization

Art Magazine 54, no. 10 (June

elson, David Rosand , and Carl

their positions on thi s ma sive

Arls' collection of Asian arl,

of his design. a nd his rhythm has

piece of furniture have cha nged.

9. See Roc ke 2001 for

see Lhe essay by Ja n Fonlein

jusl that flowing continuity, thal

Compare a 1954 photograph of Berenson s ta nding in front or

Berenson's collection of books

in Selected Masterpieces of Asian Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston (Bo Lon, 1992).

in Lhe finer examples of Chine e

1 7. Fe nollosa 1894. The

24. Berenson 1896, p. 363.

on Asian arl.

the e works of arl publi shed as the frontispi ece of} iel 1964.

melodi ous ease whic h we find pai nting."

10. Cohe n 1992, c ha pter l.

The positions of the other Asia n work al Villa I Ta tti illustrated

11. Bere nson lo Mary Coslelloe,

Dailokuji paintings are the

l e nne lh Clark nolecl Lhe

in this essay have been altered

January 1892; A. K. McComb,

subjects of We n C. Fong, The

re embla nce between Lhe flames

since Berenson's death. It

Lohans and a Bridge to Heaven (Washington , 1958).

in Boui celli 's illuslralion of

was Walter I aiser who placed

eel ., T he Selected Leuers of Bernard B erenson (Bos Lon,

Lhe ano di Pie tro next lo Lhe

1964), p. 13. Around thi s

See also: Wu 1997. pp. 160- 67;

and representations of fire in

altarpi ece seen in figure 2 . I am

sa me period, 1ary nolecl Lha l

Leri ne2004; Lerine2005.

Japanese painting. Kenneth

grateful lo Waller I aiser a nd

Berenson's las les were enlirely

Giovanni Pagliarulo for Lhis

in accord wilh those of his friend ,

18 . Berenson Lo Mary Coslelloe,

the painler Egislo Fabbri , who

October 26, 1894: Rocke 2001,

Clark, Drawings by Scindro Botticellifor Dante's Divine Comedy (New York, 1976), pp.

pp. 370-71. Berenson also

20-21.

informa tion.

" measured all painting agai ns l 2. Hadley 1987, p. 524.

3 . Ibid ., p. 531.

Can lo 26. from "Il Purgalorio,'"

Pissarro, Degas, Velazquez, and

me nti ons his vis il to the museum

the Ja pa nese, a nd preferred

in a le lter of Lhe same dale lo his

25. As early as Lhe la les 1850s.

s is ler, Senda Bere nson Abbou:

Lhe American painter John

a ndro Bollicelli lo Giova nni Be llini ." Calo 1994, p. 47.

"From 10 lo 5, wilh Lhe hour for

35

La Farge collected prinls by

l-L11rn IS T

Hokusai (Adam 1985). and in

31. The concept of the arlist's

1870 publis hed an early lreal-

ha nd "exploring variali ons on

menl of Japanese arl (La Farge

il own s lructures, questioning

1870). Fe nollo a's firsl exhibilion in Boslon , in 1890, was of

and modifyi ng initial decisions,"

Hokusai's painlings. Hokusai's

Rosane!, Drawing Acts: Studies

la ndscapes, bird and flowers,

in Graphic Expression and R epresentation (New York, 2001), p. 52.

and figure s ubjecls of all kinds were kn own also, though les

is brillianlly explored by David

reliably, throu gh reproduc tions of his paintings, ske tchbook , a nd drawing manual in tudie such as Louis Gonse's L'art

japonais , firs l published in Paris, 1883 (2 vols.).

26. Fenollosa 1894, p . 11.

32. Walter Pater, The R enaissance (London, 1982), p. 106.

33. usan Bush and Hsia-yen Shih, eds., Early Chinese Texts on Painting (Cambridge, Mass., 1985). p . 60 [adapted].

34. Berenson 1967, pp. 84-85.

ha ndscroll a ttributed lo Li Gonglin, Mountain Villa , which depicts lhe arti t' re treat in the Longmian Mountains of Anhui

36. Bere nson 1954, p. 94.

province. Although the scroll da tes from after Li's lifetime, it appears to preserve Li 's ori ginal

37. Berenson 1967. pp. 120-22.

See also Berenson 1954, p. 96.

composition. See Roberts 1991, pp. 32-43, a nd Harrist 1998. A

draperies. Nol covering a nude

47. Ibid .

cally. In earlier phases of this

but ranging free calligraphia berration , the Chinese achieved

48. Ibid., p . 20 49. Ibid. , p . 8. For the cult of contemporaries, see Strehlke

39. Samuels 1979, p. 348. T he

probably da ting from the twelfth

Berensons purchased the paint-

century. is al o related lo the

ing with funds provided by Mary.

s tyle of Li Gonglin in ils use of

I am graleful to Carl Strehlke for

a monochrome lechnique known

this information.

as baimiao, or "plain drawing,"

40. Berenson 1903, p. 7.

1991, pp. 27-31.

41. Wu 1997, p. 165.

lion, effects majestic and convinci ng. Europeans scarcely competed with them, and indeed

2009. To the examples of a

degenerated into the meaning-

fascinatio n with Saint Francis

less penwork that bores me so

among late nineteenth-century

in Northern European designs

aesthetes and intellectuals that

of the so-called 'Transitional

Strehlke cites can be added a

Period."' Ha nna Kiel, ed.,

passage from He nry Adams tha t Buddhism and Franciscan

The B ernard B erenson Treasury (London , 1964), p.

372. Berenson's insight into how

ideals: "St. Francis himself

Chinese artist foc used their

suggests a n affinity between

a tte ntion on the calligraphic re n-

western world ever made to an

dering of drapery rather than on

oriental incarnation of the divine

the texture or form of the huma n

essence." Henry Adams, Jltlount

body is a phenomenon that John

Saint Michel and Chartres (New York, 1986), p. 17.

Hay explores, independently of

50. Berenson 1903, pp. 32, 35.

John H ay, "The body invisible in

Berenson, in a n important essay on early figure painting. See Chinese Art?" Body, Subject

51. Berenson 1909, p. vii.

collection, In the Palace,

impressive effecls, chiefly in two-dimension al rep res en ta-

38. Calo 1994, p. 75.

second handscroll in Bere nson's

for which Li was famed. Roberls

46. Ibid ., p. 19.

- the nearest approach the

35. Ibid ., p . 82.

E uropeans took to exaggeratedly weepi ng a nd billowing

aint Francis among Berenson's

27. Berenson later acquired for his own colleclion an importa nt

45. Ibid.

and Power in China (Chicago, 1994), pp. 42-77.

52. Berenson 1918.

56. Berenson did contin ue to 53. In his letter to Isabella Gardner of August 18, 1917

ac knowledge in private correspondence and diary e ntries

from Vallombrosa, Berenson

throughout his life his admira tion

report that "I have been writing

of Chinese art, above all Chinese

latterly on Sienese painting, and

landscape painting of the Song

but for the shindy [war], should

dynasty, a nd contin ued to collect

very soon bring out a book about

books on Asian art. In general, however, his enthusiasm for

28. Berenson 1970, vol. 1, p. 25; vol. 3, fig. 72-1905. Compare

42. Berenson 1903, p. 8.

it. The public has other things

Louis Gonse, who describes

Bac king up his own observations,

to think of, and I hall put it off.

non-Western art seems to have

Hokusai as " the Rembrandt,

Berenson quoles a description of

Meanwhile some of it will appear

waned after his intense period of

lhe Callol. the Goya, and the

lhe painting by " tha t exq uisite

in Art in America. I s uppose

collecti ng just before and during

Daumier of Japa n." Loui Gonse,

appreciator of ino-Ja pa nese

you see that Mag. don't you?"

the First World War. Toward

L'art japonais (Paris, 1883; reprint: London , 2003), vol. 1, p. 270.

arl, Mr. E. F. Fenollosa": "The

Hadley 1987, p . 604.

the encl of his life he concluded

picture is s lartling." Fenollosa

54. Berenson Archive,

most valuable of all the arts

1894, pp. 24-25.

Villa I Tatti.

from beyond our pale, can offer

43. Berenson 1903, p. 13.

55. Berenson returned to

29. Berenson 1970, vol. 1, p.

168; vol. 3, fig. 469-1017.

30. Ibid., vol. l , p. 170; vol. 3, fig. 475-1069.

mys tical significance of this

that "even Chinese, by far the

student of visual representation

44. Ibid.

ment that our painters have not

November 27: "Neglecting the

equaled or surpassed." Berenson 1954, p. 263.

nude, Chinese and laler Gothic

36

its landscape only, as an achieve-

his poinl in a diary e ntry of

So

1n srF11 10L s 11 ci.osE

57. Beren on's view tha t in comparison with tha t of Europe, the painting of Eas t Asia is more imbued with "spirit" is echoed in thi s passage by Wen C. Fong: "There is a critical differe nce between the Chine e approac h to painting and the Western approach to painting. Beginning with the Greeks, who saw art as mimesis, or the 'imitation of nature,' We tern pic torial representation was directed a t once toward the conquest of realistic appearance and the fulfillment of a n idealistic classical norm of beauty. Pictorial representation for the Chine e, on the other hand, a ttempts to create neither realis m nor ideal form alone. The Western painter has always a ttempted to achieve illusion by concealing the pictorial medium, while the Chinese painter has sought to capture, through calligraphic brushwork, the spirit beyond physical like ness." Wen C. Fong, B eyond R epresentation: Chinese Painting and Callig raphy, 8th- 14th Century (New York, 1992), p . 4 a nd note 7, pp. 9-10. Writing in a similar vein , a nd echoing Berenson, Shane McCausland c harac terizes Chinese painting as a tradition that "looked beyond the representa tion of things." Shane McCausla nd,

The First Masterpiece of Chinese Painting: The Admonitions Scroll ( 1ew York, 2003), p. 139.

Okakura l{akuzo TH E DIST ANCE BETW EEN EAST AN D W EST

Nagahiro Kinoshita

Okakura Kakuzo (1863-1913) lived in Boston a century ago, when he often visited Isabella Stewart Gardner's museum. For a decade, he spent half of each year in working at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, while living the other part of the year in Japan. Through his fri endships with Isabella Gardner (1840-1924), John La Farge (1835-1910), William Sturgis Bigelow (1850-1926), and other members of Boston's intellectual and artistic community, he must have had many opportunities to consider the meaning of beauty, the values of art, and the distance between East and West.

Ten years is not a negligible period. Okakura's thinking matured because of his experiences in the nited States, which must have been surprisingly new for him. What he gained from living there must have been tremendously different from his previous experiences. What is particularly important for us to realize is that Okakura was unable to share many aspects of the effects of Boston with the people of Japan. This becomes clear when we closely examine and compare his works written in Japan and in the United States. Indeed, there is already a considerable di tance between Okakura's discourses written in English and those written in Japanese during his las t decade. It is clear that the Japanese of that period could not understand what he had been thinking while in Bos ton.

In fact, the very distinction between Okakura's name in Japan - Okakura Tenshin - and in the English-speaking world - Okakura Kakuzo - began as a consequence of this gulf in geography and attitude. Okakura had already used Tenshin as a pen name in letters to intimate friends and family members, as well as a signature on poems. But he never used Tenshin in published texts, preferring his birth name, Okakura Kakuzo.

In ovember 1913, shortly after his death, a memorial ceremony was held at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, which served as the national fine art academy. On this occasion a monk gave Okakura the posthumous Buddhist name ~R:::R1L,\ Shaku-no-Tenshin. S haku literally means "saint" in the Buddhist tradition. The name Tenshin literally means the "spirit of

39

Kl\OSlllT 路I

heaven." In April 1914, eight months after Okakura's death, the Nippon Bijutsuin (Japan Art Institute), a private art association that Okakura had founded in 1898, wa reestablished by his disciples, including Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958), Shimomura Kanzan (1873-1930), and others. On that occasion, a shrine to Tenshin (Tenshin reisha) wa built in the courtyard of the in titute. This prepared the basis for calling him Tenshin and established the intent to worship him.

From ancient times, Japan and the countries of Eas t Asia maintained the conven tion of giving a special name to the dead - a posthumous title. For example, Kukai (774-835), the monk who introduced niikk yo, an esoteric form of ancien t Buddhism, to Japan in the ninth century, was called Kobodaishi. Even now we call him I obodaishi with some familiari ty and respect. There was perhaps a similar impulse in using the name Tenshin to designate Okakura as the founder and pioneer of modern Japanese painting. However, there was also a s trong political intention in the use of the pos thumous name. The name Tenshin set Okakura onto a national pedes tal.

Two decades after Okakura's death, Japan fell under the political control of the military and the nation's terri torial ambitions in Asia began to grow. The phrase "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" (daitoa k yoei-k en) was invented and became Japan's slogan. Okakura Tenshin was placed in the limelight as a prophet and poet who expressed the ideals of the Greater Eas t Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

From the 1920s to the 1930s, Okakura Tenshin, who had once written that "Asia is one," was regarded as a prophe t who prepared the way for the Showa Era. In 1932 a large statue of Okakura by Hiragushi Denchu (1872- 1979), one of his disciples, was erec ted on the campus of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts . On the back wall at the base of this sta tue the phrase "Asia is One" was engraved (fig. 2). The monument serves in the first place to honor the founder of the school, but at the same time it celebrates Okakura as the prophe t of Showa Japan who declared "Asia is One" to the Japanese people.

THE RANGE OF IDEALS ASIA is one. T he H imalayas divide, only to accentuate, two mighty civilisations, t he Chinese with its communism of Confucius, aud the Indian with its individ ualism of t he Vedas. B ut not even t he snowy barriers can interrupt for one moment that broad expanse of love for the U ltimate and Universal, which is t he common thought-inh erit ance of every Asiatic race, enabling t hem to produ ce all the great religions of t he world, and distinguishing them from t hose maritime peoples of t he Mediterranean and the Baltic, who love to dwell on the Particular, imd to search out the means, not the end, of life.

Down to t he days of t he Mohammedan conquest went , by t he ancient highways

The words engraved on the back wall are in English rather than in Japanese, which is exactly how Okakura had written the original text (fig. 3). But one change was made in the inscription, a slight yet highly significant alteration: the 0 in one was capitalized.

Okakura used the phrase "Asia is one" on only a single occasion, in his book T he Ideals of the East with Special R ef erence to the A rt of Japan, published in 1903 . 1 He never wrote or uttered this phrase in Japanese. In fact, when an editor in 19 13 proposed to publish a Japanese translation of the book, Okakura rejected the plan because he felt that this book had been written in has te and was unsatisfactory. 2 This refusal shows how the author

40

A

2. M o nument t o Okakura Tensh i n at the Tokyo School of Fine Art s, with the inscription "As ia is One" 3. Opening passage of Okakura's Ideals of t h e East (London, 1903)

fell about the book: he assigned little valu e to The Ideals of the East , especially in the overall context of his work. everthele s, Lhe slogan "Asia is One" was celebrated by the people of Japan in the 1930s.

Moreover, what has been preserved is nol the original language that Okakura wrote, bul a version changed into Japanese, which gives the false impression Lhal Okakura himself had written it. Consequently, people came to believe that Okakura had crafted the phrase for the birth of the ideals of the Greater Eas t Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Ten years after the statue was erected in the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, a large stone monument created by Yokoyama Taikan was erected in the garden of Okakura's old house in Izura, north of Tokyo on the Pacific Coast. On this monument is inscribed the phrase 2*ffi2! \-;iJ:~ (Ajia wa itsu nari) - a transla tion into clas ic Japanese of Lhe phrase "Asia is One" (:fig. 4).

In the period before and during the Second World War, Taikan was a leading cultural :figure. He spoke of th e greatness of Okakura Ten hin and of the splendor of his thought as represented by the phrase "Asia is One." Among writers, critics, poet , and scholars, Yasuda Yojur6 (1919- 1981) and Asano Akira (1901-1990) in particular wro te many articles and essays that publicized the prophe tic wisdom and grealne s of Okakura Tenshin. 3 4 . Yokoyama Taikan, Monument to Okaku ra at lzu ra, wi th t he i nscri p tion: .52~.B.1.521\-fJ:~ [Asia is One]

It was around this time that a notebook written by Okakura in India in 1902 was found in the closet of one of his descendants. It contained a text urging the Indian people to resist and :fight the English colonial government. Okakura must have written it in has te under the impulse of the necessity of resistance. It begins with the words, " Brothers and Sisters of Asia!" and concludes: The cowards shrink before the brilliant image of freedom. The cautious pause on the threshold of a great revolution. Do they prefer Death in Life to Life in Death? A crisis has now arrived in our history and the dread ordeal has to be faced. 1路 This is a note of agitation tha t does not contain any medita tion or thinking about beauly or art. Since Okakura had even refused to allow the publication of a Japanese translation of T he I deals of the East, we can easily imagine that he wo uld not have agreed Lo the publication of this manuscript. 5 But in Japan during the 1930s, the presumed political message of the note was welcomed. As oon as it was discovered, the Indian noteboo k was translated into Japanese, and published in 1938. Furthermore, a grandiose title was given to the text: T he Awakening of the East . This title has nothing to do with Okakura.

In 1904, while living in Boston, Okakura had published a book entitled T he Awakening of ] apan. 6 When the Indi an notebook was found in 1938, scholars :fictionalized a book that would seem to precede T he Aw akening of Japan. Since then, the notion of a " Quartet of

41

Kl\OSlllTI

01 akura's Engli s h works" has prevailed. BuL Lhis s upposed quartet is a falsification 路whi ch does not represent Okakura's intenLions. Okakura published only three Engli sh books: The Ideals of the East (1903), The Awakening of Japan (1904), and The Book of Tea (1906).

The text given Lhe pos Lhumous title The Awakening of the East should, if anyLhing, be simply called an" npublishecl noLe written in English."

In 1945, Japan surrendered un conditionally. Many of Lhose who had praised Okakura Tenshin and advocated the principals of the Greater Eas t Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere were condemned as war criminals. Okakura him self was similarly criticized. In the encl, however, neither Yokoyama Taikan , Yas uda Yoji1ro , nor Asano Akira were prosecuted. Within Lhree years of the war's encl, Okakura Tenshin received partial vindication. Although his poliLical thought was still regard ed as ultra-na tionali tic, his contribution to the modernization of art was accepLed as unparalleled. The restoration of Okakura Tenshin was firsL proposed by Lhe members of the ippon Bijuts uin, a private art organization known for Nihonga (modern Japanese-style painting) that had been reorganized after Okakura's death in 1913.

Thi s restoration was acco mplished by separating the political and artis tic aspects of Okakura's career. Because of this, recogniLion of Okal ura's significance in the modern art world was revived, 路while the problem of his political role wa simply ignored. The controversy of his association with wartime ideology was eliminated without examination. I think that at the end of th e war it would have been useful to have discussed why Okakura declared "Asia is one" in order to further the moderniza tion of Japanese painting. This would have provided an opportunity to clarify the meaning of Oka kura's work and ideas. But this did noL happen and a consensus developed th at Okakura Tenshin had been unfortunately mis used during the war. It 路was believed that Okakura was comple tely innocent, but had been appropriaLed by the military authorities.

Thi s issue has noL been examined since then. It is s trange that Lhose who work on Ol akura Tenshin , even today, do noL doubL Lhat the notion of "Asia is one" represents the core of Okakura's Lhought. Ho路wever, scholars who s tudy Okakura need to re-consider the full meaning of his phrase "Asia is one" itself as well as whether it acLually represents Lhe cenLral idea of his thought.

This cultural phenomenon is charac teristic of thinking in postwar Japan. Certain ways of thinking and ideas born in wartime have been passed through the postwar period to the present, along with intellectual ac tivities, without any criticism. In the case of Okakura, Lhe concept that "Asia is one" is central Lo Oka ku ra's Lbinking was creaLed in Lhe period of Japanese militarism , and Lhen passed Lo Lhe pos twar period. The principal change was the jettisoning of the ulLra-naLionalisLuse of Okakura.

In the same \Nay, the unfortuna te practice of using the name "Tenshin" has been preserved. "Tenshin" was given to Okak ura as a pos thumous epithet, but the name has come to s Land for the image of Okakura as someone who accurately predicted and gave intellectual s ubs Lance to the ideals of the greater J apane e empire.

42

We cou ld alrnosL say LhaL employing the name "Okakura Tenshin" for Okakura Kakuzo is similar Lo using conLemptible imperialis t terms lil e "Shina" for China. From th e middl e of Lhe Meiji Era to Lhe end of World War II, the Japanese cus Lomarily referred to China as "Shina" and to E orea a "Chosen" (the Japan ese rendition of Lhe Korean dynas ty Joseon) or "Hant6" (literally, penin ula) - all terms wiLh cond escending connota tions.

The belief Lhat "A ia is one" is fundamental to Okakura's Lhought is in fact supported by the prac Lice of calling him " Okal ura Tenshin." As we have seen , Okakura used th e phrase only on a single occasion and only in English, not in Japanese. Furthermore, this English phrase was written under a special si tuation relating to the conditions of colonial India. Rather than questioning Lhe belief that "Asia is one" is central to Okakura, scholars have s truggled with the problem of assigning specific meaning(s) to the phrase. o convincing explanation has been advanced for the meaning of the phrase. Nearly everyone regards it as an enigma, because in pracLice Asia cannot be a single entity, at least noL a political unit, regardless of any sense that Asia might be bonded together in artistic or spiritual terms. But people have continued to declare this to be Okakura's ideal in order to sugges t his greatness. Once we adopt the point of view that "Asia is one" represents the core notion of Okakura Tenshin, we are tempted to read all of Okakura's discourses as an aid to deduce the real meaning of Lhe sentence.

For example, let us consider a passage from The Ideals of the East : Thus Japan is a museum of Asiatic civiliza tion; and ye t more than a museum, because Lhis singular genius of th e race leads iL to dwell on all phases of the ideals of the past, in that spirit of living Advaitism (non-dualism) which welcomed the n ew without losing the old. 7 This can work to explain the meaning of "Asia is one." In a lecLure he gave at Museum of Fine Arts in 1912, Okakura asserted: At this moment we are on the road to fundamentally important conclusions in Lh e history of Ea t Asiatic art. It is true our knowledge is ye t in its infancy. But we are now able, 路without misLake, Lo ske tch the hi story of art, as a whole, and not as isolated phenomena in India, China, and Japan. It was perhaps fortunate that the movemenL began in Japan, because Japan holds the key to all Asiatic art. 8 Many scholars have used this passage to reinforce Lhe notion of "Asia is on e." The more we look for clues to verify his Asianist a tLiLudes, the more fundamenLal the phrase appears . This has been the locus and the temporary result of studies on Okakura Tenshin ince 1950.

Takeuchi Yo himi (1910- 1977), an important left-wing critic, was the :firsL to apply a lefti t perspective to Okakura as an Asianist. 9 However, despite his criticism of Okakura, Takeuchi did not raise any questions regarding why Okakura aid that "Asia is one" only a single Lime. On Lhe contrary, Takeuchi tarted his discussion by saying thaL Okakura is a

43

unique AsianisLin modern Japan for having declared, "Asia is One."

In Oka kura studies, it has become a given that Okakura is a pan-Asiani st. Indeed, the notion has the status of an absolute premise. Why has this idea been accepted without any doubt or debate? What kind of thinking lies behind this approach?

Perhaps one reason for this absence of debate is that persons of culture, like Yokoyama Taikan and other artists and writers who had admired the so-called prophecy of Okakura Tenshin in the pre-war period , were not prosecuted as war criminals. During the war, Taikan was ac tive in propagating the ideal of the Greater Eas t A ia Co-Prosperity Sphere by serving as chairman of the Association of Patriotic Artists in Japan ( ihon Bijutsu Hokokukai). He painted numerou s views of MounL Fuji, sunrises over the Pacific Ocean, and other similarly patriotic the me . Moreover, he offered these works to the Imperial Household and military offices (fig. 5), to which he also donated the money he earned by selling his 路works.

Taikan even presented paintings to Hitler and Mussolini. (See Appendix for the full extent of his activities in support of the military regime.)

The fac t that Taikan and other artists were not prosecuted as war criminal seems to have been one reason why the conception of "Asia is One" has survived in the way it has. The imperialist expression is therefore a living idea which has survived from the war. Furthermore, man y people continue Lo regard the concept as Okakura's most important idea.

Thus, after having wiped out the elements which might conflict with the postwar streams of thought, Lhe image and conception of Okakura Tenshin Lha t was created in 路wartime remains in democratic Japan. The thought created in wartime - based on slogans such as " kichiku bei'ei" (English and American are nothing buL demons and beasts) - has continued in the posL-war era, in pite of atte mpts to rebuild along Wes tern lines.

Why is such a paradoxical misunder Landing, which obscures the facts, possible in the case of Okakura? I think that one reason lies in Okakura's own thinking. IL lies in the distance Okakura himself created, especially in his experiences in the Wes t, and the United Sta tes in parti cular, which he did not convey to the people in Japan.

Until quite recently, most Japanese beli eved that Okakura' understanding of European culture wa very poor - a misperception which dales to the 1920s and 1930s . Many Japane e

44

5. Yo koyo mo Taiko n,

Japanese Spirit Emanates Radiance (Se iki h6k6), 1942. Su m i i nk ond co lor on p ope r. Th e N ovol Hi story M useum, th e Fi rs t Service Sc h oo l of th e Jopo n ese M ari ti me Se lf D efense Force

considered Okakura to be a slrong naLionalisL- even an ulLra-nalionalis L- and Lhi s resulLed in his s lrong s upport for national painling, Nihonga. A famous slory has been used to argue, mi sta kenly I believe, for hi ultra-na tionalist feelings. Walking in Japanese costume on Lhe s treets of ew York, an American asked him , "which -nese are you? Japanese, or Chinese?" to whi ch Okakura qui ckly respond ed, " Which -kee are you, yankee or monkey?" 10 Such an episode has Lypically been used to slmw his paLrioLic feelings. The common und erstanding among mos t Japanese has been Lha l while Okal ura was skilled in speaking and writing English, he did not welcome the imperialis t invasion of European civilization.

Quite recently a profe or wrote that he made a big di covery in finding Oka kura' ri ch knowledge of European culture and he declared that Okakura was not such a narrow-minded na tionalist as generally believed. But actually, the very fact that the scholar had to pronounce this as such a discovery shows furth er evidence that the mythology of Okakura Tenshin and the limited notion of "Asia is One" s till s urvive.

Calling Okakura Kakuz5 "Okakura Tenshin" and believing that the phrase "Asia is One" represents the core of the Okakura's thought are manifes tations of a myth created during Japan's wars in Asia and the Pacific. And as long as we maintain the c ustom of calling him Tenshin, the mythology of "Asia is One" will continue to live on.

Both "Tenshin" and "Asia is One" are lingering elements of a mythology created in the age of militari m. Our present task should be to make this ph enomenon clear, explain iLs historical sources, and to build a new image of Okakura Kakuz5. Such a new image will be one thal is liberaled from conventional thinking and a Lradition of false s tories with political overtones.

One reason behind the myth of Okakura has to do with Okakura's own failure to convey his experiences and thoughts acquired in Bos ton to the people in Japan. In order to compare the differences between what he thou ght in Bos ton and 路what he related of it in Japan, we need to investigate Okakura's ac tivities in Bo Lon, while s tric tly separating them from what he mentioned in Japan. Then we should verify the reasons he could nol adequately Lransmil his ideas to artis ts like Taikan, Shimomura Kanzan, and others.

This represents the tas k for those involved in Okakura s tudies. Until now, almost all researchers on Okakura, 路w hether they refer to him as Okakura Kakuz5 or Okakura Tenshin, have not sufficiently paid attention to the differences of meaning between his English and Japanese wriLings. Mos t researchers in Japan mainly s tudy his discourses in Japanese, which means that they have interpreted his English writings through their transla tions in Japanese.

It 路will be an imporlant tas k for future researchers not only to read his texts in his original language, but to consider where and when he wrote them.

There are many s tatement and id eas Okakura wrote only in English a nd never m Japanese. "Asia is one" is one of them. Almost all of the talks Okakura delivered at the Mu eum of Fine Arts in Boston also belong to this category, and some parts of the lecture he gave at the 1904 world's fair in Saint Louis were also not conveyed to the people of Japan.

45

Kl\O S /1 1'1 I

Only afler his death were his English Lexls publis hed in Japanese. 11 These Lransla tions are problemati c in th e e ' treme. Almo Lall conlain distortions because Lh ey were made before the Second World War. The nuances of Okakura's English were translated into Japanese und er the influ ence of imperialism.

There are olher problems. One example of Lhe Lhings that Okakura never staled in Japanese buL wrote about repeatedly in English is his slatement on the Iippon Bijulsuin, which Okakura rendered a the "Hall of Fine Arts." In English, he openly praised the Bij utsuin as representing the ideal of modern Japan, saying thaLiL "represents th e new old school of Japanese Art." 12 But in Japan, in front of the members of Nippon Bijutsuin, he never praised them, nor did he give the m any favorable words. In Japanese, he left only numerous critici ms of Lhe school and exhortations for the members to develop themselve .

There are significant differences be tween 路what he wrote to English readers and those he wrote to the Japanese. These differences derive from the distance between his experiences in Boston and in Japan . In the United Stales, around the beginning of the twentieth century, Okakura encountered many different people and events through his fri endship with Isabella Gardner. He may have struggled to diges t them all and put them into words, and this may explain why he did not convey his Boston experiences in Japanese. He may have needed more time to process and understand his own experiences in Boston. On th e other hand, Americans th emselves 路were only beginning to grasp the notion of Japan and Asia. Oka! ura's encounter with Boston was formed within a double structure of the mind: he was alte mpting Lo appreciate the West while also working to introdu ce the East to Americans. I believe Lhat Okakura died in Lhe middle of this struggle to build a bridge of understanding between East and West. His thinking was unfinished.

It remains th e task of 01 akura s tudies to explore further the complexities of his work, to correc t misinterpre tations that have often been rooted in the prejudices of times and politics, and to allow his texts to breathe new life, based on a fuller understanding th e places, times, and circumstances under which they were written.

46

APPEXDIX: Yokoyama Ta ikan's c:o nlribulions Lo officia l

1930: April. Inaugurated a major exhibition of Nihonga pain ling, the Mostra cl'arte giapponese, in the presence or Mussolini al Lhe Pa lazzo delle espos izion i. Rome.

August. Wrote a n essay, "An oa lh for ou r fath erl and" (Sokoku e fukwn ei no ji), in the R eport of the Exhibition of Japanese Painting in Rome.

June. o rre red a painting lo the l(ashima hrine.

September. After the 29th a nnual exhibi tion of ippon Bijutsuin, he offered a painting or Mount Fuji (fi g. 5) Lo th e navy ofuce.

October. Ex hibited a painting of a pine Lree al the 10th Ann iversa ry Ex hibition of the Fou nding of Manc hukuo (Manshii.kolru k enkoku jusshiinen. lwislw.lru /.ren 'n.oga-te n).

Oc tober. Cave a speec h al Lhe meeting ce lebrating Okakura al Ka nda.

Decembe r. Erec ted a monument with engra ved calligraphy in clas ical Japanese style (Ajia wa it.su n.ari) in the ga rden of Okakura's house in lzura.

1932: January. Exhibited painti ngs al the Exhibition Lo Encourage the People Di patched Lo Manchurian E mpire.

1943: May. Elec ted the first c hairman of the Association of Patri otic Artists in Japan.

1934: September Lo October. Exhibited a painting of Mount Fuji al the Associated Exhibition of Manchu kuo and Japa n (Nichiman. b~jutrnten.) held in Manchukuo. All Lhe works exhibited were offered Lo the emperor of 1anchukuo.

1944: February. Exhibited fi ve paintings al Lhe Exh ibiti on Lo Offer Lhe Fund for Ballleships organized by th e artists or the Imperia l Academy of Fine Arts.

May. Exhib ited a pa in ting of the sunri se a l Lhe 8Lh Exhibition of Marine Art or Great Japan (Dai-Nihon /.raiyo bijiLtsuten ).

July. Exhibited Lwo paintings at Lhe Exhi bi tion Lo Offer the Fund for Lhe Army orga nized by th e arli ts or the l mpe ri al Academy of Fine Arts.

November. Exhibi ted a painting al the Special Exhibition of Wartime (Senji tolrubetsu b~jiLlSLLte n ) orga nized by Lhe MinisLry of Education.

military a nd imperia l agencies, ] 928-1945 1928: eplember. Presented a s ix-Cold sc ree n Lo Benito Mussolini .

1936: February Lo March. For the first re-orga ni zed Imperia l Academy of Fine Arts Exhibition (Teikoku Biju.tsuin tenranlwi), he presented a s ix-Co ld screen ofa dragon Lo the l mperial Hou ehold.

1937: April. Received the first Order of Cultural Merits.

November. Macie a poster fo r the Na tional Spi ritual Mobili zation Movement (Kokwnin seishin socloin iin.clo).

1938: April. Offered a pa inting of Mounl Fuji Lo Adolf Hitler.

September. Cave a speech, 路'Spirit of Japanese art" (Nihon bijutsil no seishin.), Lo the Hiller Yo uth during thei r visi t Lo Ja pa n.

1939: April. Speech publi shed in the magazine 1' aizo 21. no. 6; the German version was broadcast on internationa l HT. April. Pa rtic ipated in maki ng a gra nd picture ha nclscroll for Lhe Exhibition Lo Celebrate the 2600Lh Anniversary of the Japa nese Emp ir (Kigen 2600nen hosan.ten ).

1940: April. Organi zed the solo Exhib iLion Lo Celebra te Lhe 2600th An ni versary of the Japanese Emp ire (Yolroymna Tailrnn. lrigen.

2600nen h oslrnku lrinenten) a l li Lsukoshi and Takash imaya Deparlmenl Stores, Tokyo, where he exhibited twelve paintings. He offered Lh e gross sales or 楼500,000 lo Lhe Mi litary Office of the Japanese Army a nd Navy.

Octobe r. Exhibited a painting of Mount Fuji in the ri ing un. whi ch he offered to the emperor or Japan, and other views or Mount Fuji Lo the empress a nd empress dowager.

1942: January. Elec ted c hairman of the Associa tion Lo Commemorate Oka kura Tensh in (Okakura Ten.sh in. lseki Ken.sh okai).

Febru ary. Exhibited Lwo paintings al the Exhib ition Lo Offe r the Funds for Warplanes orga ni zed by the membe rs of Nippon Bijulsuin .

Marc h. Exhibited a pa inting al Lhe Exhibiti on Lo Offer the F unds for Warplanes organ ized by pa inters of Nihonga.

47

I( I \flSll IT I

l. Okakura 1903.

2. See Okakura's leller to l oike Motoyasu dated May 17, 1913, in Okakura 1979, vol. 7, pp.

250-5].

3. Yasuda Yojuro paid ho111age Lo Okakura Tenshin in essays such as: "Meiji no seishin- futari no sekaijin" [The spirit of the Meiji era: two cos111opolitan ] in Taikan shijin no on 'ichininsha [The Prince Poets of the Japanese E111pire] (Tokyo: Tokyodo, 1938); '路Okak ura Tenshin : Asia is One ('Ajia wa hitol uda')" [Okakura Tenshin: Asia is One] in Nihong oroku [Famous Messages through the [-fi Lory of Japa n] (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1942). Asano Akira publi shed four books on Okakura Tenshin during the war: fligeki to den to [Tragedy a nd Tradi Lion] (l yo to: Jinbunshoin, 1939); Okaktira Tenshin ronlro [On Okak ura Tenshin] (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1939); Chogy拢i, to Tenshin [Chogyc1and Ten hin] (Tokyo: Chobunkaku. 1944); MeUi bwigalrnshi-lro-Soseki to Ogai to Tenshin [On the History of Me iji Lite rature: Soseki , Ogai and Tenshin] (Tokyo: Banrikaku , l 943). He al o contributed seven arti cles Lo news papers and rnagaz1nes.

4. "The Awakening of the East" in Oka kura 1984, vol. l , p. 168.

5. "The Awakening of the East" was published in Tokyo, 1940,

by Seibunkak u.

6. Okakura 1904 .

Bulletin 9, no. 49 (I 911): Okakura 1984, vol. 2, p. l32.

9. Ta ke uchi Yoshi111i , "Oka kura Te nshin-Ajiakan ni latsu bun111ei hiha n" [Oka kura Tenshin: Civili zation critique fro111 the standpoi nt of AsiaJ, Asahi Journal ( lay 27, 1972). An English translation of this essay appears in R eview of Japanese Culttire and Society 24 (2012).

10. Saito li.yuzo, Okakura Tenshin (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1960).

11. It was not until the 111id-1930s that the complete works of Okakura, including a full Japanese translation or his English books, were published.

Seibu nkaku published a three-volume collected works (Okakura Tenshin zen ho) in 1935-36, and H.ikugeisha published a five-volu111e collected works with the same Litle in 1939; both sets were edited by Okakura's on I az uo.

The Japan Art Institute had published a select tra nslation of Okakura's Engh h writings in 1922, but these volumes were private ed iti ons, not for sale. See Murai and Li1pit2012.

12. Thi s pa sage appears in a n essay he wrote for a smal I exhibition of works by Yokoya ma Ta ikan, Hi shida Shunso ( 1 87Ll~ 1 9 11 ), a nd himomura l anza n, held al the Cen tury Associa tion in New York, April 1904: The Century fl ssociation Exhibition of Paintings by Members of Nippon Bijtitsu-in (New York, 1904). See Okakura l 984, vol. 2.

7. Okakura 1903, pp. 7- 8.

8. '路The nature and valu e of Eastern connoisseurship."

Museum of Fine Art

48

49

Smells and bells B U DDHI SM, CAT H O LIC I SM, AN D T I-I E TH E RA P EUT I C AES T HE TI C I SM O F WILLI AM ST U R G I S BI GE LO W AN D I SA B E LL A ST EWA R T G A RD NE R Thomas A. Tweed

In a le tter of 1902 from I yoto, William Sturgis Bigelow (1850- 1926),

2 . W i l liam St u rg is Bi ge low pos ing in pi lgrim's garb i n Jopon, 1885 . Ph o t og r aph .

Museum of Fine A rts, Bos t on

Isabella Stewart Gardner's Beacon Hill neighbor, family fri end, fellow art collec tor, and Japanese travel companion, recorded the following limerick: "There was on old lady of Yarrow who wa carried to church in a barrow.

When it s tucl in the aisle sh e re marked with a smile 'They build these here churches too narrow."' 1 As with that woman memorialized in the limerick, Bigelow and Gardner found the aisles of mos t churches - and the thresholds of Buddhis t temples - too narrow for their broadly inclusive faith . In this essay, I consider their personal piety, especially their shared interes ts in Buddhism and Catholicism. Along the way, I will try to answer a few rela ted ques tions : Why were Gardner and Bigelow attrac ted to Buddhism and Ca tholicism? Was Bigelow drawn to both traditions for similar reasons? Was Gardner? What, if anything, unified their idiosyncratically cornbinative faith and what, if anything, did the two of them have in common spiritually? And , finally, what do 路we learn about each of them - and other late-Vic torians - by comparing their religious sens ibilities?

I argu e tha t although they differed in some ways - Gardner was an Anglo-Catholic with ome sympathy for Buddhism and Bigelow was a Buddhis t with some sympathy for Ca tholicism - they shared a great deal. To pul it simply, they embraced a religion of s mells and bells, a Rom antic piety that welcomed som e elements of "Buddhis m" and " Catholicism," especially artifac ts, environm ents, and ritual Lhal enlivened the senses, evoked Lhe beautiful , and s tirred the emotions.2 This transreligioLLS faith also had a pragmatic psychological dimen ion, so we might call their shared piety a therapeutic a estheticism, a religiousl y :figured quest to confront suffering and enhance joy. After discussing th eir attrac tion Lo Buddhism and to Catholicism, I end by identifying four common tl1 emes in their therape utic aes theticism, including their inclination to emphasize beauty, ease suffering, accept authority, and limit ecumenism.

51

T11 I.Fil

TIIER.\ PE TIC AESTIIETICISl\C: TIIE BlTDDIIIST ATTRACTION

A few preliminary observations about the cultu ral context mi ght help us understand their attrac tion to Buddhism. 3 First, there was a spiritual crisis at th e time, and some Victori ans in crisis turned to Buddhism. Second , some Americans a ttracted to Buddhism converted to the tradition, but many more might be called sympathizers, tho e 路who expressed interest but never fully or exclusively embraced it. Third, those who expressed attraction between 1875 and 1912 had some things in common, but three distinc t types of Buddhist ympathizers and adherenls emerged in late-Victorian America. Esoteric Buddhists empha ized hidden sources of religious truth and sought a nonmaterial realm populated by beings, ancestors, and masters, who can be contacted by religiou prac tices like seances or by extraordinary states of consciousness. Rationalis t Buddhists, who emphasized the light of reason, dismissed e oterics as fraud s. Inf1uenced by Enlightenment rationalism, Augus te Comte's po itivism, and Herbert Spencer's evolutionism, rationalists focu eel on reason - and not emotion or revelation - as the means of attaining religious truth. For Romantic Buddhists, the third type, the attraction to Buddhism wa shaped by the philosophical and aesthetic influences of Romanticism German Romantics like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and American Romantics like Ralph Waldo Emerson, with their emphasis on feeling and on nature. And their faith was part of an immersion into a Buddhist culture, especially Japanese culture: its art, architecture, music, drama, and literature as well as its religion. Romantics focused on aesthe ti c and imaginative rather than rational or occult approaches to religious meaning. They tended to be more privileged and have th e means to travel. Finally, Buddhist advocates and their Christian opponents portrayed the Asian tradition in diverse ways, since they could not agree if Buddhi m seemed more Protestant or more Catholic - or really not like religion at all.

What about Bigelow and Gardner? How would we characterize them in terms of this typology of Buddhist sympathizers and adherents? There are some hints of occult interests.

Isabella tried to meet with Theosophy's co-founder, Mada me Blavatsky, while she was traveling in India in 1884. Blavatsky 路wa away at the time, but Isabella spoke with other Theosophi sts there and even decided to ubscribe to their periodical, The Theosophist. 1 Bigelow, who dismissed the Theosophists, nonetheless expressed some views that might be characteri zed as aligned with Western occultism. Mirroring the views of the Theosophists he ridiculed, Bigelow propo eel in a le tter from Tokyo in the 1880s that "Thibet is the great center of knowledge, from which it spreads both ways, and there if anywhere, are preserved the facts which the West has lost with the burning of the Alexandrian library and the extinction of the Rosicrucians."

In another letter, he told a Japanese Buddhist priest that he thought Buddhist ideas paralleled those of Western Spiritualists, and he suggested tha t Japan seemed promi ing for psychi cal research: " I have come across one [Buddhi st] sect whose higher instruc tion is wholly done by thoughL transference. I guess this is the place for P.R." 5 Despite these hints of occult intere t, both Bigelow and Gardner were clear examples of the Romantic type. Along with Fenollosa, Bigelow sludied Buddhism formally at a temple in Otsu, Japan, and received the precepts of Tendai Buddhism there in 1885. Bigelow was drawn by the aesthetics of ritual prac tice, as his unpublished notes indicate: "In Tendai and Shingon they use the old forms of North ern Buddhism. Have kept the ritual very closely. Very

52

S11FLIS \\\)BF\ IS

beautiful ritual." 6 So he can be characterized as a Romantic Buddhist adherent. Since no one disputes Bigelow's status as a Buddhist ad heren t, and I have written about him already, le t me focus on Gardner, whom Buddhist scholars, including me, have underemphasized or overlooked. By juxtaposing her with Bigelow, however, and si tuating that comparison in the context of Romantic a ttraction to the tradition, we ee Gardner and Bigelow - and the hi tory of Buddhism in the United States - from a slightly different angle of vi ion.

3. Jo hn S. Sa rg ent,

Portrait of Isobel/a Stewart Gordner, l 888. Oil on canvas. Isabel la Stewart Gardner Museum 4 . Three Buddhas on the south wal l of the Chinese Room, Isabel la Stewart Gordner Museum.

Photograph, 1961

I abella Gardner did not formally study Buddhism or identif)r herself as a Buddhist. But, in my terms, she was a Romantic Buddhist sympathizer. She had some interest in the tradition as, for example, her travel journals, her portrait by John Sargent (:fig. 3), and her Chinese Room signal - but she stopped short of fully or formally embracing it. Gardner's selective and limited attraction to Buddhism seem to have been prompted in 1882 by Marion Crawford's enthusia m for Indian Buddhism, Edward Sylvester Morse's lectures on Japan, and by her ubsequent trip to A ia in 1883 and 1884. Isabella's Asian letters and journals give the impression of a tourist who was -as she put it - '"doing' the sights." 7 Still, the beauty of the landscapes and the temples struck her. And she sometimes went beyond the tourist's casual glance or consumptive frenzy, opening all her senses to the encounter. For example, Isabella went to a morning "service in a Buddhist temple" in Nikko one summer morning in 1883 and did the same elsewhere in Japan and across Asia. 8 She even focused her attention acutely on Buddhist artifac ts and practice, as she noted in one letterfrom Kyo to: "I am consciously listening to the bells and prayers (chants as it were) that come from time to time from the many Buddhist te mples that are all about 9 us." Sometimes tho e sounds and sights seemed unusual, as when she visited Beijing's "Lama Temple," where she encountered "strange and very interesting architecture ... all the Lamas in yellow cloaks and such trange yello-w hats. Services going on .. . consisting of odd chanting in very low voices." 10 But in China, Cambodia, and Japan, Gardner mo tly was drawn to the beauty of the temples she visited, as she told her a friend in one letter from Osaka: "how beautiful are their temples. When I get into one I never 路want to come away. I could lie on the mats and look forever through that dim light." 11 As Alan Chong has persuasively argued, in her second Chinese room (:fig. 4), a dark subterranean reconstruction of a Buddhist temple that she designed in 1914, Gardner tried to extend that experience almost "forever." The room, as Chong suggests, was " the culmina tion oflsabella Gardner's long dialogue with Asia." 12 But even earlier, as art historians have noticed, Gardner immortalized her connection with Buddhism in John Singer Sargent's portrait of 1888. Mirroring the representa tions of the bodhisattva E annon that Gardner had seen in Japan, Sargent's painting had a fron tal pose, a circul ar nimbu , and a tring of beads. 13 Her hands were even po itioned in a way

53

that suggests a relaxed approximation of the cosmic mudra, the prescribed position of the hands for meditation in some sects, including Soto Zen. Her contemporaries noti ced th e parallels, in cluding her friend Bigelow, who also was drawn Lo the aesthetic and had visited temple with her in Japan: "It was not a bad idea," he sugges ted playfully, " to have yo urself painted as Kwan non the benign and omnipotent Providence." 1 1

TnE IL \ PElTTIC AESTHETICISM:

TnE

CATHOLIC ATTRACTION"

For Gardner and her circle, that Buddhist bodhisattva recalled the Catholic Madonna, as Eastern and Wes tern representations of the sacred feminine, and Gardner and Bigelow also had interes t in Catholicism, Anglo and Roman. But how was their interest in Catholicism and Buddhism linked? And for those two fri ends, and other late-Victorians, what was the relationship between Buddhism and Christianity, and be tween Buddhism and Catholicism in particular?

Starting in 1879, when Edwin Arnold published his wildly popular poetic tribute to the Buddha called The Light of Asia, Americans heatedly debated the rela tion be t路ween Christianity and Buddhism. 15 That long poem, and many other accounts, highlighted the parallels. Some claimed tha t Buddhism influenced Christianity, or even Lhat Jesus had traveled to India and become a Buddhist. 16 In Lum, Protes tant minister Samuel Henry E ellogg's book, The Light of Asia and the Light of the 路w orld, rejected and inverted the claims of influence and champion ed Christianity as the world's only hope.17 In this inter-religiou s ba ttle, claims about parallels became weapons. Between 1880 and 1920, a tim e when Catholic foreign migration peaked and an ti-immigration and a ntiCatholicism increased, Lhese contes ted comparisons negotiated social power as well as religious meaning. Aware of what was at stake, some Buddhist advocates stressed Protestant parallels to gain support in nation with a Protes tant majority. Most Protestants rejected those claims and res ponded by gleefully pointing Lo the parallels between Buddhism and Catholicism, tainting both traditions with the ame interpre tive ges ture, and e mphasizing Buddhis t monas teries, saints, and rosary beads. Some American Roman Catholics claimed - as did some Protestants - tha t since Buddhism had no creator god iL did not even qualify as a religion. Other Catholics, like Merwin Marie-Snell, defended their tradition against Protestant critics by alleging imilari ties between Protes tants and Pure Land Buddhi L . 18 Some interpre ters, like Boston Unitarian James Freeman Clarke, gave a slightly more complicated asse smenl. In his popular survey, Ten Great Religions , Clarl e proposed thaL "in its forms " Buddhism wa like Catholicism but that "in its spirit" it was Protes tant. 19 Fellow Bos tonians, Gardner and Bigelow tended to associa te Buddhism 路with Catholicism, especially its ri tual and artifac ts, and, like many other Romantics in nin eLeenth-cenlury America, th ey shared an appreciation of those Catholic "forms ." As with thi painting by Anglican Robert Weir (fig. 5), whether it involved a fondness for Go thic archi-

54

5. Robert W. Weir, Toking the Veil, 1863. Oi l on canvas . Ya le University Art Gallery, New H aven

S111: 1. 1 s

\\ll 11 r 1.1.,;

Lec ture or Catholic liturgy, for cradle Protes tants this appreciation wa som e ti mes begrudging and ofLen ambivalent: it did not usually extend , for example, to an acceptan ce of papal authority or a 路welcoming of Catholic irnmigranls .20 Yel a man y American religious historian s have noticed, "romantic currents" flowed in Vic torian America and they propelled along " the Catholic movement as a whole." 2 1 Several mainline Protes tant denominations, in cluding Episcopalism and Lutherani s m, were swept along by those Romantic Catholic currents.

6 . Gothic Room, Isa bella Stewa rt Gordn e r Mu seu m

So were Gardner and Bigelow. For Isabella, that meant self-identification with "Anglo-Catholicism," high church Episcopalianism, and an interest in Roman Catholicism. As Richard Lingner notes, Gardner worshipped in Episcopal churches, including the neo-Gothi c Church of the Advent, and donated her money, time, and labor. That church , like other Anglo-Catholic congregations, tended to tress Roman Catholi c heritage and reclaim medi e val and early mod ern architecture and liturgy, from Gothic designs and stain glass windows to incense burning and sainl veneration. She wa especially drawn to Lhe Society of Saint John the Evangelist, usually known as Lhe Cowley Fathers, and the associa ted group for women, the Order of Sainl Anne.22 Even though Charles Chapman Grafton and other high church Anglicans who affiliated with that Socie ty had warned against "any delusions about Pe ter's pre-emine nce," Isabella none theless sought a priva te audi ence with Pope Leo XIII in 1895 and a ttended a ma celebrated by him at his private chapel. 2:3 She also shelved a ixteenth-century translation of the docum ent of the Council of Trent in her personal library back hom e and during her world travels she carried a copy of the Roman Catholic devotional classic, The Imitation of Christ, which she described as "precious" to her. 2 1 Isabella was eve n on fri endly Lerms with influential Roman Catholic lead ers in Europe and America, including Venice' Cardinal Ago tini and Boston ' Cardinal O' Connell. 25 While traveling abroad, he attended both Anglican and Roman Ca tholic services. Like Gardner, most Anglo-Catholics, s topped short of joining the Roman Ca tholic Churc h, but she expressed as much sympathy as an outsid er could. As Lhe Chinese Room expressed her Buddhi t sympathy, th e Gothic Room (:fig. 6), a monument to medieval and early modern Ca tholic piety, incarnated her attraction to Rome.

Gardner's Catholic sensibilities are well l nown, but Bigelow's similar interests come more folly into view as we compare their personal pie ty. In my earlier research on Bigelow I noted in passing his links with Anglo-Catholicism and Roman Catholicism, bul those interes ts seem more central when we see them as aligned with Gardner's and as parl of a wider Romantic attrac tion to thing Catholic - and Buddhist - in Victorian America. Bigelow emerges, in this angle of vision, as a Buddhist adherent and a Catholic sympathizer. Some

55

T11u路: n

of his conlemporaries already noticed the resonance be tween Buddhism and Anglicanism.

For example, the Reverend Phillips Brooks of Boston's Trinity Church, who presided over Bigelo-w's memorial service a t that beautiful Richardson Romanesque structure, was only half kidding when he e plained his visit to a Buddhist shrine in India by suggesting that "in the e days when a large part of Boston prefers to consider itself Buddhist rather than Chri tian, I consider it a duty of a rninister who preaches to Bostonians." 26 Bigelow was one of those Bostonians proclaiming Buddhist affiliation, of course, but he also had heard that prominent Episcopal clergyman preach: in fact, he v\Trote to Brooks from Japan in 1889 to say that "you are I think the only man whose preaching ever made a sensible difference in my life ." 27

In later years, Bigelow also extended his interests beyond Anglo-Catholicism and considered Roman Catholicism more seriously. In a letter to Gardner in 1895, the year she mel the Pope, Bigelow was giddy about her imminent re turn to Boston and mentioned in passing her recent trip to the Vatican: "It has been a dreary winter without you. Our little Boston world has revolved, after a fashion, but we have all felt that it was wobbling and slowing down for want of a proper center to revolve around. The stories have reached us of your having the Pope .. . to afternoon tea ... were no consolation . .. " 28 But, with a much more serious tone, Bigelow wrote later that year from his Massachusetts summer retreat to a Japanese mentor about the relation of Buddhism and Christianity. "Most of the doctrine taught by Christ is like that taught by Buddha," he proposed, "but Christians here do not understand it, except perhaps the Society of Jesuits, a sort of sect, or order, or brotherhood, in the Roniakio, who appear to practice Mikkio actively." He was prai ing the Je uits, a Roman Catholic order, by sugges ting that they taught a higher order faith, much like the hidden or "non-apparent" teachings of Shingon Buddhism, which Bigelow favored. He went on to note some recent contac ts with local Jesuits: "Lately, they have come to see me somewhat, and have been very kind indeed in taking care of an old servant of mine, whom I have been supporting for some years. They seem to wish to be fri endly with me, but I am not quite sure of their motive." 29 The well-to-do often have reason to uspect motives, since they receive so many requests for donations; yet Bigelow's reservations seem to have diminished over time. In his second trip to Japan, in 1902, Bigelow seems to have been seriously considering conversion, or at least some dual affiliation. He talked with Japanese Zen monl s about Catholicism, Buddhism, and the relation among religions. Bigelow recounted that conver ation: " ome Zensh u prie ts ... tell me also that the object or goal of all great religions - Brahmakyo [Hinduism], Yasokyo [Christianity], Mahommeclankyo [Islam], Buppo [Buddhism] - is the same, namely the expansion of the individual consciousness into a larger consciousness. The larger consciousness is called Buddha or Enlightenment." 30 Pressing the i sue farther, the Boston Buddhist then asked his mentor a few questions Lhat signaled his growing attraction to Ca tholicism: "If all religions have the same goal, why is it better to study one rather than another? If a man takes the kai of more than one religion, what happen ? Suppose I received the sacraments of Romakyo, would it interfere with my Buppo?"3 1 Bigelow never converted, and by 1921 he seemed psychologically depressed, even suicidal, and spiritually impoverished. In one letter he frankly confessed loneliness at not having any temples nearby or any Buddhists to discuss practice with - Bigelow and Gardner's mutual

56

\\FI LS \ \ \l ll EI LS

fri end, Okakura Kakuzo, had died years earlier. 32 As a result, Bigelow told his Japane e Buddhist corre pondent, he yearned only for "obliteration" or "spiritual seppuku." And, even though some of his relatives and fri ends had converted to Roman Catholicism, Bigelow seems to have soured on the tradition, at least in its institutional expressions: "The R omakyo," he wrote to his mentor, "is active and powerful but appears to be principally occupied with the things of this world, and in affirming and solidifying its own existence."33 Toward the end of his life, then, Bigelow seemed more Buddhist than Catholic, but for many years he eriously pursued his attraction to that Christian tradition.

CONCLUSION : FOUR l<EATURES OF A SHARED FAITH

So Bigelow and Gardner shared an interest in both Catholicism and Buddhism. In comparative light, Bigelow emerges as a Romantic Buddhist adherent and Catholic sympathizer and Gardner emerges as an Romantic Anglo-Catholic adherent and Buddhist sympathizer, together combining two of the most vibrant religious concerns of the late-Victorian period. It was a therapeutic aestheticism that fastened together the disparate strands of their combinative personal pie ty, and that Romantic faith, I suggest, had four distinctive features.

First, as for many other late-Victorians who inclined toward Romanticism, their shared piety focused on beauty more than truth or morality. Some scholars have noted the weakness of this sort of faith: discussing nineteenth-century Anglo-Catholicism, David L. Holmes noted that " the movement's warmth and color may have attracted many persons whose interests lay more in aesthetics than in Christianity."34 I would put it slightly differently, and more generously: aes the tics cleared the path to Christianity, and to Buddhism, for both these Bostonians.

It was through the embodied sensual encounter with religious things and prac tices - smells and bells - that the sacred expressed itself most fully. As Gardner wrote from Hong Kong, where she visited the English church: "Went to the Cathedral service this morning and to hear the beautiful service chanted by the beautiful voiced choristers in this strange land made me cry." 35 They did not weep only in beautiful churches and temples, however, and neither sought beauty for its own sake. As Jackson Lears also has noticed, their aesthetic piety fun c tioned to ease their physical and psychological distress. So, to mention a second common feature, their piety was therapeutic.36 As I noted in my theory of religion, all spiritual practice aims to "intensify joy and confront suffering." 37 Or, in the words of their contemporary, William James, "there is a certain uniform deliverance in which religions all appear to meet. It consists of two parts: 1. An uneasiness; and 2. Its solution." 38 But their suffering seemed especially pronounced. To some extent, it was ordinary suffering: prompted by the loss of a child, in Gardner's case, or a father's disapproval, as with Bigelow's. On the other hand, their suffering, which found wider cultural expression among the middle and upper classes, was a privileged state. Gardner's Irish maid and Bigelow's Irish cook did not have the money and leisure to allow themselves tha t sort of psychic suffering, or least not for long. At the same time, for both of them, their suffering was real enough. It was what animated their religious quests, just as esoterics yearned for contact with hidden realms and rationalists wanted satisfying responses to intellectual challenges. A the first director of her museum noted, Gardner had a

57

"restless spirit," and "picturesque" Asian religions, especially Buddhism, had a "liberalizing, tranquilizing effect" on her. Anglo-Catholicism, with its rich material culture and ornate ritual prac tice, did too. 39 In different ways, both of them needed " tranquilizing" to reduce their anxiety and overcome their intermittent depression. For that, they turned to the aesthetic sensual experience of Buddhist and Catholic worship and art.

Third , Gardner and Bigelow's hared Romantic faith was undeniably idiosyncratic but not robustly individualist. Both of them combined faiths in distinctive ways. That combinative impulse was symbolized in Gardner's reverence for both the Gothic Room and the Chinese Room and in Bigelow's decision to bury half his ashes in Mount Auburn Cemetery, where Gardner and many other prominent Protestants also came to rest, and half his ashes in a Buddhist temple in Japan. Despite their mixing of faiths, neither interpreted the Romantic emphasis on the authority of private feeling as grounds to avoid religious institutions or mistrust religious leaders. Gardner had a strong connection to some Anglo-Catholic churches and Anglican confessors, and Bigelow admired Phillips Brooks and sought the advice of Buddhist priests in Japan. In his Beacon Hill house, he even slept with a picture of his most beloved Japanese Buddhist teacher over his bed. 40 When he first arrived in Japan, Bigelow had interpreted Buddhism in terms of the most individualistic of American Romantics: "As far as I got it, Buddhi t philosophy is a sort of spiritual Pantheism - Emerson, almost exactly."41 Yet his idiosyncratic Romantic piety (and Gardner's too) was tempered by a respect for authority in ways that Emersonian individualism was not. In his " Divinity School Address" at Harvard, Ralph Waldo Emerson had exhorted his audience to seek an intuitive religion "without mediator or veil," but Bigelow and Gardner expressed more trust in religious institutions and more affection for spiritual mentors.42 So, let's be clear: Gardner and Bigelow were not unrelenting individualists like Emerson or Whitman. Nor were they Beat Buddhists Kerouac and Ginsburg, "dharma bums" journeying on the margins of society. They were respectable Victorians who supported the Boston symphony, collected fine art, loved a good party - and saw the value in resting religious authority outside the shifting sentiments of the individual.

Fourth, just as their per onal piety constrained individualis t impulses, it also limited ecumenism, or sympathy for multiple faiths. A with the woman from Yarrow, Gardner and Bigelow some times found church aisle - and temple thresholds - too narrow. That does not mean they wanted the doors thrown open or the ai les widened enough to include everyone.

Their therapeutic aesthe ticism, as I have emphasized, was transcultural and multi-religious, but that does not mean their inclusivism had no limits. Paradoxically, they were simultaneously exuberantly transcultural and avowedly anti-colonialist while also being narrowly nativist and triumphantly Anglo-Saxon. For example, as early as 1892, Henry Cabot Lodge, Bigelow's friend - and he was on friendly terms with presidents, senators, and cabinet members - had sponsored anti-immigration legislation that prohibited migration by those who could not read and write. The measure aimed to limit the influx of southern and eastern European peoples, most of them Jews and Catholics. In 1898, Lodge favored another bill that res tricted immigration, and encoded values about ethnicity, race, and religion. I have not found any evidence about how Gardner felt about the proposed law, which was later ve toed by President Cleveland, but Bigelow expressed his vigorous support: "Since dictating this has come the news of the passage of your Immigration Bill, of which it would be hard to overstate the value

58

S111<LLs 1 \ll BELLS

and importance. You and your country are alike to be congratulatecl."43 Writing again to his fri end Senator Lodge, to give another example, the Bostonian offered use of his summer retreat and turned to vernacular racist labels for domestic laborers, a term that would have been widely used by whites in Boston and other U.S. cities: "The niggers will go to Tuckernuck as usual in May, and any time you or Freel want to go down you can send word to Thomas."44 In these and other ways, their faith was simultaneously open to diverse ways of being human and bound by the racial, e thnic, and religious a ttitudes of the upper-class Boston elite.

Their Romantic faith also combined elements from both Buddhism and Catholicism, but it did not value equally all expressions of those faiths, or embrace all devotees. It celebrated the smells and bells of what we might call Cathedral Catholicism and Temple Buddhism, but, as far as I know, those Bostonians expre sed little concern for the fate of immigrants, Asian or European, and limited appreciation for the popular piety of those migrants, including Irish Catholic domestics. Both Gardner and Bigelow had domestic servants, and, as their 1880 and 1900 federal census records indicate, most were first or second generation Irish Catholics. 45 When they were Beacon Hill neighbors in 1880, Gardner had two Irish-born domestic servants, Elizabeth O'Leary and Mary Callaghan. Bigelow employed two Irish Catholic women as maid and cook, Agnes Flaherty and Mary Carroll. In 1900, Bigelow still lived at 60 Beacon Street - and had two new Irish Catholic servants, Mary Clancy and Catherine Connor, while Gardner had moved to Brookline, where she employed seven servants, including four domestics of Irish descent. As far as I know, Isabella and Sturgis didn't a ttend weekday masses with their servants a t immigrant Catholic parishes where blue-collar devotees, Irish and Italian, turned to Jesus, Mary, and the saints for help with financial, health, and family problems. But was their piety shaped by interactions with these ordinary Catholic devotees in ways that the historical record does not fully reveal? I'm not sure.

In the encl, there is much tha t we'll never know about their personal piety, their therapeutic aestheticism. We can say, though, that it was more grounded in direct contacts with diverse devotees and ritual settings, Buddhist and Catholic, in Asia and in Europe, and more spiritually inclusive, than that of many of their contemporaries. Even though they might not have used the colloquial phrasing of the limerick's plump lower-class woman from Yarrow, Gardner and Bigelow agreed that " they sometimes build these here churches too narrow."

59

l. Willi am turgis Bigelow to "Excellency" [John Hay], Kyoto, November 22, 1902; Murakala 1971, pp. 212-15.

2. In this essay I adopt a playful and vivid vernacular phrase, "smells and bells," which has been used in varied ways by Christians who worship in communities that emphasize liturgy, including Anglicans and Roman Catholics. I adapt it here to label a style of piety that crosses religious boundaries, Christian a nd Buddhist, to describe what these two late-Victorians, and many others, had in common religiously. For one use of the phrase, see Anglican Mark Calli's Beyond Smells and

Bells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy (Brewster, Mas ., 2008).

3. In this section I draw on my previous research on the history of Buddhism in the nitecl States, including Tweed 2000 and Tweed 2013.

4. Here and below I cite the journals and letters of Isabella Stewart Gardner during her travel to Asia in 1883 and 1884 (tran cribecl in Bos ton 2009). She noted her attempt to see Blavatsky in Madras on February 8, 1884: "Arri ved at Madras at 6:30 am in Lippert's Hotel ... About 4 tarted for a beautiful drive along the sea to Mme. Blava tsky's. She gone, but saw the Indian 'C hela.' ubscribecl to the Theosophist" (Boston 2009, p. 317).

5. Bigelow to Henry Pickering Bowditch, February 14, 1889, Tokyo; Murakata 1971 , pp.

75- 78. Bigelow to Henry Cabot Lodge, September 30 , 1883, Tokyo; ibid. , pp. 64-69.

6. William Sturgis Bigelow, "Fragmentary notes on Buddhi sm, taken January 30 and 31, 1922, being Dr. Bigelow's answers to questions and also comments on I eien Ajari's lectures," William turgis Bigelow Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard Uni versity.

7. Gardner to Maud Howe.

August 24, 1883; Bo ton 2009, p. 166.

8 . Gardner journal, July 23, 1883; ibid., p. 144.

9. Gardner to Maud Howe, August 24, 1883; ibid., p. 166.

Biblical World 7 (January-June 1896), pp. 182-88. Snell and others noted that Pure Land Buclclhi ts affirm that "other power" and not "self power" is efficacious; only faith in Amicla Buddha and not any human effort, transports the devotee the Pure We tern Land after death. On the larger issue see also Merwin-Marie Snell, "Was Christ a Buddhist?" The New Englander 54 (May 1891), pp. 448-63 . The provocative piece that Snell and others were re ponding to was Felix Oswald, "Was Christ a Buddhist," Arena 3 (January 1891), pp. 193-201.

Oswald said yes.

grafton/vl/263.html (acce eel 5/21/2009). On her papal visit see also Louise Hall Tharp, Mrs.

Jack: A Biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner (Bo ton, 1965), pp. 183-85.

24. A Choice of Books from

the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1906), p. 67.

The Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Church's nineteenth ecumenical council, ended in 1563. The English translation from the Latin original that Gardner had in her library was a London edition published in 1564, the year after the Council closed. On Gardner's attachment to The Imitation of Christ ee Shanel-Tucci 1997, pp. 66-67.

10. Gardner journal, September 24, 1883; ibid. , p. 193.

19. James Freeman Clarke, Ten

11. Gardner to Maud Howe, August 24, 1883; ibid ., p. 155.

(Boston, 1871), p. 139.

25. Lingner 2001, p. 35.

20. On Weir and visual expressions of Protestant ambivalence abo ut Roman Catholicism see John Davis, "Catholic envy:

26. Alexander V. G. Allen, Life and Letters of Phillips Brooks

12. Chong 2009, p. 38. On the Chinese room, or "Gardner's Buddhist Temple," see also Shanel-Tucci 1997, p. 249. He suggests that, like her Anglican chapel, "it was fully used religiously, though in its own way."

Great Religions: An Essay in Comparative Theology

The visual culture of Protestan t desire" in The Visual Culture of American R eligions, edited

by David Morgan and Sally Promey (Berkeley, 2001), pp.

105-28.

13. Chong2009,p.26.

14. The passage from Bigelow is quoted in ibid ., p. 27.

15. Edwin Arnold, The Lig ht

of Asia; Or, The Great R enunciation. Being the Life and Teaching of Gautama, Prince of India and Founder of Buddhism (London, 1879).

16 . Tweed 2000, pp. 115-21.

17. Kellogg's volume is repri nted in Tweed 2004, vol. 3.

18. Merwin-Marie nell, "Evangelical Buddhism,"

60

21. The quotation is from Syd ney E. Ahlstrom, A R eligious

History of the American People (New Haven, 1972),

(New York, 1901), vol. 2, p. 519.

See also Tweed 2000, p. 27.

27. Bigelow to Philips Brooks, August 19, 1889; Muraka ta 1971, pp. 82-86.

28. Bigelow to Gardner, March 12, 1895; ibid., pp. 115-17.

29. Bigelow to Rt. Rev. Kanrio Naobayashi, July 16, 1895, Nantucket; ibid., pp. 122- 27.

p. 623.

22. Lingner 2001 , p. 3 1.

23. Charle C. Grafton, "S. Peter's Pre-Eminence," chapter 14 of Christian and Catholic, reprinted in The Works of the Rt. R ev. Charles C. Grafton, vol. 1, edited by B. Talbot Rogers (New York, 19 14). This work, and others by Grafton, are available online at Project Canterbury, anglicanhistory.org/

30. Bigelow lo Naobayashi Kanryo Ajari, October 2 1, 1902, Yokohama; ibid. , pp. 210-12. ote that Bigelow varied the spelling of his Japane e correspondent's name. Compare the spelli ng and titles, which I have reproduced without alteration, in these notes.

31. Ibid .

\\ELLS 1\0 BELLS

32. On Okakura's influence with Gardner and other American women see Murai 2009. See also Beri.fey 2003, pp. 75-108.

33. Bigelow to Right Reverend Keien Ajari, June 10, 1921, Boston; Murakata 1971, pp.

495-500.

34. David L. Holmes, "The Anglican tradition and the Episcopal Church" in Encyclopedia of the Am erican R eligious Experience: tudies of Traditions and Movements (New York, 1988), vol. 1, p. 402.

35. Gardner to Maud Howe, October 28, 1883, Hong Kong; Boston 2009, pp. 219-20.

36. I do not interpret Gardner's and Bigelow's personal piety and art collecting as an expression of "anti-modernism," as Lears did in his influential No Place of Grace (Lears 1981). For me, there have been multiple modernities, and nostalgically representing imagined pasts is one way of negotiating " modernity" and being "modern" (Tweed 2012). Another scholar has made a similar point: Chen 2008. But Lears was right, I think, on a related poi nt. He did not use the phrase I introduce here, " therapeutic aestheticism," but he noticed that aesthetic practice, religious devotion, and psychological healing were linked for these two Bostonians and other elites of the period. Art collecting had a "psychic benefit" (Lears 1981, p. 190) and became a "religious surrogate" (p. 192). Others have noted the links between religion, art, and healing. For example, Shand-Tucci 1997, p.

67, proposed that "healing for her was fo und at the intersection of art and religion." Sometimes

Gardner's suffering had physical expre sions, for example, as when she complained in one 1897 letter that he had "neuralgia in my face and don't quite feel up to writing"; Hadley 1987, pp. 104-5.

37. Tweed 2006, pp. 69-72.

38. William James, The Va rieties of R eligious Experience (New York, 1982), p. 508.

39. Morris Carter, the first director of her museum, quoted in Chong 2009, p. 18.

40. For some evidence of Bigelow's enduring affection for his Japanese teacher see his comments to another Buddhist priest in Japan: Bigelow to Rt. Rev. Kwanryo Naobayashi [April 1895], Boston; Murakata 1971, pp. 117-21.

Records Administration, 1880 census: Boston, Suffolk Country, Massachusetts; roll T9-555; Family History Film: 1254555; page 33.2000; Enumeration Di trict: 658; Image: 0560.

Census 1900: Brookline, N01folk, Massachusetts; roll: T623-669; page: 8A; Enumeration Distri ct: 1026.

For Bigelow, listed as Wm . S. Bigelow in 1880 and Sturgis Bigelow in 1900, the information is taken from the 1880 census: Boston, uffolk, Massachusetts; roll: T9_554; Family History Film: 1254554; Page: 285.4000; Enumeration District: 641; Image: 0728. 1900 census: Boston Ward 11, Suffolk, Mas achusetts; Roll: T623_680; page: 6A; En umeration District 13 14.

41. Bigelow to Phillips Brooks, August 19, 1889, likko; ibid. , pp. 82-86.

42. Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Divinity School Address" in The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume 1: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Cambridge, Ma s., 1971).

43. Bigelow to Henry Cabot Lodge, January 15, 1898, Boston; Murakata 1971, pp.

159-161.

44. Bigelow to Henry Cabot Lodge [March 9, 1897], Boston; ibid., pp. 147-49.

45. The information about Gardner (misrepresented as Isabella L. Gardner in the 1880 federal record) is taken from the National Archives and

61

Aboard the Ibis T I-I E G A RD NE R S' N I LE V O YAGE, I87 4 - I87 5

Lawrence M. Berman

EGYPT IN

187 4

On Thursday, December 10, 1874, Isabella and Jack Gardner arrived in Alexandria from Brindisi on the steamer Hydaspes . They left for Cairo the next day and checked into the famous Shepheard's Hotel overlooking the Ezbekiah Gardens . The hotel of choice for Briton and Americans, it was described by Jack as "Very good but full of fieas." 1 Mark Twain had called the hotel the "worst on earth." 2 A week later, on December 18, the Gardners took up residence on a dahabiyya, or riverboa t, named the Ibis, and on Sunday the 20th they set sail for Upper Egypt.

Although technically a province of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt in 1874 was virtually independent. In exchange for a hefty annual tribute, Pasha Ismail (r. 1863-79) had obtained from the sultan in Constantinople the title of khedive, or hereditary viceroy, the right to make his own laws, to enter into :financial and commercial agreements with foreign countries, and to increase the size of his army and navy. Ismail was rich. The Union blockade of Southern ports during the American Civil War had created a huge demand for Egyptian cotton. Prices rose tenfold. Inspired by Haussmann's Paris, Ismail set about to transform Cairo into another Paris, with broad, straight avenues radiating from traffic hubs. He did this not by tearing down old neighborhoods, but by developing the reclaimed land between historic Cairo and the Nile, building a new city - modern Downtown - just west of the old one:3 Parks were laid out. An opera house was built. For its inauguration, Giuseppe Verdi was commissioned to write an opera, Aida, based on a scenario by Auguste Mariette Bey, Ismail's director of antiquities. All was to be ready for the opening of the Suez Canal in November 1869, the high point of Ismail's reign. 1 Dignitaries poured in from all over Europe. "My country is no longer in Africa; we are now a part of Europe," the khedive boasted to his distinguished guests. 5 Those who arrived early were taken up the Nile as far as Aswan. A special guidebook was prepared for them by Mariette: l tineraire des invites cm f etes d 'Inauguration du Canal de Suez. A second edition appeared in 1872, followed in 1877 by an English version,

63

Bun11 \

Monwnents of Upp er Egypt. The need for an English-language edition was acknowledged in the translator's preface: "It soon became evident .. . that as the majority of regular touri ts on the ile belong to the two great English-speaking nations, an English edition of the Itineraire would not prove otherwise than acceptable." 6 Mariette knew exactly what drew travelers to Egypt, and it was not to see another Paris: "People visit Egypt because Egypt is the East, because Egypt is one of those illustrious countries which every man of refined culture feels it incumbent upon him to visit; but travelers would certainly be far less numerous if beyond Cairo there were not the still greater attraction of the glorious ruins of Upper Egypt." 7 Tourism spiked in Egypt in 1870s, particularly among English and Americans. "These two :flags well-nigh divide the river," 路wrote Amelia Edwards. At Luxor in 1873, " In every twenty-five boats one may fairly calculate upon an average of twelve English, nine American, two German, one Belgian, and one French." 8 The same pattern is reflected in the language of Egyptian guidebooks editions and the nationalities of authors of Egyptian travel books of this period: English and Americans lead with 37 and 36 authors respectively, followed by 17 French and 11 German. 9 The number of British writers gradually decreased - 35 in the 1880s, 24 in the 1890s - while the number of American authors gradually increased - 4 7 in the 1880s and 48 in the 1890s - peaking in the period 1900 to 1914, when there were 97 American and only 27 British 路writers.

A number of influential travel accounts appeared just before and around the time of Isabella's visit. Lucie Duff Gordon was a scholar and translator 路who came to Egypt in 1862 seeking relief from tuberculosis, and lived there, mainly in Luxor, until her death in 1869.10 Her remarkable rapport 路wi th and appreciation of the Egyptian people are evident throughout her Letters from Egypt, which first appeared in 1865.11 Amelia Blandford Edwards was a writer of popular :fiction who went up the ile in 1873-74 .12 She became passionate about Egyptology and campaigned vigorously for the preservation of the Egyptian monuments; she was the driving force behind the foundation of the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1882. Edwards's best selling work, A Thousand Miles up the Nile of 1876, is arguably the best travel book on Egypt ever written. As Edwards visited Egypt just a year before the Gardners, the conditions she described would have been essentially the same. In be tween came Samuel Langhorne Clemens, or Mark Twain. America's great humorist visited Egypt in 1866- 67. The Innocents Abroad, which made his fame and fortune, was published in 1869. Although we reach Egypt only at the end of his narrative and he visited only Alexandria, Cairo, and the Pyramids, his adventures (and way of reco unting them) became a yardstick by which many other American travelers gauged their own experiences.

The Gardners could not have known Amelia Edwards's work, as it had not ye t appeared by the time of their trip; they could have read Lucie Duff Gordon or Mark Twain, although there is no indication that they did. They certainly would have known their share of Nile traveler , if only casually. Charles Greely Loring, who in 1876 became the firs t curator and in 1886 the first director of the Museum of Fine Arts, toured Egypt in the winter of 1854 and 1855 and again in 1868 and 1869. Ralph Waldo Emerson went up the ile in

64

\ 110 llUl I'll!<

/ 111.,

1871. CelebraLed Bos Lon wit Thomas Gold Apple ton went up Lhe Nile wiLh his Lhree nieces in 1874- 75 ju t a month ahead of the Gardners. Th eir boats crossed on January 14 between Esna and Aswan though they had time only Lo exchan ge yells. 13 Isabella StewarL Gardner was Lhirty-four years old when she landed in Alexandria; her collec Ling days were as ye Lfar in Lhe fuLure . This was not the :firs t trip abroad for Isabella and Jack Gardner, and certainly not the las t, but it 路was their firs t out of Europe . 11 Isabella kepL a cleLailed diary during her voyage in which she recorded her impressions . She used this as a basis for a travel album in 路which she mounted photographs by the leading s tudio photographers of the time - J. Pascal Sebah (ca. 1838-1910), Francis Frith (1822-1898), and Antonio Beato (ca. 1825-1903) - along with her own watercolors, which beautifully capture the light of Egypt and its endle s vari ations as it plays upon the earth, water, and sky. i.s The photographs and wa tercolors, arLfully cropped and arranged on the pages of her album, combine with Lhe verbal narraLive to create I abella's personal vision of Egypt. Jack Loo kepL a diary in which he recorded his impressions, though more succinc tly, along with more prac tical inform a tion. IL is from Jac k tha t we learn exac tly where, and when, they s topped, and for how long, how much he paid, and how quickly (or slowly) they progressed on the river.

Visitors today can have scarcely an idea of whaLa Tile voyage was like in the 1870s, before th e temples were cleared, b efore anyone had heard of Tut or efertiti, 路when the only way to travel was by boat, the Egypt of Marie lle and Frith. It was the cus tom to go up the Nile fas t, taking advantage of Lhe prevailing north wind, and to go clown at a more leisurely pace. 16 Murray's guidebook to EgypL (which the Gardners owned) estima ted two months to the Firs t Catarac t and bac k and three months to th e Second Ca taract and back. The Gardners spent 64 clays (including s tops) going up the Nile- a dis tance of 798 miles- and 40 days going down, a total of 104 days or 15 week .

The traveler had a number of choice to make in planning a trip up the Nile. Firs t, do you travel by sail or by s team? Although by the mid-1 870s Thomas Cook and Son offered regular s teamer service be tween Cairo and Aswan during the touri t season (November to April), all the best and highest a uthoriLies recommended the clahabiyya .

For there you feel a t home, and , open to any impression that may arise, you can stop where you please; you ca n land and shoot, or visit the villages, and never leave th e temples and monuments, until you feel you have done justice to the m .. . But unforLuna Lely in Lhese fas t clays of ours, when everythin g is clone in a hurry, and very man seems to run a race againsL time, the s teamer is in general demand, and Lhe journey by dahabiah has become a voyage de luxe . So much the worse for EgypL, which cannot be clone jus tice to in a visit a la vapeur. 17 Second, how far do you go, to the Firs t Catarac t a t Aswan or all the way to the Second Ca tarac t at Wadi Halfa? And third, do you conLrac t for the time or for the trip? The Gardners contrac Lecl for Lh e tim e which, Lhough poLentially more expensive, left the m ind ependent and free to do as they liked.

65

B 1.1n11 \

There was a cerlain snob appeal involved as well. Amelia Edwards was not wealthy like the Gardners; she and her companion shared a large dahabiyya with four other voyagers, which helped defray the cost. She describes sitting on board Lhe Philae having lunch wi Lh a few guests before setting sail. Suddenly they hear the sound of gunfire. A boal of French Louris ts scheduled to set sail the same day had Larted off ahead of them.

I fear that we ... being mere mortals and Englishwomen - could not help feeling just a liule spiteful when we found Lhe tricolor had started firs t; but then it ·was a consolation Lo know that the Frenchmen were going only to Assuan. Such is the esprit du Nil. The people in dahabeeyahs despise Cook's tourists; those ·who are bound for th e Second Cataract look down with lofty compassion upon those whose ambi tion extends only to the Firs t; and travellers who engage their boat by the month hold their heads a trifle higher than those who contrac t for the trip. 18 The Gardners boarded on December 19, 1874, set sail the next day, reached Wadi Halfa on February 22, 1875, and anived back in Cairo on April 3. They averaged 21 2/3 miles per day going up (exclusive of s tops to visit monuments) and 28Vz miles per day going down. They had contracted for 90 days for £600, thus £6.67 per clay; 16 days extra at £6 per day added £96 for a total of £696.

I SABELLA GARDKER 's J ouRN"AL

The first page of Isahella's travel album Lransports us from Alexanch·ia harbor right to Cairo.

When I went on deck on the morning of December 10 I knew that it was a dream, for never had I seen such a colour as was the sea. Th ere is no word for it - and on the horizon was a lo-vv stretch of sand and waving Palms . I felt that it was Africa and from that moment everything was interest and excitement. The dragoman, Bonnici, came for us in a boat, but instead of being anxious to get away and ashore, we lingered and lingered to watch the mass of screaming, scrambling Arabs, men and boys, each more determined tha t the other to secure his prey. The next cl ay we went to Cairo, where the dream only became more colored with Ea tern glo-v . The people had stept out of the "Arabian Tights," which were no longer tales that we had read, but were bits of real life happening, with us looking on - and we had truly "come abroad and forgo t ourselves."

Oh the grace and beauty of the men and oh their gorgeous cloLhes ! From the Princes of Persia to the barber's son, what graceful languor and what perfect pos tures, as they lean agains l a deewan or a wall.

And the Sa"is thaLrun before aJl carriages - nothing can equal them wi th their fine lithe limbs, their white wings and long slender sticks - they are the very embodiment of grace as they fly on, with the warning cry. And it would startle one, (anywhere but in a dream) to ee Lhe Blessed Virgin and the child Jesus on the a s, Joseph leading iL, as they pass, on their flight. Our first sun et in Cairo we saw from the Citadel and it was our fir t view of

66

\ llll Ill ll I'll I

/ /I/\

the city. A sky that had been prayed for, could not have been more perfect. The haze softened every outline and the Sun went down, behind the pyramids, s teeping everything in gorgeous colours.

[December 10, 1874: Isabella Gardner's travel album for Egypt)

2. Cairo from the east .

Photograp h in Album for Egypt, p. 5

Here at the very s tart, in this very first entry, we have the twin points of reference in the mind of every American traveler of Isabella's background: the Arabian Nights and the Bible. Thomas Gold Appleton wrote Lhat the Arabian Nights and the Bible should "be melted into the mind of the traveller, the one for the truth and poetry, through which we see Eas tern life as through some coloured and glov1ring medium, and the other for the reverential interest which it breathes around the paths of prophets and saints of old." 19 As for the Bible, the Holy Family on their flight into Egypt was part of the visual imagery of the time.

Isabella c ut out and pas ted in the middle of this page of her album a s tudio photograph by an unidentified photographer of a sais, or running footman, standing barefoot, stick in hand, splendid in his livery of embroidered ves t, skullcap, and white tunic standing agains t a wall just as she describes (fig. 1). In motion, their long sleeves fluttering behind, they reminded Amelia Edwards of Giarnbologna's bronze sculpture M ercury: "The Sa'is (strong, light, and beautiful, like John of Bologna's Mercury) are said to die young. The pace kills them." 20 There is not a hint of Ismail's new, Westernized capital in the photograph of Cairo from the eas t which Isabella Gardner selected for her album (fig. 2). We look over Saladin's wall.

In Lhe foreground is the mosque-mausoleum of Khayrbak. The madrasa of Sultan Hassan is in the left. It is an Arabian ights' vision, all domes and minare ts, and the pyramids are in the far di stance. Egypt of the pharaoh beckons.

A

VI S IT TO TIIE PYHAMID S

The drive would have taken the Gardners down Pyramids Road, today a busy thoroughfare choked wilh Lraffic bul at Lhal Lime newly laid out and planted with trees for the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. It was cus tomary to feel somewha t let clown by the pyramids but consoled by the Sphinx.2 1 Even Mark Twain, who ridiculed the Arabs' exploits at the Pyramids, was inspired to write a famous purple passage on contemplating the Great Sphinx.22 Interestingly the Gardners did not deign to climb the Pyramid of Cheops to enjoy the commanding views of Cairo, the ile Valley, and all the cemeteries of Memphis . Isabella simply couldn' t wait to ge t away from all the commolion.

67

BEH\I I \

We wenl Lo the Pyramids December 16. There were several carriage loads - principally America ns.

The learned Englishman went by himself and we had with us Lwo Nev1r York spins ters and an English one - I felt that I was disappointed; when I s toocl close to Cheops, hemmed in by the screaming Arab hos t - but when I got away from carriages and many of the people and could lie in the sand near the Sphinx, with the silent desert beyond and on every side, and the Pyramids a liule away from me - then solemnity and mys tery Look possession and my heart wenl oul to the Sphinx. The drive was beautiful and the lovely palms twice lovely when reflected. We lunched "with 40 centuries looking clown upon us" - and then fed th e clogs and Arab children. The Arabs all beg, but are never surly and have generally kind pleasant faces and they often wear a sad look. The women are but rarely handsome, but the men almost always.

[December 16] In keeping with her sentiments, Isabella shows us an idylli c vision of the Pyramid of Chephren from afar reflected in th e water (:fig. 3). In place of " the screaming Arab hos t" and the carriage loads of other tourists, women stand like s la lues with waler jar on their heads.

The palms are indeed " twice lovely when reflected," and the pyramid in the distance is almost insubstantial. Some blue pen lines have been add ed to enhance the reflection of th e pyramid.

Isabella quotes apoleon's exhortation to his troops before the Ba ttle of the Pyramids on July 21, 1798: "Push on, and recollect that from the summit of those monuments forty centuries watch over us." 2:3 Isabella's as essment of Egyptian women, though typical, was nol shared by all: "Of all the falsehoods I have heard about the East," wrote Lucie Duff Gordon in 1862, " tha t about women being old hags at thirty is the bigges t. " 21 Two clays after the visit to the pyramids the Gardners moved Lo their dahabiyya, which would be their .floatin g home for the next 106 days. The crew consisted of about Len Egyptian men (plus one cook boy) and four Europeans - Bonnici, the dragoman, the cool, and the waiter.

For a week Bonnici had been wod ing hard to gel the Dahabeah "Ibis" and its crew prepared ... And we were charmed. With a few touches the little parlour beca me very pretty and as we could s pread ourselves well over the boat, we were quite comfortable, with our separate dressing rooms, ba th rooms, e tc. After dinner we went up lo the s ky parlour and there with the many Eastern rugs, couches, plants and awnings - and it was only part of the dream - the lights of Cairo looked al themselves in th e water, the palms waved and whispered to us from the bank; the moon loo l eel clown on it all and when

68

3. Pascal Sebah, Second Pyramid reflected in the water at Giza (Seconde Pyramide refletee dons /'eau a Gyzeh). Photograph in Album for Egypt, p. 5

\ llO llUl I'll I路:

/ iii.>

Lhe crew, with Lheir Lurbans and many coloured robes squatted in a circle abo u L Lheir liule lurid, flic kering fire, cooked Lheir coffee and chanled Lh eir low weird songs Lo the tapping of the tarabuka - iL was Loo much.

[December 18] Before leaving Cairo the Gardners made a visil Lo the Egyptian Museum, which was Lhen localed in Bulaq, Lhe port of Cairo. " IL was my fir t ghrnp e a t the Old Egyplian 路wonders and iL was a revela tion to me . I always kn ev1' of their greal inlere L, bul I was surprised by Lheir high s lale of Art. Some of the s tatues seem Lo me unequalled.

Mr. Forster and Miss Crawford were there and we caughL a glimpse of M. Marie tte" [December 19].

One of the giants of Egyptology, Augusle Marie tte (1821-1881) came to Egypt in 1850 to purchase Coptic manuscripls for th e Louvre a nd ins lead discovered the Serapeum of Memphis, the catacombs of Lh e sacred Apis bulls buried beneath the sands a t Saqqara.

By the time he returned to France four years la ter, Marie tte had sent back Lo France some six thousand pieces from Lhe Serapeum and iLs en virons, including the Red Scribe, a maslerpiece of Old I ingdom sculpture, even tod ay th e mos t famous sta tue in the Louvre's Egyptian collection. In 1857, on the recommendation of Ferdinand d e Lesseps, Lhe engineer of th e Suez Canal, Viceroy Said summoned Mari e tte back to Egypl Lo prepare for the forthcoming visit of Napoleon Ill's cousin, and to form a collec lion Lo presenl Lo Lhe prince: "Every step of the visiting prince was Lo sproul anliquities, and to assure a fertile crop and to save Lime, Marie tte was to proceed upriver, dig for antiquiLies and then bury them again all along the route." 25 At the lasl minule Lhe prince canceled his trip, but Marie tte so impressed the viceroy Lhat he was appointed director of antiquiti es with the exclusive right to excavale in Egypl. Marie tle was given a s teamboat, the title of bey, and the authority Lo conscripl workmen. As a temporary museum for his :finds, he was given an old warehouse of the Egyplian Transit Company in Bulaq, convenient for offloading heavy sta tuary, which he re modeled as a museum in the eo-Pharao nic s tyle, the firsL such building in Cairo. 26 Marietle filled it with one mas terpiece after another from his excavalions: the jewelry of Queen Ahholep, the Sheikh el-Beled, the s latue of Chephren from Giza, the geese of Maidu m.

Unless she had seen the EgypLian collections in London or Paris (and Lhere is no inclication that she had), Isabella would have been little prepared for such wonders. In 1872, th e newly incorporated Museum of Fine Arts in Boston received, as its firsL major gift of arl, the Way Collection of Egyptian antiquities. The obj ects debuted in 1873 al Lhe Bos Lon Athenaeum (the museum did nol have a building of its own until 1876).27 IL is hard Lo imagine Lhe Gardners did nol visil Lhe display. But although Lhe collec tion contained objects of great interesl, for anything comparable to the maslerpieces in the Bulaq Museum, Bos lon would have Lo wail until the c ulptures of Mycerinus (discovered by the Harvard Universi ty-Museum of Fine Arts Expedition and award ed Lo the Museum by the Egyplian government) arrived in 1911. 28 Un Lil then Bos ton had to be satisfied with plaster casls of the objects discovered by Mariette. A photograph of th e Egyptian and Assyrian cast room in the Copley Square museum , taken afler 1890, shows reproductions of Lhe Chephren s talue and the Sheikh el-Beled (fig. 4). Isabella would have seen the originals.

69

B l路: H \ I

4 . Plast er cast s of Egyptian sculpture in the o riginal Museum of Fine A rt s building o n Cop ley Sq uare, phot og raph, 1902

NIEi\IPIIIS AND SAQQARA

After an adieu from Hassan, the last wrench was made and the Ibis spread her wings and flew South. Some French men on a Dahabeah near us waved adieux and one played on a flute "Partant pour la Syrie." We soon passed Rhoda and the Pyramids were v.rrnpped in mist and sunshine on our right. The moon rose and the sun went down with a string of camels on the desert, standing out against it, dark and clear. At 7:30 we were moored at Bedreshayn.

[December 20] Fifteen miles south of Cairo, the village of el-Badrashein was the traditional starting pointing for a day trip to Memphis and Saqqara. Situated among verdant palm groves, Memphis has always been the place to reflect on the fleeting nature of earthly glory. In Isabella's time, as today, the principal attraction was the fallen colossus of Ramesses II excavated in 1820

by Giovanni Caviglia and Charles Sloane and presented to the British Museum on condition they remove it within three years (which the British were not quite ready to do). 29 Isabella would have read in Murray's guide that it was "probably one of th e statues mentioned by Herodotus . . . as erected by ' e ostris' in front of th e Temple of Phtah and that stood forty-five feet tall." 30 Antonio Beato's photograph (fig. 5) shows the limestone colossus, broken at the fee t, lying face clown in a hollow in the ground - the very image of fallen grandeur. The thirty-six-feet long, one-hundred-ton statue was not turned over until 1887, revealing to all the exquisite refinement of its features. In the 1950s a museum 路was built to enclose it.

70

5. A ntonio Beat o, Statue of Rameses, Memph is.

Phot ograp h in A lbum fo r Egypt, p. 14

\\

\ HOIHll TllF //I/ .,

" Memphis is a place to read about, and think about, and remember, buL it is a disappointing place to see," concluded Amelia Eclwards. 31 Isabella clearly felt otherwise:

6. Isabella Gardner,

Boats on the Nile .

Watercolor in Album

for Egypt, p. 17

We started early, arrayed in white shoes, red donkey blankets, puggerees, etc., for Memphis and Saqqarah. The donkeys were so small, 路we could only see their ears and tails and the donkey boys seemed as happy as the most favored children of the sun could be. Although there is little now to be seen to tell of the past of glorious, regal Memphis, still to me it will always be a memory of surpassing loveliness. The ride through the palm groves, with the earth more green than it was ever painted elsewhere, with the Caravans camping here and there by the side of the little lakes and the graceful women coming and going with the wate1jars on their heads made the picture perfecL. I can never praise enough the fresh morning air. The tomb of Tih, the Pyramids and the Apis Mausoleum astounded us and all that, with the desert hemming us in, made me very solemn and I was glad when night came and we had been tracl ed a few miles up to a little Arab village and the Ibis was moored to the bank. Then, on the deck by myself, I could watch the palm groves in the early moonlight or my thoughts could fly away with the many white winged cangias that floated out with the fading light of the setting sun.

[December 21] A watercolor of seven small riverboats (cangias) sailing in the sunset captures Lhis vision (fi.g. 6). Indeed, Isabella fell quite naturally inLo Lhe rhythm of river life. She was in no hurry.

Having Lo slop every now and then when the wind died down did not make her impatient. o wind, we went not quite so surely as slowly I think - but the air was pe1fect and I felt that I could sit forever, lotos eating, watching the birds, the camels and the people. We s topped a t a little mud village, went ashore and walked throu gh it and I was obliged to forcibly contrast it with any New England village when a picturesque old beggar invited us to take coffee with him! We stopped for the night al ano ther mud village, buL the wind corning up, the Ibis spread her wings.

[December 22] On December 24, afLer going ashore at el-Fashn to mail letters and el-Hiba to see the ancient fortifications, the Gardners stopped for the night at Maghagha, 92 miles south of Cairo.

Such weather! . .. The Ibis and we dozed through the clay - and these clays do seem but a span long. What a lovely evening it was as our bird stole, so quietly, under the banks of Maghagha and folded her wings for the night. I went up, as usual above, after dinner and found the steersman al his prayers, his forehead touching the deck and litLle 'Alee a t the helm. As I lay upon the couch with the fragrance of Lhe frankincense s Lealing over me, the wake of Lhe moon was a fit path by which my thoughts wenLstraight to Cleopatra and I forgot it was Xmas eve.

[December 24]

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Until now they had had very mu ch scenery buL very little archiLecture. But that 路was about to change.

Our first Egyptian Te mple! Denderah! We rowed from Keneh across Lhe river, Looi donkeys and went to the ruin . The temple is wonderfully preserved however and although it is very modern for EgypL, it dates back Lo the PLolemi es . I was raLher suffocaLed a t firs t by its massiveness and its 18 giant columns in Lhe portico. And the inner pmt, Lhe real temple, is so mysterious and dark with its huge walls, in the thickness of which run long secret passages that it affec ted me as terrible. And to read of the processions that wound in and out of its halls and of the sacrifices that were offered, only added to it. Every inch of that irnmen e pile of s tones, interior and exterior, even the wall of th e secret passages, are covered with sculptures. The decoration of the decadence period and it seemed to me not simple enough for the grandness of the architecture, but Lhere were many sculptured friezes, flowers and reeds that pleased me. Several of the rooms had dadoes of papyrus reeds 3 feet high and another had a border of loLus flowers. IL wa very interes ting to find Cleopatra and her son Cesarean on Lhe walls, with their cartouches.

[January 12, 1875] Th e fir t well-preserved Egyptian temple the v1s1tor saw traveling up th e ile, Dendara never failed to ma ke a big impression. The present temple of Hathor was built by the Ptolemies and Romans on Lhe site of an earlier s truc ture, and visitors since JeanFrarn; ois Champollion's clay have felt compelled to apologize for the reliefs while admiring the architec ture. " Before my eyes," says Champollion, the pioneering Egyptologis t, "was an architectural maste1piece covered all over with sculptures in th e wors t possible s tyle. With all clue respect to the Commission cl'E gypte, the bas-reliefs of Denclara are simply awful; and it could not be otherwi e, for they come from a period of decadence. " 32 Beato's photograph, which Gardn er mounted in h er volume, shows Lhe fan1ous porLico with its Hathor columns s till buried to Lhe top of the screen-wall (fig. 7) . The famous double scene of Cleopatra VII and Caesarion worshipping the gods of Dendara is around the back. American E gyptologis t Charles Edwin Wilbour wrote in 1882: " It is the thing mos t people go to Dend era to see.

Everybody buys the photograph of it and many people the plas ter cast. " Isabella bought the photograph too (fig. 8) and labeled iL " Cleopa tra." It shows a woman 路wearing a vulture headdress, s un-disk, and cow's horns. Although the cartouch e says CleopaLra, the throne hieroglyph iclenLifies Lhe figure as Isis.

One looks in vain among all the reli efs of Dend ara for such a tableau . Wilbour explains: "It is really a head of Isis with a cartou che of Cleop atra add ed by

72

7. Antonio Beat o, Temple of Denderah . Phot ograph in Album for Egypt, p. 30

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the plas Ler man; the phoLograph is from Lhe casL. "路3:3 Even Amelia Edward s was taken in. Edward s proudly illus Lrates Lhe phoLograph as a portrait of CleopaLra, explainin g to her readers : "This curious sculpture is now banked up with rubbish for iLs be tLer preservation, and can no longer be seen by travellers. It was, however, admirably photographed some years ago by Signor Beati; which photograph is faiLhfully reproduced in the annexed engraving.'"31 A view of the rear wall of the Lemple publish ed by Mariette in 1878 shows Lhe figures covered in debris jusLas Edwards describes.:35

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8. Cleopatra . Photog raph in A lbum for Egypt, p. 32

Luxor, ancienL Thebes, has th e greates t concentraLion of pharaonic monuments in all of Egypt. The Gardiners spent five days there on Lheir way up and four on Lheir way clown. At that time, Luxor temple itself, th at marvel of EgypLian architecture, had little Lo offer th e antiquarian. "Overwhelmed by the mass of modern erections which have invaded it like a rising tide, the temple of Luxor offers but a slight interest to the visitor," wrote MarieLLe.36 The area's greatest attractions - the royal memorial temples, the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, and the tombs of th e nobles - were Lo be found on the west bank of the ile.

Alone among Egyptian temples, the temple of Luxor does not face the river. Ins tead, it faces north, toward Karnak, to which iL was linked by a processional avenue lined with sphinxes, its orientation being determined by its place in the ritual topography of ancient Thebes . Beato's photograph shows the temple from the west bank, its columns reflected in the water (fig. 9). Isabella cropped the photograph top and botLom to create a horizontal format that empha izes the way the temple unfolds its length parallel to the river. The temple itself is half buried under the village th at encumbered it unLil the 1880s and 1890s, when the hou ses were gradually re moved. The large building on the righL, perched over the sanctuary, is the "French House," where Champollion stayed in 1829 and where Lucie Duff Gordon spent her lasLclays.

Their very firsL night in Luxor Lhe Gardners received a visit from an American Egyp tologis L named Edwin Smith, who had lived in Egypt for seventeen years. Born in Bridgeport, ConnecticuL, in 1822, Smith went to Egypt in 1858 and s tayed, mostly in Luxor, until 1876. He made his living as a moneylender, dealer, and some said a forger.:r; Jack bought scarabs from him:38 He specialized in hieratic papyri and is besLremembered today for the fifteen-foot long Edwin Smith Medical Papyrus he left to his daughLer and which is now in the New York Academy of Medicine.:39 When the Gardners met him , Smith was living "in a charming house with the Aus trian Ambassador" [January 17, 1875 J. Torn Apple Lon, who saw him in December, called it " the pleasantest house in Luxor."~0 Smith was in Luxor a t the same time as Lucie Duff Gordon and although he never menLions him by name, it has been sugges ted he was the "Yankee Egyptologis t a t Luxor, a fri e nd of mine," about 路whom she 路wrote home Lo her husband in 1864 asking him Lo send some books. 11 It is difficult to reconcile this with Tom Appleton's

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remark Lhat "Lady Duff Gordon has cruelly 路wronged him, if one may trusl the assertions of the English and American Consuls, who gave us as Lhe reason for Lhese slanders that he was honester than the rest." 12 Appleton like the Gardner found him knowledgeable, informative, and helpful. A year later Edwin Smith left Egypl for Italy; he died in Naples in 1906.

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The Gardners spent three clays diligently sightseeing on the west banl . On January 14 s tarting around 11 am, they went first to the temple of Sety I, the northernmo t of the royal memorial temples (fig. 9) and the usual s tarting point for a tour of the west bank. Afler lunching in the temple, they proceeded Lo the temple of Ramesses II, the Rarnesseum, at its most picturesque in the late afternoon, where Isabella painted the ruins (fig. 10). On the way back they s topped by the Colossi of Memnon as the sun began to set. It was a quarter of seven by the time they got back to the boat- a full day indeed .

Jack meanwhile had been trying his hand at photography, but without much s uccess, as these entries in his diary from December 1874 show:

9. Antonio Beato, Luxor

Temple seen from the west bank (top) o nd Temple of Sety I (below). Photogra phs in Album for Egypt, p. 33 l 0 . Isabell a Gordner, Columns of the Ramesseum, January 1875. Watercolor in

Tuesday December 22nd No Wind. Tracked almost all day. 1st photo of El Deen [el-Tehin ?] exposed 16 minutes - too long - afterwards walked through the village . . .

Album for Egypt, p. 35

Thursday December 24th Sand bank in the morning. Stopped abo ul 10 a.m. al Feshn [el-Fashn] wenl Lo Lhe R.R. s tation abo ut a mile Lo mail letters. Sailed about half an hour further to El Haybee [el-Hiba] on Eas t Bank. Went on shore and saw the ruined fortifications. Took two photos and made failures of them .. .

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Friday December 25th o Wind. Started to track about 8:30. Landed and walked through Lhe bazaar. Also visited the Sugar house. Boat obliged to stop opposite the Sugar house on acco unt of flats beyond. Took several photos from the boat - but too unsteady and turned out bad.

So Lhe next day, before crossing over, Jack made a visit to Antonio Beato's Luxor studio, where he bought twelve photos and received some advice from the famous photographer. 13 A single dim photograph survives from Jack's efforts in Egypt - a view of boats along a bank which Isabella tucked loosely into her travel album. 11

11 . Antonio Beato, Karnak and Sacred Lake. Photograph in Album far Egypt, p. 80

After tha t they returned to the west bank to see the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri-most striking in the morning sunlight - and the tombs of the nobles: "The decorations were most interesting and we found the originals of many of Wilkinson's illustrations. Some of the ffowers, ceiling and friezes were most graceful" [January 15]. 15 The third day they went back again to the west bank, starting from the tombs of the nobles at Qurnet Murai and thence to the Ptolemaic temple of Deir el-Medina (the workmen's village and cemetery had not yet been discovered), where they had tea, followed by a visit to the temple of Ramesses III at Medine t Habu, the best preserved of all the royal memorial temples. But the highlight of the day came that night: an excursion to Karnak, the precinct of Amen-Ra, king of the gods, "the most wonderful pile of ruins which can be imagined" (:fig. 11). 16 A cousin of John Popes broughL us a letter and came in the evening to see us and about ten o'clock we all mounted donkeys and started for Karnak by moonlight. I have never had such an experience and I felt as if I never wanted to see anything again in this world; that I might shut my eyes to keep tha t vision clear. It was not beautiful, but most grand, mysterious, solemn. I felt it, even more tha t saw it. It was a terrible that fasci na ted. I never can forget tha t night and Karnak will always be to me at the head of everything.

[January 16] The nexl day being a Muslim holiday (the Greater Bairam), the Gardners had a lazy day visiting and socializing. The next day Jack counted ten dahabiyyas and two steamers at Luxor, one being Mariette's. 17 They left the following afternoon, but there being no wind, it was two days before they reached Esna, a provincial capital, thirty-six miles south of Luxor, where the crew went ashore to bake. I abella was entranced: "Such a soft sunset with the moon already high up in tb e sky" [January 19].

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Whal nighLs we have ! Th e river runs liquid gold and everything seems burned inlo Lhe precious me La l, burning wiLh inward fire; and the n the s un sels and the world has hardly time Lo become ame thys t and then ilver, before it is dark night. And Lhe moonlighL nighLs ! How different from ours. Iothing harp, clear and defined, but a beautiful day Lurned pale. It was so beautiful, inexpressibly lovely to-nighL on deck and everything vvas so still when the Muezzin's call Lo prayer was wailed through the air, that Lhe Lears would come.

[January 20] Pas l Esna, the landscape changes as the valley narrows and lime tone yield Lo ands lone: " Ge lting nearer ubia and having perfect weather. The charac ter of the scenery changing" [January 23]. It was here between Esna and Aswan thaL Lhe Ibis passed the Rachel with Torn AppleLon aboard , returning from th e Second Calarac t: " I was really disappointed not to have met him at some stoppin g place, Lo hear his experiences." But there was compensation of a sort that evening: As the sun sel Lhe colours were purple and silver, differenl from any other sunset. The old Reis suddenly jumped up and called out "Ternsah" and we saw our 1st Crocodile sprawled out on a sand bank. A loathsome creature. He slumped himself slowly into the river, leaving a we l shiny track behind him .

[January 24] The sunset, thou gh nol the crocodile, is caplured in on e of Isabella's mosl evocative wa tercolors (:fig. 12).

A

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12. Isa bella Gardner, Sunset on the Nile, January 1875.

The Firs t Ca laracl is a five-mile strelc h of rapids, walerfalls, whirlpools, and eddies between Aswan and Philae caused by innumerable granile oulcroppings in Lhe bed of the river. Today the cataracts are catarac ts in name only, bul it was different before the building of the Aswan Dam. Although the actual drop in altitude might only be three fee t, the water gushed between th e rocks with such force it might Lravel twenly fee t. In the summer, when the Nile was high, ships could sail Lhrough , bul in Lhe winler touris Lseason, when the ri ver was low, Lhey had Lo be pulled up Lhrough the channels and kept from crashing against the roc ks by hundreds of men using ropes and poles. The local villagers, known as the Shellalee afler the Arabic word shelled , for "cataract," were experts a t this sort of navigation and had a monopoly on the passage. As boa ts could pass Lhrough onl y one a t a Lime there was usually a wail.

The travelers lost no time getting to Aswan. Aswan was the traditional southern boundary of Egypl and Lhe gateway Lo Nubia. IL had the most exotic market. It faced the most pic turesque island, verdant Elephanline, revered in antiquity as the source of Lhe ile. And

76

Watercolor in A lbum fo r Egypt, p. 45

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- iL had, just :five miles south , pas t the calaracl bul easily accessible by boat from Lhe shore, the mos l beautifully situated ternple-Lhe sanctuary of Isis on Lhe island of Philae (fig. 13). "There are four recollections of a traveler," wrole Dr. Richard R. Madden in 1825, "which might Lempt him Lo live forever: the sea view of Constantinople, Lhe sight of Lhe Coliseum by moonlight, Lhe prospec t from the summit of Vesuvius by dawn, and Lhe first glimpse of Philae a t sunsel." 18 aturally, everyone was in a hurry to get th ere.

13. Antonio Beato, Philoe.

Photograph in Album for Egypt, p. 48

I was awakened by a stirring on the boat about 4:30 a.m. and looked out. Venus as large as a moon, and a f-ieet of Dahabeahs in full sail - A race for the catarac t. We got off pretty soon and had an exciting time of il until noon, when all arrived al Assouan, nearly Logelher, but unfortunately we were next Lo Lhe last. The birds leading. One of Lhe boals was the Philae, very pre tty and fasl, wilh Dresden and Willard, two Englishmen.

Another, the Nautilus, with the Glovers. We moored at Elephantine and revelled in one of the prettiest sights in the world - the land-locked river and the fleet of boats, all their flags fl ying. We lounged through the town. Ins tead of Antiquities, leopard s kins, live tiny monkeys, poisoned pearheads were offered for sale . Mr. Hurd dined with us and we all went to Philae. We s tarted about 9 o'clock and wenl on donkeys through the :five miles of wilde l weirdesl waste, with Lhe deceptive moon lighting up Lhe rocks and tombs and making il easy Lo fancy one saw Lhe ghouls. We were rowed to the Island, a small one, entirely covered wilh Lhe ruins of the Temple and a few palms that seemed in their right place. The river is very narrow on both sides of Lhe island and on each opposite bank piles of granite are tumbled in very fantastic shape. I was not impressed as al } arnac by the terrible solemnity, but all was beautiful, beautiful.

[January 25] The next clay Jack counted seventeen dahabiyyas either going up the ile or nol going any farther, including four government boals (fig. 14) . The Gardners had Lo wail their turn.

Meanwhile they amused themselves visiting and sightseeing. One night, Lhe Englishmen, Dresden and Willard, come for tea; the next, Mr. Forster, whom they had met in December at the Bulaq Museum , invites Lhem to dinner " that be and I might put our heads together over hieroglyphics"; the clay after that, the Garclners call on General and Mrs. McClellan, "who are in rap tures about the Nile"; the following clay, the McClellans return the visit before continuing on clovvnstream. Isabella's hieroglyphic exercises are preserved on two sheets of paper she folded and inserted into her album: names of gods (Osiris and Amen), common Lerms and phrases (month, half-monlh, week, "beloved of Amen, approved of Ra" in a carlouche, and various signs listed by their phonetic values (fig. 15).

The approach of Prince Arthur, Lhird son of Qu een Victoria, meanl more delay, as the prince mus l Lake precedence. But Isabella did not mind.

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Strange to say one can't feel very actively impatient there is such a delicious laziness in the atmosphere and at times I even don't care. The week ha been made up of neighbouring expeditions. One clay a camel ride with the Rookers into the desert. (The saddle, a very insecure and uncomfortable eat); another clay to a deserted convent, that lies at the head of a wacly of golden sand (very interesting); another clay to a ruined house of the Kedive. In the evenings, the boats are often illuminated and the many coloured lights fly to and fro over the water.

[February 2-8]

15. Hieroglyph ic exercises by Isa bell a Gardner

A watercolor of an ox-drawn saqiya for raising water, set amidst the palms with a domed sheikh's tomb in the background, perfectly captures the "delicious laziness" in the air she describes (:fig. 16).

At la t, the morning of February 9, 1875, the Ibis and four other boats start for the catarac t. They get through the :first of the gales or rapids and are tied up for the night. The next clay, however, the Shellalee leave them waiting to take care of the two dahabiyyas of "of some German prince" (actually two German princes - Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Oldenburg), who had to go ahead. Finally the next day: About 10:30 a.m. we were boarded by the Shellalee and started for the second gate. And what a clay it was. Four mummies with their bandages more or less unrolled stationed themselves on the upper deck, in charge of the helm. A maniac placed himself on the gangway and jumped up and down, waving a tick and shrieking; and one and all of the tribe, the commander and the commanded yelled and screamed a t the same time and continuously.

78

16. Isa bell a Ga rdner, Saqiya for raising water, February 1875. Wate rcolor in Album for Egypt, p. 56

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IL was a mos Lexciting Lime, noL that Lhe caLarac Lis anyLhing wonderful or terrible, but the Shellalee were like the inmates of an in ane asylum let loo e; at one time when on the rocks pulling us, they dropped the ropes and rushing at each other, had a tremendous fighL And the heat of the sun was terrific. When the encl came, and Lhe maniacs had left us, the stillness was so great and so sudden that I felt like fainting and never was there a lovelier or quieter evening as we gently sailed past Philae.

[February 11]

AB U S IR

On February 22 they reached Wadi Halfa, the official border be tween Egypt and the Sudan and th e south ern terminus of their journey. They were now 802 miles south of Cairo.

It was time to put away the sails, and get out the oars, for the trip north would be by rowing.

It was really sad to wake up to the realizing sense that it was the last clay's sail. Perfect Nubian weather and fine 路wind. The crew, excepL for an occasional pull at the sail, were rolled up on the deck, looking rather worn out by their night work in pushing off sandbanks. The country getting more and more desolate, a long line of palms on the right; the desert close upon them, and low, detached rocky hills clotted the sand on the left. The yellow sand losing the golden wheat colour and looking like a field of ripe rye.

[February 22] The peerless view of the Second Cataract from the Rock of Abusir, five miles south of Wadi Halfa, was the culmination of the Nile voyage. Murray calls it " the ultinia Thule of Egyptian travelers." 19 All the famous early travelers - Belzoni, Burckharclt, Irby and Mangles, and others less famous - have carved their names on this rock, and Jack was eager to add the name of Gardner, for "cu tom sanctions here ... a practice which good tas te and common sense alike condemn mos t s trongly, when indulged in to the injury of priceless monuments of anLiquity and works of art." 5 For Isabella, conscious of the solemnity of the occasion, it was important to gel here early, ahead of the other travelers, to be alone.

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Following the McClellan's advice (which was of the best) we went to Abouseer by boat, instead of donkey back . . . It was such a fresh pleasant way of ge tting to the mountain and it was very interesting threading our way tbrough the 1000 islands of the 2nd catarac t. A little climb to the top and a most s tartling picture at our feet. o encl of Nubia in one direction; directly under our feet the black rocks jutting up in the rapid and such myri ads of them and off to the south, as much as one chose to imagine. I hunted amongs t the carved names for those of friends and found several, as well as the hisLorical ones. Whilst Jack was busy scratching "Gardner" I had the top of the mountain all to myself and there was nobody to laugh al me for being absolutely unhappy because our journey was over and our faces were to be turned to the north even in half an hour.

We had breakfast in the shadow of a crag; my eyes feas ting on the mountains of Dongola - "it was something to have seen them" as Lord Lindsay said. 5 1 The Rookers soon arrived and Mrs. Rooker gladly refreshed herself with a cup of my tea. And then came

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the Austri an party, hoL and tired by their long ride over Lhe desert, wondering why we knew so much as to come by boat. I was very glad we had got there o early, for I do hate to be in interesting places with

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a cm wd of people. It wa a quick row back and I made myself very comfortable on the shawls and cushions in the bottom of the boaL. We goL back abouL 12:30 and with a quarrel with one of those children Lhe crew, about the oar he was Lo have rowing down the river, we turned our Bad s on Wady Halfah, the Ibis in a wre tched enough plight shorn of her fea thers; her pride and my delight the beautiful big sail being stowed away and everything cleared for ac tion. Th ere 路were great larks in the afternoon, th e crew c utting up all kinds of pranl s in their m wing; and when bed time came and they each had the hole to sleep in tha t was made by taking up the planks between the rowers and they sat up in their holes in their white garments, it looked like resurrection morn.

[February 23)

In Isabella's watercolor, "Zodiacal Light February 24, 1875" (fig. 17), we really do seem to be a t the far end of the earth. All is light, desolate, vacant, and strangely like the Arctic - ultima Thule indeed.

Returning downstream, the Gardners visited all the mosLimportant Nubian sites: Abu Simbel, el-Der, Amada, el-Sebua, el-Dakka, Gerf Hussein, Dendur, Kalabsha, Beit el-Wali.

All these sites now lie under the wa ters of Lake asser, the great reservoir created the Aswan High Dam. 52 The temples have all been moved, some close to their original locations, others far away. Dendur is now in Nevv York. Even Philae has been moved, though only to a neighboring island.

They reached Philae again on March 1 around 11 p m and spent the next morning and following afternoon in the temple, Jack tal ing photographs and receiving some professional advice from the photographer Felix Bonfils and his assistant. 5:3 On March 4 they came down the catarac t ("very exciting and soon over"), the descent being much easier than the ascent, and continuing on downstream stopped a t Kom Ornbo, the sandstone quarries at Gebel Silsila ("Jack says the best think he has seen in Egypt"), and Edfu, recently cleared by Mariette. At Elkab, a ride ouL into th e desert to see the tombs and temples evoked scenes out the Bible and the Arabian ights: A nas ty day on the river; the dust and wind a perfec t gale. I was feeling al most too wre tchedly to move, but we took donkeys and s tarted for the desert, and then wha t a change. On the arable land they were beginning the harves ting, wo men and children gleaning, like th e Bible. Soon we left all Lraces of green and whaLa perfec t day it was .

Desert, the rocks and th e air were exactly timed to my nerves. IL was the mos t delicious thing I ever fell. A large amphitheatre of hills bounded the east, wi th unna tural

80

Zodiacal Light, February 24, 1875. Wat ercolor in A lbum for Egypt, p. 64

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looking paths going in here and there where I could gel glimpses of such valleys LhaL I expected at every peep to see an enchanted cas tle. Sinbad's scene of adventure must have been hereabou L. . .

[Marc h 8] Back in Luxor for four days, the Gardners went straight to Karnak - " there is nothing like it" - then crossed over to the west banl to see more of " the wonderful valley of the tombs of the kings," the tombs of the queens, Medinet Habu, Lhe Ramesseum. One night the American consul, Ali Muraad Effendi, LreaLed them to a performance of Gawahzee (dancing girls). "Their pe1formance was the mosLextraordinary thing I ever saw," wrote Isabella. "Real 'serpents of the Tile."'51 At sunset on March 15, after bidding a last farewell to "glorious Karnak," the Ibis headed north, leaving "Thebes bathed in a golden glow." At Asyut, a visit to the "Mi ssion of the United Presbyterian Church of North America" was a moving experience ince it awakened feelings of nostalgia as well as prompted a response to social issues, in particular the situation of women in Egypt: The Mission house is just like another Arab house, except that it is clean and it was quite refreshing to see the little parlour, with its bookcases, melodion, and other evidences of civilization ... In one of the rooms of the boys department, a bell was rung and all the classes assembled and sang (in Arabic) " there is a happy land, far, far away" - one of the hymns Lhe clear boys sing those Beverly Sundays. It quite tartlecl and affected me. The pupils are quiLe advanced, I believe, in Geography, Arithme tic, Na tural History, e tc., and some learn English. In this country of woman's intellectual depravity it was good to see the young girls who could read and write .

[March 23] 18. Antonio Beato, Beni Hasan . Photograph in Albu m for Egypt, p . 8 8

Their las t stop going down the ile was Beni Hasan to see the Middle Kingdom tombs high up on the cliffs overlooking the Nile (fig. 18).

We arrived quite early and were off on our donkeys for . . . the celebrated tombs, and we were really disappointed, not with the subjects of the decorations, which were full of interest, but with their state of preservation. In truth it 路was difficult to make out many of the mo t curious. We were particularly interes ted in studying Lhem on account of Wilkinson, whose copies of many had made us already old fri ends; but my peculiar delight was in discovery of a dear little Hoopoe, quite perfec t.

[March 29]

81

131. H\I \ \

Two clays later, April 2, they were within sight of Cairo: "The Pyramids are looming up on our left and the Ci taclel of Cairo is beginning to be distinct in front of us. Good-bye to the clear Nile Voyage."

Isabella did not capitalize on her trip to Egypt. She was not a professional travel writer like Amelia Edwards, who devoted the res t of her to preserving Egypt's antiquities; she was not an invalid like Lucie Duff Gordon, who lived on top of Luxor Temple, and bonded with the fellaheen, whose letters home made her famous. But nor was she that other type of traveler, who does not deserve to be where she is, who is bored with ruins and hates the boat, who thinks it i all dirty and uncomfortable and cannot wait to get back home to civilization - such as the woman quoted in Constance Fenimore Woolson's "Cairo in 1890" : "I have spent nine long days on this boat, staring from morning till night. One cannot stare at a river forever, even if it is the Nile! Give me my thimble."5.s Isabella was a young, vibrant woman, full of life and excitement, who simply relished the whole experience. And there can be little doubt that her experience of Egypt - her first taste of the Orient - prepared her for journeys farther east to Japan, China, southeas t Asia, and India.

82

\11 0 \llll Till' / /lh

Traveller, and Campaigner for Ancient Egypt (London.

MANU CRlPT SOURCES

Mostyn, Egypts Belle Epoque:

(Isa bell a Lewarl Gardner

album for Egypt, 1874..-75.

Cairo and the Age of the Hedonists (London , 1989), pp.

61-71; Cyn thia Mynlli , Paris A long the Nile: Architectiire in Cairo from the Belle Epoque

The extended quotations

(Cairo, 1999).

1875.

4. In fact Cairo was nol ready.

14. See Chong 2009, p. 14.

Museum, Bos ton) [sa bel la Stewart Gardner's travel

and One N ights'; the tyrann y is Lh e same, the people are not

2006).

altered-and very cha rmin g 13. Isabella Gardner's travel

people they are" (Duff Gordon

album for Egypt, January ]4,

1969, p. 78).

20. Edwards 1891, p. 6 .

are from this album, unless otherwise noted.

cious of books, the 'Thousand

21. For example, Murray

Of 250 hectares sel as ide for John L. Gardner Jr. day book.

development, only 104 hectares

15. There is an e normou s

1890, p. 175: " Mos l travelers

1874-75.

had been actually d eveloped

literature on the photographers

have expressed their sense of

by 1875; Raymond , Cairo, pp.

of Egypt; for example, I a Lhleen

disappointment on approaching

1. Jac k Gardner's day book.

3 14..-15. And Lh e opera hou e

Stewart l-lowe a nd Mic hael G.

the Pyramids."

Wilson, Exciirsions Along

December 11, 1874. Travelers

opened on

ge nerally didn't c hose Lo s tay

with a performance of Verdi's

ovember 1, 1869,

long in Alexandria in those days.

Rigoletto nol Aida.

the Nile: The Photog raphic Discovery of Ancient Egypt (exh. Santa Barbara

interest in Alexandria Lo d etain

5. Cited in Jason Thompson,

Museu m of Arl, 1993). For an

the ordina ry traveler more than

excellent selection. see Lhe

a day," according Lo the 4th

A History of Egypt from Earliest Times to the Present

website "Egyptia n Mirage: A

edition of Murray's guide book

(New York, 2009), p. 241.

database of 19th-century 'studio

23. Vivant De non, Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt during the Campaigns of General Bonaparte in that Country, translated by Arthur

photographs' of Egypt, mainly

Aikin ( ew York, 1803), p. 59

in the collection of the Griffith

[on Google Books]. There are

lnslilule, Oxfo rd" a l www.

ma ny variants;

"There is nothing of s urficie nL

Lo Egypt: Murray 1873, p. ] 00.

The Cardners owned a copy of

6. Marie lle 1890, p. 5.

this edition a nd it is s igned,

路']. L. Gardner Jr." (in the

22. Twain 2003, pp. 472-73.

apoleon may

griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/4mirage.

nol have even said it, a l least not

html (accessed 3/15/2010). T he

at the time; see Todd Port erfield,

8. Edwards 1891, p. 409.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,

has redu ced the laLLer city Lo

9. Reid 2002, pp. 80- 81, 300,

lected by Franc is Lee Higginson,

The Allure of Empire: flrt in the Service of French Imperialism, Z798- 1836

a mere station on the route lo

302 (ta bles 7 and 9). Ma rtin

a contemporary of Isabella. They

(Princeton, 1998), pp. 179-80

Egypt from Marseilles, from

R. I alfatovic, Nile Notes of a

ma ke an interesting comparison;

nole 74; .J. Chri stopher Herold ,

Brindi si, from Trieste, or from

Ho wac~ji:

see "Coll ections" al www.mfa.

Bonaparte in Egypt ( ew

org.

York, 1962), pp. 95-96 .

7. Ibid., p. 85.

Gardner Museum). Marie tte observed, "The railway whic h

has 87 s tudio photogra phs col-

connects Cairo with Alexandria

Southampton" (Marie tte 1890, p. 85).

A Bibliog raphy of Travelers' Tales from Egypt, from t,he Earliest, Time to 1918 (Me tuc he n, .J, 1992).

ile

Lo hurry up the river as fas t as

2. "We are slopping al She pheard's Hotel, which is the

16. " It is the rule of the

10. For the life of Luc ie Duff

24. Duff Gordon 1969, p. 46.

"Among the poor fellah women

possible, leaving the ruins Lo be

it may be Lrue e nough, bul nol

worst on earth except the one

Gordon, see Katherine Frank ,

seen as the boal comes back with

nearly as much as in Germany;

I s lopped al once in a small

A Passage to Egypt (Boston ,

the c urre nt." Edwards 1891,

and T have now seen a consi der-

Lown in the United Sta les."

1994).

p. 69.

able numbe r of Leva n tine ladies

The Innocents Abroad, or, The New Pilg rim s Prog ress

11. Du fl Cordon 1865. Late r

17. Marie tte 1890, pp. 13 1- 32.

least comely, Lill fifty."

(Twa in 2003, p. 462). imilarly,

le LLers were edited by Janel ] 8 . Edwards 1891, p. 36.

25. H. E. Winlock. "Tombs

looking ver y handsome, or al

Lucie Duff Cordon in the ] 860s

Ross: Last Leuersfrom Egypt

refers Lo " this horrid Shepheard 's

(London , 1875). The combined

of evenleenth Dynas ty a l

Hotel" (Duff Cordon ] 969, p.

acco unt were re publi s hed in

19. Appleton 1876. p. 297.

The bes," Journal of Egyptian

44). For hotels in Cairo a nd

1902 a nd 1969 (Duff Cordon

Compare Lucie Duff Cordon on

Archaeology 10 (1924), p. 259.

Alexandria, see Reid 2002,

1969) and frequently reprinted.

her fi rsl Lri p Lo Egypt in 1862: "If anyo ne tri es Lo make you believe

p. 73.

26. Reid 2002, p. 105.

12. For the life of Amelia

any bo h a bou t c ivilization in

3. For Ismail 's Cairo, see: Andre

Edwa rds, see Brenda Moon,

Egypt. la ugh al it. The real life

Raymond , Cairo (Ca mbridge,

More Usefully Employed: flmelia B . Edwards , Writer,

a nd the real people are exactly

Cus hing a nd David B. Dearinger,

as described in the mos l vera-

Acquired Tastes: 200 Years

Mass., 2000), pp. 3 11- 18; Trevor

83

27. Whitehill 1970 ; Stanley Ellis

Br· rn1 I\

of Collecting for th e Boston Athenaeu111 (Boston, 2006). p.

57 [e say by David Dea rin ge rJ, pp. 240-41 le ntry by Hina 1-li rayarna].

Gas ton Maspero (1846-19 16),

beetle," Fen way Coiirt (1973),

and publ is hed Letters Ji·om

Ma ri e lle's s uccessor as director of an tiquiti es: "Le bas-re li e f

pp. 30-34.

Egypt , Edom and the Iloly Land (J 838). The passage is

d e De nclera h oi:1 ]'on cro it la

39. See Ja mes P. Allen, The Ari

quoted in full in Ma nley and Abdel-Ha kim 2004, p. 194.

reconnaltre, e l donl les Louristes

of Medicine in flncient Egypt

acheten l a J"e nvi le p]a tre O U la

(ex h. Metropolitan Museum of

28. George A ndre w Reis ne r.

photographie, ne la represenle

Art. New York. 2005), no. 60,

52. Onl y Gerf Hus e in 1rns not

"The Ha rvard Un ivers ity-

point. C'est une Isis ou une

pp. 70-115.

saved.

40. Appleton 1876. pp. 77-78.

53. Jack Gardiner's clay book,

a De ndera h

Museum of Fi ne Arts

l-lathor. s urmoulee

Expedition.'· Mu sewn of Fine

par Flori s, il y a pres de

Arts BLLlletin 9, no. 50 (A pril

quaranle a ns, e l e nrichie plus

1911).

Lard par un des conser vate urs du Musee de Boulaq, Vassalli-Bey,

Caroline Ransom Wi llia ms,

Bofils & his assistan t gave me

29. Caviglia is \\ ell known for

du cartouc he de Cleopatre."

"The place of the few York

some hints."

his explorations ins ide the Great

"Sur une Le le de statue lrouvee

His torical Soc iety in the

Pyra mid a nd Sphinx al Giza.

a Alexa ndri e," BibliotheqLLe

growth of American interest

54. Isa bella Ga rdner's travel

Sloane, Briti h cons ular offic ia l

EgyptologiqLLe. vo l. 28

in Egyptology," New-Yo rk

in Cairo, is less well known .

(Pa ri s, 19 12), p.28[ttudesde

ee Warre n R. Dawso n a nd Eric P. Uphill, Who T-flas T-fl /10

mythologie e l d'a.rcheolog ie

Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin 4 (April 1920), pp.

alb um for Egypt, Marc h 14.

1875.

March 3, 1875: " In th e afternoon 4 ). Duff Gordon 1969, p. 184:

egyptien nes (Paris, 1893-16). vol. 6. p. 418]. Since Ma pero's

16-17.

in Egyptology. 3rd ed. by M. L. Bierbri er (Lo ndon, 1995),

arti cle first appea red in 1899,

42. Appleton 1876, p. 77.

pp. 88, 393; Jaso n T hompson,

"a bout forty yea rs ago" would

Sir Gardner Wilkinson and His Circle (A us Lin, 1992), pp.

be 1859.

134-35.

34. Edwards 1891, p. 122.

30. Murray 1873, p. 205.

Herodotus 2. J 10.

31. Edwards 1891, p. 67.

32. "J'avais sous les ye ux un couve rl d e sculptures de de ta il

a la Com.mission

cl 'Egypte. les bas-reliefs de De ndera sont de testa bl e, et cela ne pou vail elre a ulre menl; ils sonl

er

Lill

lernps de decadence.'·

43. Jack Gardner's day book,

pp. 65 1-7 4: the quote is on p.

665. R epubli s hed in Menton e,

44. Chong 2009, p. 14.

1896). p. 190.

Cairo and Co1jii (New York,

re print of Auguste Ma rielle-

45. John Gardner \l\filki nson, the founder of Bri Lis h Egyptology,

H cmte-Egypte ( L878) (Paris,

li ved in Egypt for twel ve years

1999), pl. 36. Isis is the third

(1821-33). visiting praclically

fi gure from the left.

every known a ncienl site. Hi s

36. Mari e lle 1890. p. 183.

three-volume work. Th e Manners cincl Customs of th e Ancient Egyptians. first pub-

37. See John A. Wil on, Signs

li shed in 1837, was cons idered

and Tflonders Upon Pharaoh: A History of American Egyptology (C hicago, 1964),

required read ing a nd earn ed its a uthor a knighthood.

pp. 52- 57.

46. Ma rielle 1890, p. 184.

Jea n-Franc;;ois Champollion,

Lettres et journa lLX ecrits pendant le voyage cl 'Egypte, edited by H. Hartleben (Paris, 1986), p. 157.

38. Jac k Gardiner's day book,

47 . Jack Ga rdin er's clay book,

J a nuary 17, 1875: " We nt lo

January 18, 1875.

e Edwin Smith - also the photographers. Bought Scarnbe i

48. ManJ ey and Abdel-Ha kim

of Smith l for £3. l for £2. ] for

2004, p. 178.

33. Charles Edwin Wilbour,

$2. of Prussian Consul - l (£3)

Travels in Egypt ( December 1880 to Moy 1891 ): Letters of Charles Edwin TVilboiir, edited

- l (£2) for£. Am. Cons ul I gave

by Jean Caparl (Brooklyn, 1936),

49. Murray 1873. p. 487.

£ 1 for 2 - he having bought 12 for 5 Napoleon & $1- a nd given us the choice of them.'· Four of

50. Ibid.

p. ] 33. A footn ote there leads

these scara bs are publi s hed by

5 1. Lord Lind ay traveled Lo

Lo the foll owing La le me nl by

Joyce L. Haynes. "The sacred

Egypt a nd Pa lestine in 1836- 37

84

Tlarper 's New Monthly Magazine 83 (Oc tober ] 891).

Janua ry 15, 1875.

Pac ha, Voyage clcuis lo

du plus ma uvais s tyle. N'e n deplaise

55. Constance Fe ni more Woolson, "Cairo in J 890,"

35. L 'Egypte de Mariette,

chef -d 'oeuvre cl 'architectiire.

photographed on Philae & M.

\ 1rn11rn rn1 / Hh

85

Multisensorial Asia Chris tine M. E. Guth

"The tourist gaze" and the museum "as a way of seeing" are two of the many familiar phrases that cultural historians have coined to express the centrality of vision to the experience of travel and art. 1 Such interpre tive modes follow a Western philosophical tradition that has privileged sight as the noblest of the five senses, an outlook registered in terms such as "enlightenment," "insight," and "revelation." This identification of the eye with the analytical operations of the Western mind has tended to devaluate sound, touch, smell, and taste as meaningful modes of cultural interpretation. While anthropology is directing growing attention to the significance of the sensorial, the ways thaLLhe embodied experiences of travel might have contributed to the Euro-American invention of Asia at the turn of the century have as yet been little examined. 2 A case in point is Isabella tewart Gardner, who has left abundant evidence through the records of her travels to Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and India in 1883- 84, her selffashioning, and her collecting and display practices. 3 Many nineteenth-century travellers have left verbal and visual accounts of their experiences, but the Gardner archive is unusual in that in addition to photo albums, journals, correspondence, and photographs, it includes an array of material artifacts that allow for critical engagement with the multiple modalities through which her sensorial impressions of Asia were formed and transmitted. In exploiting these, I do not mean to take Gardner a a norma tive figure through whom other can be defined, but simply to uncover Lhe kinds of culLural work the sense might have performed in the context of the times.

Recovering the complex way that tas te, smell, sound, and touch might have mediated the apprehension of Asia at the turn of the cenlury is challenging since their effects, however intense and visceral, were ephemeral and unevenly recorded. While commercial photography testified to a conventionalized spectatorial interes t in exotic eating, drinking, sleeping, and other habits, the presence of such images does not necessarily mean tha t tourists ac tually experienced Lhem personally. Indeed, in the laLe nineleenth century, travel comfort was often measured by Lhe degree to which sensorial boundaries were maintained. Americans provisioned themselves wiLh familiar tinned foods and wines, lodged with friends whenever possible, and if not, sLayed in hoLels LhaLcatered to their tas tes: for inslance, Yokohama's Grand Hotel, where the Gardners and many others sLayed, was noted for its French chef. 1 Physical intimacy with alien peoples was often avoided: Isabella Gardner herself was accompanied for much of her journey by an Irish maid who a tte nd ed to personal needs, such as helping her dress and style her hair.5

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CL 'JJJ

J-l isloricizing the sensorial impac t of Asian travel is further complicated by the fact that the degree Lo which traveller welcomed the unfamiliar and often unconlainable sensorial experiences of the cultures they visited was highly s ubj ec tive and conditioned by factors including nationality, socio-economi c background, age, and gender. The operations of imperial and colonial power were also implicated in the travel experiences of late nineteenthcentury globetrotters.

ISABELL\ STE\Yr\HT G ,\RDN'ER IN' ASIA

For a ~woman of her socio-economic background, Gardner was an unus ually openminded and curious traveller who threw herself into the novel and exhilarating experiences of space, time, and body available in Asia.6 Of course, the social and political economy of tourism, not to mention practical considerations such as language barriers, meant that she could only establish limited and often imaginative intimacy with the people and cultures she encountered. However, the sensations these encounters provoked were no less powerful.

While her letters and albums demonstrate her impulse to immerse herself in local pasts and presents, her sightseer husband, by contrast, sought to maintain a reserved dis tance, unwilling to take up foreign practices he deemed inappropriate to his gender, station, and religion.

Hardly a clay passed that Gardner did not record in her diary or letters an aspect of her olfactory, gustatory, auditory, or tac tile reactions. While she could afford every luxury, she did not demand that these experiences be hygienic or sanitized of unpleasant realities. In Tianjin, China, she happily spent all day, she wrote, "in the town, in the dirty, small, crowded streets of this dirty, stolid, wonderful people." 7 In outheasl Asia she relished the taste of rij staffel, her first mangoes, and coconut milk, which she declared a "delicious substitute for 5 o'clock tea." 8 In a Beijing restaurant she " tried nearly eveiything" in a twenty-five course meal that included pickled seaweed, duck feet, sea slugs, and other delicacies, finding " many very good." 9 In Kyoto, she cleli gl1tecl in the "Whip-poor-Wills, the locu t , the nightingales, and the cooing dove," that, she wrote, "make me think I am buried in some secluded spot." 10 In Cambodia she was strucl by the "clanking of the prisoner's chains, who ceaselessly make, mend, sweep, and clean th e roads fastened together." 11 In Singapore, she went lo the courts and listened Lo " Lhe witnesses Laking oaths according to their religion." 12 At the Lama Temple in Beijing she paused to listen to services "consisting of odd chanting in very low voices, with an accompaniment of clapping togeth er of two pieces of wood." 13 In some of these comments we may de tect conventionalized touristic sentiments, but this does not alter the fact tha t the ensations aroused served as gateways into Gardner's highly emotive responses to Asia.

Gardner's own Protestant background did not get in the way of her appreciation of the unfamiliar religious beliefs and practices she encountered. By 1883, when she and her husband left for J apan, Buddhism had already attracted considerable interest in Bos ton, and acquaintances including William Bigelow, Percival Lowell, and Ernest Fenollosa, who were in Japa n in 1883, were, to varying degrees, devotees. 1"1 Buddhism appealed to her chiefly for its aes thetic richness, made visible in its architecture, and im agery, but even more so, its rituals, which offered sensorial delights more exotic than her own High Anglican church.

88

\I L !Th i \-,OBI II

\ ,I I

Gardner al Lhe Lime had liLLle grasp of Buddhis l Leachings, bul frequenl references Lo Lhe aroma of in cense and chanling associaled wilh Buddhisl Lemples uggesl Lhal she found Lhe rhythmical pallerns and cadences of Buddhist prayers sooLhing, even incanlalory. 1s When she wrole conlenleclly from the veranda of her Kobe hotel to a frie nd in Bos ton "of the bells and prayers (chanls as iL were) that come from time to Lime from the many Bucldhis l Lemples around us," she was not liste ning for Lhe informalion Lhey conveyed but for the emolions Lh ey aroused. In the same leller she concluded: "We have been living for Lhe lasl Lhree weeks in an a tmosphere of Loluses, boLh while and pink. If my envelope were nearly Lwo feel square I would press a leaf and flower and send Lhe m Lo you." 16 A hand-colored phoLograph of a pink loLus in her album , accompanied by her nole on Lhe Buddhis t symbolism of Lhis :flower and an ancient Japanese poem on the subj ect, evokes someLhing of this multisensorial aura of sanc lily Buddhism (fi g. l ).

2. Th e Japanese Garden a t Green H i ll Brook line,

1901

Gardner wa typical of globetrotters of the time in her purchase of hundreds of commercial photographs from Lhe shops Lhal calered Lo Louris ts in cities and at popular scenic siles across Asia. Visitors to Japan often ch ose to have Lhese mounted in ready-made albums, sometimes bound in black or reel lacquer, a material whose Louch and sheen had long defined Japanese culture . 17 R aLher Lhan leLLhese s tereotyped images speak for her, however, Gardner crealed personal albums, filling page after page with arlistic a semblages consisting of her own sketches, printed ephemera, as well as pressed :flo路wers and leaves collected en roule . While Lhe photographs she mounled in her album attes ted to a realiLy that was pasl, the Louch and lingering aroma of the pressed plants re tained Lhe aulhenticity of an experience she laler soughL to replicate by the creation of a Japanese garden on her Brookline estate (fig. 2).

In the 1880s, Gardner was nol yet buying major works of Asian art, but 路wherever she went he boughL souvenirs, including jewellery, snuff botLles, opium boxes, kingfisher-feather jewelry, and fan s. She also acquired silks, cashmeres, embroideries, and olher fabrics both for her own use and as gifts. 18 As anthropologists Cons tance Classen and David Howes remind us, " thing have sensory as 路well as social biographies," and many of those available in Asia were made of mat erials whose allure resided in their unique tactile qualities. 19 Handmade crafts, especially those involving weaving and embroidery, which in nineteenth-century America were commonly Lhought to requi re a delicate fe male hand, were al o identified with an idealized femininity and artifac tu aliLy rapidly disappearing in Lhe increasingly mechanized world.

The discrimina lion of quality through both hand and eye and was essenlial to delermining whe lher or not to make a purchase. It is just such aes thelic training tha l Gardner had in mind when she referred Lo Laking her "firs l lessons in Chinese porcelaine" upon arrival in Shanghai. 20 SLudying Lhe process of crealion (Lhough oflen staged especially for touri s ls) could also heigh Len apprecia tion of the nature of Lhe ma terials and technical skills required in Lheir mas tery. In Java, Gardner watched baLik fabric for sarongs being "painlecl by hand wilh wax by

89

C L Tll

3. Womon woshing ond drying cloth; phot ograph in l sobello Gordner's trovel o lbum for Jopon, 1883 4. Weoving o Lepcho Chudder [shawl]. A fern co ll ec t or; photograph in l sobe ll o Gardner's travel olbum for Indio, 1884

a curious little instrument" before being 路washed " in the coloured dye desired." 21 Photograph of Japanese women washing and drying cotton textiles on a flat board and of a Himalayan woman at her loom speak to a special interest in female handiwork (figs. 3, 4). 22 In her study of women and Orientalism in the laLe nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Mari Yoshihara has observed that Asian material culture functioned as spectacle and commodity, but it is also important to acknowledge that the "haptic geographies," formed by handling, using, owning, and wearing, could also be preludes to intimate l nowing - ways of normalizing the unfamiliar that could lead to empathy.23 Touch is both active and passive: it brought into affective proximity Lhe maker and the consumer, and by extension, Lransmitted to the latter the moral and spiritual qualities ascribed the farmer's pre-indusLrial environment.

BL lTRRil\'G

BOUXDARIES

Asian dress and its evocation of tradition was a major preoccupation of turn-of-thecentury travel account , and few vi itors failed to make disparaging remarks about the local adaplations made to accommodate Wes tern fashions.2 1 Comportment was an equally sen itive issue. Gendered control of the bo ly - meas ured by Lhe exposure of skin, grooming, and cleanliness - were of concern because tourisLic displacement inevitably brought together peoples of disparate races and classes who might nol otherwise find themselves in such close proximity.

American men and women carried with them as part of their cultural baggage highly subjective, gendered bodily dispositions. Some hid their complex psychological and physiological respon es to unfamiliar behaviors in disapproval, most typically by proclaiming horror or revulsion when confronLed with partially unclothed men and women. Gardner, however, was disdainful of such parochial a ttitudes . Her openness to sartorial difference made her sympathetic to her Bos lon friend William Bi gelow's donning of Japanese kimono, a garmenl that in American eyes had strong feminine connotations. The constella tion of activities in which she parLicipated (often without her husband) further sugges ts that she was willing to throw off c us tomary social rules and expectalions and derived considerable sensual pleasure from immersing herself in local cultures.

90

\IL

ITISF\SOHl 11

\ SI I

One such evenl wa a sumo wres Lli ng match she attended on a sweltering Augusl day, surrounded by the swishing of Lhe paper fans of local enthusiasts. There, she sat next to a Japanese man, "a great swell ... whose beautiful clothes were carefully laid aside on account of the heat [who] ... sat smoking a most beautiful pipe with nothing on but a wais t cloth and a European straw hat." But, she continued, "We didn't even notice his wanl of clothe , as everybody is almost always in that undress." Despite the language barrier, she managed to converse with Lhe "swell," and urged on by him, joined in the crowd' enthusiastic clapping and calling out when the smaller of the two wrestlers unexpectedly threw the larger one. 25 Other letters from Japan further reveal her enjoyment oflifestyles that broke with her own: We have tiffrned and dined together in every conceivable place and style; and I should say that we have drunk gallons of canary colored tea out of their dear little cups and have eaten pounds of sweets, as we three have sprawled about on the soft, clean mats, in the funny little shops, looking at curios. If the Japanese were only handsomer, they would be perfect. Such charming manners, so gentle . .. and their clothes are delicious, so soft in colour and fabric. Bigelow wears the Japanese garment always 路when in his house, and shoes are uch an unheard of thing on the pretty mat that I kick mine off on every occa ion. 26

5 . Li H ongzhang, viceroy of Zhili; phot ograph from Isabe ll a Ga rdner's travel album for Ch i na, 1883

Gardner's observations confirm the cliche that ethnic and racial discourses of the body are central to foreign travel. hile it may offend by it stereotyping, by the same token, it is striking to find a middle-aged Victorian woman so openly discussing Lhe sexual allure of Japanese and Chinese men - whether shopkeepers or customers - in Lhe same terms used with regard those of her own race and class. 27 Such statements sugges t tha t for her Asia was nol simply a spectacle but a place where she participated to an unusual degree physically, even erotically. nlike her male counterparts, however, she 路was unable to ac t on these impulses.

The aesthetics of Japanese and Chinese male dress, and especially the sensuousness of the fabrics from which it was made, had significant bearing on her judgments (fig. 5). In Shanghai she visited a silk merchant and, after choosing some silks for herself, watched him Lend Lo a "handsome creature ... as excited over his clothes as a young girl over her first ball dress," who took forever to decide "whether he would have the drawers of a light yellow green the under long flowing robe of the tenderest 'blue-after-a-rain' and the short coat of mauve - and just as I thought it was settled ... he eized on .. . a s uperb ruby red." 28 No doubt she took note of his behavior because in th e context of her own experience most men did not openly betray this degree of concern with their dress, but Lhe passage also betrays her sensitivity to coloristic effects. A profusion of colors was expected as part of the Asian picturesque, but in Gardner's writings, the unconscious passage from descriptions of the "constant shuffling together of brilliant colors" to those of the

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ambie nL sounds on th e s LreeL poinL also Lo Lhe syn esLhe Lic effects LhaL mighL be implicaLed .29 Gardner h erself was known for h er wardrobe, which included many designs by Lhe Paris design er WorLh, and the phoLographs of women dressed in kimon o, Chinese robes, sarongs, and saris arLfully pas Led inLo h er Lravel albums speal Lo her engagemenL wiLh female fashion in Asia as well (fig. 6).:3o In India sh e was parLic ularly drawn Lo Lhe way LhaL, in sharp conLrasLLo Lhe corseLed cos Lume of h er own culLure, cashmere shm,vls, muslins, and silks were loosely wound around the body.:31 Given this fascination, it is surprising tha t 路while she was prepared to " kick off her shoes" and lounge about on Lhe tatami mats of private homes and curio shops in Japan, th ere is no photographic evidence Lha t she ever donned a kimono, as did so many of h er friends . Although dressing up as a Japanese apparently was noL Lo her Las Le, she did adapL exoLic texLiles and s Lyles of dress to s uit h er own aes the tic vision of AsiaY 6. Woman in a sarong,

By all accounts a raLher plain woman, Gardner was, as Alan Chong has observed , "al ways very controlling of her image" and she seems to have disliked having h er elf photographed , preferring the idealizing tou ch of th e portrait painter.:n Her contac t wiLh the manifold

photography in Isabel la Ga rdner ' s t ravel a l bum, 1883

ways Lhat shimmering silks and colourful coLLons were artfully di splayed, draped , and wrapped in China, Japan , SouLheas t Asia, and India, however, seems Lo h ave heighten ed her sensiLiviLy Lo the potential of fabrics in fashi oning boLh h erself and her surroundings in imagina Live and fla ttering ways.

7. John Singer Sargen t , Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1888. Oi l on ca n vas . Isabe lla Stewart

Two portraits by John Singer Sargent reveal tha t Lhough unwilling to masquerade as "other" liLerally, sh e la ter de ployed fabrics creati vely to inhabit a spiritualized and aes theticized Asia of her own design. Th e firs t portrait, co mple Led in 1888, four years afLer her return from her world tour, is an unusual full-length fronLal likene s of her dressed in a clinging black gown with a deep decolle te s tandin g before an orna te Vene tian or Middle Eas tern texLil e whose paltern forms a halo-like effect behind h er (fig. 7):~ 1 !Ls daring combinaLion of sens ualiLy and piritualiLy caused a sensation in Bos ton. While on the one h and, iL deliberaLely in vited comparison Lo Sargent's noLori ous portraiL of Madame Gautreau, on Lhe oLher, the unusually hieraLic pose and mandorla-like textile suggested identification wiLh the Orient. One viewer called iLs subj ecLa " Byzantine Madonna with a halo" while another imagined h er as a devoLee of some "fashionable Hindoo culL." 3.s The collaborative na ture of thi s painting is su gges Led by th e s tory, possibly apocryph al, Lha Lwhen argent declared his wish Lo use a piece of Vene Lian velve Lon Lhe wall of hi s London s Ludio as background, Gardner replied LhaLsh e had Lhe oLher h alf in her collection .:36 Wha Lever the velve t's source, iL is clear tha t b oth arLis L and siLter unders tood the Lac Lile and me Laphorical power of exoLic Lextiles.

A second, radically differenL portrait, in all likelihood a sp ur-of-Lhe- rnoment creation ra ther th an a formal commission, th a t Sarge nt painLecl in 1922 sh ortly b efore her d eaLh, further Lests the limits of convention al portrai ture throu gh its corporeal identification with

92

Gardner Museum 8. John S. Sa r gent,

Mrs . Gardner in White, 1922 . Wa t ercolor on paper. Isabe lla St ewar t Ga rdner Muse u m 9. Ruth St. D enis as Wh ite-robed Kon n on 10. Augustus Saint-Gaud ens, Adams Memorial, 189 1. Bronze and gra n ite.

Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington

\\ LIThl\SOH lll

\ Sil

Asian spiriLu al and aesthetic tradiLion s.:31 Gardner is agai n porLrayecl in Lhe frontal pose of a religious icon, but ins tead of the tailored European black dress of Lhe earlier porLraiL, she is draped, head to toe in a loose, pure while garb whose ample folds form a kind of proLec Live cocoon around her frail body (fig. 8). The shroud-like draperies simulLaneously evoke classical Graeco-Roman garb, medieval monas tic robes, and Lhe while Bowing garment worn by I annon, Lhe goddess of compassion, one of the mos Lpopular religious figures in Chinese and Japanese Buddhis t painting. In the eyes of many Americans in the Gardner circle, I annon embodi ed an eternal feminine that transcended East and Wes L, and a kind of gen eralized spirituality that lent itself readily to adaptation.:38 The artist John La Farge painLed an image of Lhe of this deiLy for William Bigelow which Gardner mighL have known, buL, as discussed b elow, sh e certainly would have b een familiar wiLh RuLh SL. Denis' celebraLed performances of a dance where she e mbodied Lhe While-robed Kannon.:39 Like Gardner herself, SL. Denis was aLtracted Lo Asian mys ticis m and spirituality, and used movemenls and ges lures to access those aspects of iLs c ulture (fig. 9). Mad e at a time when Gardner faced her own mortality, her mode of self-presentation in Sargent's watercolor is also s trikingly similar to that of the enigmatic bronze statue Augustus Saint-Gaudens had created as a memori al for Henry Adams' wife, whose female subjecl was similarly wrapped in Classical, ChrisLian, and Buddhist aes the Lic traditions (fig. 10). 10 A work that, Gardner, as a fri end of Adams, was certain Lo have known , SainL-Gaudens' s tatue embodied a complex, mulLifaceLed religious symbolism tha L resonaLed closely wiLh her own.

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TUE i\I ll LTI SEl\ S 0 HY i\ll1SEU i\I

Museumization is perhaps the greatest obstacle to the interpretation of sensorial experience within and across cultures. As the scholar Susan Stewart has observed, modern museums are "so obviously - so - one might say - naturally, e mpires of ight that it barely occurs to us to imagine them as being organized around any other sen e or sen es." 11 When it opened in 1903, Isabella Stewart Gardner's museum was premised on a different model than most of its American counterparts, one that blurred the boundaries between private and public space, body and building. The language Gardner developed to express herself was depend ent on art hi torical thinking in as much as she sought out certified masterpieces to display on its walls, but it was also deeply inflected by the displacement of her own physical and emotional life to its interior spaces. In her museum she wanted to create an immersive experience that would allow visitors visceral access to di tant times and places. This idiosyncratic approach premised on affective values asserted her autonomy at a time when the ability to participate in public discourse on art was largely a prerogative of male collectors, dealers, and scholars. 12 To achieve her goal of making other times and places visually as well as sensorially available, she transported spaces as well as objects to a location on Boston's newly developing Fenway, at some distance from the fashionable city center. There, rather than directing attention to the exterior facade by adopting the authority of the classical architectural style that defined most public museums, Gardner focused on the interior, creating an evocative environment in the tyle of a Venetian palazzo. Its three-storied courtyard was :filled year-round with plants and flowers, whose aroma evoked warmer climes. Each of the museum's galleries brought into aesthetic dialogue works of many countries, periods, and media from East and West: mas terpieces by artists including Titian, Botticelli, Vermeer, and Rembrandt, and European furnishings were commingled with Asian objets-d'art ranging from Japanese screen paintings and Chine e textiles to lacquer boxes.

The museum that, in recognition of the ari tocratic ambience tha t pervaded it, came to be known as Fenway Court, constituted a kind of social performance, a narrative, explicitly and implicitly designed to make Gardner's aes the tic presence felt, both literally and metaphorically. While she relied on the professional advice of art historians in the acquisition of masterpieces, once acquired, she often subverted their conventional meaning by using them as material referents to herself. In the Titian Room, for instance, she displayed a length of shimmering silk satin with a tassel pattern cut from the skirt of a dress designed for her by Worth beneath Titian's Europa, the sensuous materiality of the patterned silk and absent body a glos on the erotic drama of the painting above it (:fig. 11). That visitors were unaware of this dramatization of her own "ravishment" was perhaps part of the secret pleasure she derived from this juxtaposition. 13 She also mapped onto the galleries her sensuous experiences in Asia. When Fenway Court opened its doors to the public, institutions such as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts had as their aim the presentation of Asian artifac ts in dedicated galleries that would educate the public about non-Western cultures in a manner that subordinated s ubj ective tas te to institutional authority. Pai ntings, sculptures, and decorative arts were selected on the ba is of

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\I L ITISE\SOIU 11 .\ SI

I

11 . Titian Room a t th e Gordner Mu seum, with Titian 's Eu ropa and s il k fab ri c from Isabe lla Gardner's dress by Worth of Paris. Ph o tograp h by Sean Dun gan

their representative qualities, whe ther aesLheLic, Lechnical, or material. They were arranged by period and medium in glass cases or on ne utral walls according to art historical schemes of linear progress that brought Western order to Lhe vast and chao Lic cultures of those alien regions . The visitor's apprehension of these displays was premised strictly on vision or, in the words of Eilean Hooper-Greenhill, on " the representaLion of the world as a view." 11 At Fenway Court, regional and period styles informed Gardner's arrangement of individual rooms, but wiLhin them Japanese folding screens with gold foil backgrounds and Chinese silk panels were suspended on the walls, objets d'art of lacquer and other exotic maLerials were displayed on Lables themselves draped with sumptuous textiles (:fig. 12). The resulting shimmering ensemble was all the more evocative for the fa ct that tha t until afLer Gardner's death in 1924, most gallerie lacked gas or electric lighting. 15 ln 1914, Gardner also redesigned several galleries, adding for her private use, a temple-like "Chinese Room," :filled with Buddhist icons, as well as gongs, incense burners, and silken banners that evoked the sounds and mells that had so moved her in Asia (:fig. 13).

Public concerts and dance performances, as well as demonstraLions of the Japanese Lea ceremony, further expressed Gardner' awareness of Lhe multisensorial aestheLics of Asia. The Boston Symphony played at the museum's opening, and at the concert's conclusion the doors were opened to the courtyard , lit by flickering Japanese paper lanterns. 16 Later the violinist and composer Charles Loeffler, the Australian soprano Nellie Melba, a mong others, performed there. There 路were even plans for Loeffler to put to music an opera wiLh a libretto by Okal ura Kakuzo, the a uthor of The Book of Tea and a close friend of Gardner' , but these never came Lo fruition. 17

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While the eye -vvas deemed Lhe most refined of Lh e senses in Lhe Western hierarc hy, Lhe ear was a close second because hearing, like sight, involved cognition beyond bodily sensation. Music was deemed a high arl conducive Lo bringing on an altered men Lal s tale Lhal made one more recep tive to other form s of aesthe tic expression. Harm ony in B lue and Silver and Nocturne, B lue and Silver, two of Whistler's paintings in the Gardner collection, metaphorically evoke this syne theti c rela tionship. 18 By extension, it might be argued Lhat these paintings, inspired by Lhe subj ec ts and coloris tic effects of Japanese woodc uts, similarly implied Asia in such correspond ences.

With ils focus on s timulating a union of body and mind by translating the physical sensations of sight, sound, touch , Laste, and smell into aes th etic awareness, the Lea ceremony, which Okakura demonstrated for Gardner and her fri ends in 1905, offered another subtle and sophis ticated expression of synesthetic experi ence. 19 In 1906 Gardner invited Ruth St. Deni s, one of Lhe firs t American Lo adopt Lhe techniques of Japanese dance and Lhealre, Lo perform. The Lwo dances, The Cobra , or the Snake Channer, in which she pantomimed coiling and hissing, and Raclha, a Hindoo Temple Dance, a rom antic vision of India exploring the five senses and their ublimaLion, had just premiered Lo great s uccess in New York.so Oriental choreography and costumes were also a significant trend in balle t. After seeing Anna P avlova's performance in the balle t Oriental Fantasy in Bo Lon in 1913, Gardner bought a wa tercolour of the dancer in costume (fig. 14) ..s 1 SL. Deni s and Pavlova e mbodied the fe minine sensuality conventionally a socia ted with Asia, bul also the pleasurable freedom of movement Lha l many fashionable European and American wo men were beginning Lo enjoy by discarding corsets and wearing the loosely draped s tyles inspired by Japanese kimono and Chinese robes pioneered by the P aris couturi er Paul Poire l. 52 Today, many museums ac tively promote music, dance, and tea ceremonies bul s uch ac tiviLie were nol part of their ins ti tutional profile in Lhe early LwenLieLh century. These practices may be charac terized as examples of the ways Lha l American women were performing orientalism through their "embrace of Lhe East," but at a Lime when most museums defined themselves s tric tly as viewing spaces, Gardner should also recognized for her role in helping

96

12 . Ch i nese Room of the Gordner Museum i n 1903 .

Pho t ograph by T homas Morr 13. Second Chinese Room of the Gordner Museum, insta ll ed in 1914. Photograph of 1961

Lo legiLimaLe e mbodied forms of Asian creaLive expression. The feminisL th eorist Gaby PorLer has argued: Lhe difference beLween Lhe histories of men and women as represen Lecl in Lhe museum lie at much d eeper levels [than simple represenLaLion] ... the whole sLruc Lure of museums - absLract knowledge as well as concreLe manifesLaLions of buildings, exhibiLions, and collecLions - was builL upon categories and boundaries which e mbodied ascriptions about men and women, masculin e and feminine ... At the crux of this difference is the tension between ab trac t theoreLical concepLs and Lhe rnaLerial physical bocly. 5:3 Gardner didn'L preLend Lo be a n e uLral, unbiased observer, but

14. Leon Bakst, Anno - Pavlova in the Ballet "Oriental Fantasy," 1913 .

Pencil and watercolor on poper. Isabella Stewert Gardner Museum

creaLed in Fenway CourL a narraLive space LhaL, b y its insistence on h er presence and i Ls promiscuous mix of media and c ulLures, des Labilized arL his tori cal hierarchies and inviLed gender inclusiven ess, although during her lifetime this did not extend beyond women of her own class.

Walking Lhrough Fenway Court allowed visitors the opportunity to enac t an aesthetic journey Lhat was both corporeal and irnaginati ve, one through which Gardner h elped to transmit and transla te Lhe rnultisensorial aes thetics sh e h erself had discovered in Asia. This mode of Lranscultural communication wilfully subordinaLed his tori cal, political, social, and culLural values Lo highly subjective and psychological ones, making no pretence of accurately portraying Asia. Jn exploiting the potenLial of Lhe senses to express and evoke larger ideas, it exposes a gendered emotional or intuitive response a t odds wi Lh scienLific and scholarly knowledge formation tha Lwas, nonetheless, a constitu enLof the " inven tion" of Asia.

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Ct 路111

I am gratefu I Lo Alle n Hockley and especially Miriam Wallies for the ir thoughtful comments on early versions of this essay.

The travel albums of lsabella Stewa rt Gardner are in the lsabeJla Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

7. Leller Lo Maud Howe, September 15, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 187.

8. Diary, ovember 11, 1883; Bo lon 2009, p. 237.

9. Diary, October, 9, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 208.

22. Noteworthy in thi s respec t is the exceptional collec tion of lace he asse111bled. See Boston 2004, pp. 120-21.

23. ee Yoshi hara 2003, chapter l. "Haptic geography" is a term coined by Rodaway 2004.

24. See Guth 2004, pp. 12 1-58.

l. The sources of these influential phrases are Urry 1990 and Alpe rs 1991.

2. Among the publications l

have fo und especially helpful in thinking about these issues are: Rodaway 1994, Howes 2005, mith 2007, and Stewart 1999.

3. The diari es, lellers, a nd photographs are reproduced in Boston 2009. Noteworthy publica tions on the museum include Boston 2003 a nd Chong 2007.

4 . Jack Gardner lo his nephew, July 5, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 107.

5. Gardner had Lo leave her maid

Mary in Shanghai when she wenl on a house-boal lrip, but the "Tarlar woman . .. with head, arms, and neck, all decked in s ilver" whom she hired wenl on a separa te boat with other serva nts. Leller Lo Maud Howe, September 20, 1883; Boston 2009, p. ] 89.

6. There were. of course,

many more intre pid fema le travelers such as Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, au thor of Jinriksha Days in Japan ( lew York, 1891), or Isabella L. Bird, author of Unbeaten Trac/rs in Japan (London, 1880), bul they were nol of the same social class nor were th ey traveling wi th spouses.

10. Leller Lo Maud Howe, Augusl 24, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 166. l] . Diary, November 21, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 252.

12. Leller Lo Maud Howe, Dece111ber 26, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 281.

13. Diary, September 24, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 193.

14. ee Tweed 2000.

15. In addition Lo hearing chants al Chinese a nd Japanese temples, she also Look nole of this al a Siamese Lemple near Penang. Leller lo Maud Howe, January 6. 1884; Boston 2009. p. 286.

16. Leller lo Maud Howe, Augusl 24, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 166.

17. See Hockley 2004.

18. See, for instance, Gardner's diary, September 16; letter Lo Maud Howe, October ] 9; a nd diary, October 20; Boston 2009, pp. 182, 188,211,212.

19. Classen and Howes 2006, p. 200.

20. Leller Lo Ma ud Howe, September 8, 1883; Bos Lon 2009, p. 182.

21. Dia ry, December 8, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 263.

98

25. Leller Lo Maud Howe, August ] 3. 1883; Boston 2009, pp. 153-55.

by Anthony van Dyck aro und 1637, wh en he was cou rt painter Lo Charles I; Gardner or Sargent might have had an opport un ity Lo see the portrai t during visits Lo Engla nd. A Ithough Gardner assumes a more hi eratic frontal pose tha n the princess, both Sargent and van Dyck's portrait share a 1ear Eastern-inspired textile as backdrop and the clasped hands formin g a graceful loop before the body.

35. Boston 2003, pp. 204- 5.

26. Leller Lo Maud Howe, June 30, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 123.

27. Of a man in Shanghai. she observed. "He wa such a handsome creature Lo begin with - I don' t dare think of hi111 once he gets into these beau tiful things."

Leller lo Maud Howe, October 19, 1883; Boston 2009, p. 21 l.

28. Ibid.

29. This is parti cularly noteworthy in a passage describing Phnom Penh , November 21, 1883: Boston 2009, p. 252.

30. ha nd-Tucci 1997, p. 23.

31. Letter Lo Maud Howe.

January 22, 1884; Boston 2009, p. 303.

32. On women and As ian textil es and dress, see \~!ilson 1999.

33. Alan Chong in Boston 2009, p. 20.

34. It is cl iscussed in Ormond and Kilmurray 1998, vol. 1, pp.

210- ll. Although not noted in this catalogue, given Gardner's claim Lo descent fro111 th e British Stuarts. the 1888 portrait also in vites comparison with a portrait of the young Princess Mary Stuart of Engla nd, painted

36. Ormond and I ilm urray 1998, vol. l p. 210. Sargent owned Ori ental silks and cloth ing which he used as studio props, most notably in the portrait of Almi na Werthheimer pain ted in 1922; Ormond and Kilmurray 1998, vol. 3, pp. 202-4.

37. It i discussed in Ormond a nd Kil111urray 1998, vol. 3, p.

252, where an analogy i drawn lo Sargent's 1880 painting Incensing the lleil, also a draped hooded figure, of which Gardner owned a sketc h.

38. See Murai 2009, also Guth 1995.

39. For a reprodu ction of one of La Farge's several images of l(annon see Boston 2009, p. 86.

On St Denis' dance . see helton 1981, pp. 53-67.

40. On thi s work see. Cynthia J. Mills, "The Adams Memorial and American funera ry sculpture, 1891- 1927" (PhD d issertation: Univers ity of Maryland, 1996).

41. Stewart ] 999. p. 28.

42. On th e 111asc uline ocula rcenlrism of Ame ri can museums and their explic it rejec tion of

object-based histories. see Conn

l998.

13. . \ ecorcling to 1\l an Chong. the museum on l) become a111ffe that this silk panel 11 as cut from one of Carel ncr's om1 gm1ns in the course of preparing a catalogue of her te,tile col lee ti on: Can1llo 1986. p. 187.

For a reading of this installation.

11 hi ch prompted my own, see Chong 2007, pp. 213-14.

44. Hooper-Greenhill 1992. p. 45.

45. Shanel-Tucci 1997. p. 250.

46. Boston 2003. p. xv.

47. Murai 2009. pp. 83-88.

48. For reproduction and di scussion of these 1rnrks, see Boston

2003, pp. 198-200.

49. For an insightful discussion of Okakura in Boston, see Murai

2002.

50. Morri Carter, Isabella tewart Gardner and Fenway Collrl (Boston, 1926), p. 211.

On the dances, see Shelton 1981, pp. 53-67.

51. For a brief cli scu ion of thi s acqui siti on, see Boston 2003. pp. 122- 23.

52. See Harold l ocla and Andrew Bolton, Palll Poiret (exh. Metropo litan Museum of Art, New York, 2007).

53. Porter 2004, p. LOS.

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DA RUMA.

Zen art before nothingness

Gregory Levine

Pictures of Nothing: flbstract flrt Since Pollack (2006) comprises the late arl historian Kirk Varnedoe's Andrew W. Mellon Lec tures presented in 2003. 1 In a conversation in Lhe spring of 2009, a scholar of Chinese arl commented to me, with nearly a growl, tha t des pite Varnedoe's use of "Nothin g" in the Lille - a \Vorel that triggers associations be tween postwar art and Zen Buddhi s m - the book contains scanl reference to Zen. 2 Thi s lacun a was a urprise, or even a failing, give n th e many comments on Zen found in writings on postwar art.:3 ancy Wilson Ross, for ins tan ce, reported in 1958 that everyone was "talking aboul Zen," which "i la tely exerting a curiou s influence on ... writers, painters, mu icians and s luclents." 1 In certain circles, some of them Lo be found in the postwar arl world, Zen was "it" during the 1950s and 1960s. If so, why does n' t Varnedoe give Zen its clue?

There are good reasons for Varnecloe's "thunderous sile nce" regarding Zen. 5 Twentie LhcenLury art was hardly a colony of Ze n or Zen aesthetics, which do not explain fully Abs tract Expressionism, Pop Art, and so forth. The arl his torian Berl Winther-Tamaki, meanwhile, re mind us of Lhe complex inlerc ulLural conlexl and rhe toric surrounding Ze n at thi Lime, which even included the " triking pallern of denying the relevance of Asian culture Lo American art." 6 For my purpose , I'm inclined Lo view Varnedoe's choice as a refre hing sorl of full-circle return Lo a Lime when arl could be relatively "Ze n-free." Indeed the arls of Japan and Asia have nol always been so frequ ently or narrowly associated with Zen, and Zen-associated concepts s uch as oLhingness (Japanese, mu), Emptiness (ku), and o Mind (mushin) have nol always held allure in the modern-conte mporary arl world . Whereas these partic ular concepts come Lo the fore from th e l 930s onward , notably through the efforts of Nishida Kitaro and D. T. Suzuki, Isabella Stewart Gardener's arl collection and her experi ences in Asia exemplify in some meas ure Lhe age before the Wesl "goL Zen" and became infatuated with othingness. This is nol Lo suggest Lha l she was unaware of or disinterested in Zen Buddhism and the arls associated with Zen temples and painter ; her association with Oka kura Kakuzo, whose 1906 Book of Tea gushes over Zen and Zen arl, sugge Ls 0Lhe1wise.

Still, I a m tempted Lo view Gardner's life as a collector as overlapping the relatively "Zen-free" Gi ld ed Age and th e ens uin g age ol th e "Zenni L" and its accompanying Romantic, me ta physical Las Le Ior Zen arl.

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Lii

This essay is a genealogical keLch of' Lhi s period , movin g in broad Lrokes from ambivalence durin g Lhe mid-Lo-laLe nineLee nLh cenlury Lo infaLuaLion in Lhe early Lwe nLieLh. ome may be urprised Lo learn LhaL Lhe horizon of Zen and Zen arl in Wes lern percepLion r1rs Lappears wiLhin Chris Lian missionary accounls of China and Japan of' Lh e s ixLee nLh cenlury. Thal said , Zen arL - a a pm'Licularized objecL of visual inLeres Land philoso phi cal inLerpre LaLion - was largely dormanL in Weslern affecLion for Lhe arls of J apan and Asia unLil Lh e early LwenLi e Lh cenlury. Some of Lhe groundwork was laid during Lh e 1893 World's ParliamenL of R eligions and Columbian ExposiLion. By Lhis Lime Japanese monks were explaining Zen Lo Lhe Wesl and Japanese sc holars and officials had begun Lo place Lhe a rL of Lhe Zen secLin Lo a canon of Japane e art, interpre t "Zen-influenced" Chinese and J apanese c ulture for Wes tern audiences, and disseminate a lexicon and me laphys ical regis Ler for unders tanding Zen arl. Some of th ese inLellec tuals, notably Oka l ura and later

uzuki, would beco me nearly household nam es in

th e We t. Muc h of their work was ind ebted Lo nation-building efforls in Japan, including domes ti c s urveys of Le mple treas ures Lhal feel heirloom work inLo Japan's modern museums and helped produce official his tories of Lh e arls of Japan LhaL promoted Lhe na tion Lo the Wesl. 7 Their articulation and promoLion of Ze n Buddhi m during Lhe firs L d ecades of Lhe Lwenlie th century was also profoundly inLerculLural; iL was in some measure conceptualized and voiced in relation hip to Wes tern philoso phy, religious s tudies, and art. 8 By 1920, a fair number of Europeans and

orth Americans were practicing Zen meditation, and Ze n arL had become

part of modern collec lions and discussions of arl. 9 By Lhe 1930 , Ze n arl was atlracting the sorl of adulaLion thaL seems more in keeping wiLh Lh e postwar "Zen Boom" and the avanL-garcle's fas cination ,.viLh Zen's visual form s, whic h for many e mbodied Lhe concept of Nothingness.

Before the 1920s and 1930s, however, Lhe forLunes of Zen arl see m, in reLrospecL, less assured.

FIHST COX'L\ CTS

We might note, by way of the mos l cursory of surveys, LhaL Jesuit writings on Japan durin g th e sixteenLh and seventeenth centuries refer to the Ze n school, Ze n monl s, Ze n monasteries and meditation halls, koan, ere mitism, satori (awakenin g), and so on. Was Lhere a J es uit discourse on a category known as " Zen art"? One we would recognize Loclay? IL seems unlikely. Still, there are indication of Jesuit awareness of Lhe principle of "nothing" and inLimaLions of dis Linguishing nom enclature and clescri pLi ons of works we would co nside r Loday Lo be Zen art. As Urs App has noted , Cosme d e Torres (15l0- l 570) re porLed from J apan LhaL Zen monks taught Lha t "路whaL ha been created out of noLhin g re turn s to noLhing" (cri6 de nacla se convierle en nacla) . The Vocabulario da lingoa de Iapam (Nippo jisho , of 1603-4), meanwhile, includes entri es for " Ie npit" (Ze npitsu) and "Ienno fucl e" (Zen no Jude), both meanin g " Ze n brush ." This is, in oLher words, "Zen calligraphy" (bokuseki) but wiLhouL cornmenL on aesthe tic or philosophical comm e nt. The Jesuit Lui s Frois (1532-1597), meanwhile, d escribed what was likely an ink p ain Ling of a Lree and fi gures inscribed with verses probably b y Zen monks Lha Ls ugges t a Buddhis t philosophical dialec ti c: "Who planted thee, 0 withered Lree? 1, whose origins was noLhing and inLo nothing mus l need s re lurn" and " My hea rL h as neiLher b eing, nor no-being, IL neither co mes, nor goes, nor s tands s till" Europeans a lso encounlerecl painLings of Zen s ubj ecls s uch as Bodhidharma (Daruma) a nd were s truck by th e pic Lorial effecls of ink monochrom e . The Je uiLs were espec ially avid co111me nla lors on

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lllr 11110111

\llrlil\t.\I"

Chanoyu, one variely of' Japanese Lea c ullure, wh ic h Lhey associaLed wilh Ze n. Joao Rodrigues (1561-1633), f'or i ns lance, re porled Lhal " pagan followers of Lhi s arl belong Lo Lhe Ze n secl, or else join iL" and follow " Lhe oliLa ry philosophers of' Lh e Ze n sec ls who dwe ll in Lheir re lreals in Lhe wi lderness" where "Lhey give Lhemse lves up Lo conle rnplaLing Lhe Lhings of' nalure, despising and abandoning worldly Lhings." 10 Whal may well h ave caughL Lhe fuller allenlion of Lhe Jes uils were Lhe ric hly appoinLed and exquisiLely ornamenled buildings and landscape gard ens of Japan's Ze n monasleries Lhal seemed Lo rival in Lheir eyes Lhe religious cenlers of Europe. " Lel il s uffi ce Lo say, dear brothers," Frois observed, " Lhal th ey possess all this only f'or th e ir happiness and renown in this life." 11 Frois writes, th erefore, of colorful worldliness ra ther than monochrome, abstraction, mys ticism, or Iothingness.

CP1nos Axn OLD 1'1ASTEns If these initial contac ls did not yield Lhe sorl of en co unter with Zen art Lha t we mighl expec l, how did Zen art regis ter in Lhe perceptions of van guard foreign visitors at Lhe "opening" of Japan to Lhe Wes t in the mid nine teenlh century and in those of travelers and residents in the ensuing decades? For many foreign globe lrollers and residents during the second half of th e nine teenth century, J apan presented an arl world with relatively liule Zen in it. In mosl Anglophone books and essays on Japan, Zen was bul one of many Buddhist sects, albeil one distinguished by discipline and contemplation or belief in "annihilalion." 12 Zen arl does not leap off Lhe page, and Lhere are only brief discussions of ink pain Ling (s umi-e) and Zen monk painlers such as Mincho (1352-1431) and SesshnToyo (1420- 1506). Comrnenlalors refer Lo simplici ly and direclness in Japanese art bul make no reference Lo abs trac tion , minimalism, and othingness/Empliness (terms used repeatedly in the Lwentielh century). 1:3 lnstead, this wa a period for Lhe "sludy of J apanese Art and its applications Lo industrial purposes," as Sir Ruth erford Alcock pul iL in 1878; a Lime to appreciale the wonders of J apanese design and decoralion; Lhe moment o[ I alsushika Hokusai' apo lheosis; a nd Lhe manifold appropria ti ons of Japanism. 11 The Las le of Lhese times ha been Lermed "AesLhe Lic OrienLalis rn ," and J apan described as a paradise of curios. 15 Visilors may have exclaimed Lhal everylhing in J apan is so arlisLic, bul mosl were dravvn Lo lacquer, cloisonne, porcelain, woodblock prinls, and Lhen painLings of literary and historical subj ec ls, landscapes, flowers a nd birds - "kakemonos [hanging scrolls] by good arti Ls" of th e Ka no and Tosa school .16 Gu idebooks and Lravel accounts describe picturesqu e Zen monas leries, Lheir golden "idols," a nd Lreas ures locked away in formidable s lore hou ses, but Lheir a ulhors allend principally Lo sliding-door painLings by professional arti sts . 17 Even commenla lors who soughL Lo provide more developed inlerpretalions of arL:i sLi c prac lice and menLaliLy in Japan were generally silenl regarding Lhe nexus of painLing a nd Zen philosoph y.

Ja mes J ac kson Jarves, wriling in 1876, presenls a palenLly Romanlic vie-vv of what Lhe Japanes arlis l does: " Mind Lakes Lwo forms of consciousness in apprehend ing art; one primary, recognizing ils malerial semblance Lo ils objecls, Lhe olher its capacily of an inward s uggesliveness, or manifes la lion of Lh e fund a me nlal spirit, or ruling LhoughL of its mo li ves." 18 WiLh regard

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I .1

Lo painLing subjecls LhaL mighL occasion explanaLion of "fundam enLal spiriL" as a s pec ific producL of' Zen Buddhi m, Jarves is sile nL. HoLei (Budai in Chinese), for example, a core fi gural subjecL in medi eval Ze n (Chan in Chinese) painLing, is inLrodu cecl sLri cLly as one or Lhe hichi-fokujin, Lhe Japanese seve n gods of f'o1tun e, " ne iLhe r more nor less Lh an an obese, dirty mendi canL Bucldhi L friar, of greaL ancLiLy, self-LaughL, affable, jovial, generou , sleeping on Lh e ground ouLcloors in all weaLhers, and always carryi ng wiLh him his sac k of begged vicLuals." 19 HoLei is thus a quixo Lic c haracler buL noL a n e mbodime nL of' Zen enli ghLenmenL. A similar exa mple would be Lhe BriLish aLLache Edward Greey's de cripLion of Bodhidharma in his 1883 accounL of life in Tokyo: Daruma was a very holy sainL, and iL i a shame Lo ma ke Loys, now-men, and LabacconisLs' signs in his image. He came from Lhe land of haka, th erefore wore a beard and mouslac he. Whe n he crossed from Corea he had no boaL, buL rode over on an ashi (rush) leaf. Before venturing on Lhi s perilous voyage, he prepared himself by ma] ing a reLreat LhaL lasLecl nine years, during which Lime he knell wiLh his face Lumed Lo Lhe wall. IL i said Lha Lhe Llms wore off hi s lower limbs, so he is represenLed as having only head, arms, and body. Ah, my da ughLer, if we could all be like him. 20 Greey's accounl, which is illuslraled wilh a drawing based upon a painLing of Daruma (fig. l ) and alludes to Lwo famous epi sodes in Lhe life of Bodhidharma ("Crossing Lhe Yangzi River on a Reed" and "Wall-gazing al Lhe Shaolinsi"), is reasonably informed. BuL Lhere is no reference Lo Bodhidharma's slalus as Lhe firsl Chan/Zen palriarch or Lo any feaLure or quality of the reproduced painLing LhaL perLains Lo Zen artisLry.21 Nor does Greey ciLe Lh e famous aphorism attribuled Lo Bodhidharma LhaL would laLer become Lhe mosLwidely known definition of Zen: "A pecial transmission oulside Lhe scripture . I oL esLablishing words and le tters. I Point directly to Lhe mind. I See one's nalure and become Buddha." We musl nole too that this description of Daruma appears in a chapter titled "Among Lhe Porcelain-Makers," suggesting that Ze n art had yeLLo achieve Lhe sorl of synecdochic/rne tonymic povver for Japan tha t it would by th e mid-LwenlieLh cenlury.22 Individual Zen masLers, painLers, and pictorial subjecls were Lhus within Lhe knowledge range of Euro-Americans buL noL necessarily as "Zen mt." One find s, in fac L, a sLring of wriLings continuing inLo Lhe early LwenLieLh century LhaL essentially ignored Lhe Zen in Lhe painLings of monks such as Mincho and Se shn and lauded Lhem principally as maslers of Lhe Chinese style. 23 Basil Hall Chamberlain may have in viLed readers of his Handbook for Travellers in Japan (1891) Lo admire Sesshn, for "The grand simplicity of his landscape composilions, Lheir extraordinary breadth of design, the illusive sugge Li ons of almosphere a nd disLance, and Lhe all-pervading sense of poetry," buL he gave the formal feaLures of Sessh[1's pain Lings priori Ly over their possible expressions of spiriLuality. 21 irnil arly, his enlry for "Art" in Things Japanese (J891) singles ouL Lhe monk painters Mincho, Joselsu (ca. 1394-1428), ShL1bun (ac L. firsLhalf 15Lh cenlury), and Sesshu as "old masler " noLable for Lheir "classicism," which he describes as "partly a peculiar Lechnique, partly an adhe rence Lo Chine e meLhods, models, and subj eels . . . which are represenLed of course noL from nalure buL al second hand." InLeresLingly, Chamberlain doubLs the appeal of Lheir work for Weslem audiences:

104

I I\ I

Z1 \

\Ill Ill llllll

\llllll\L\I"

Th<:> synthe ti c power, Llw quiel harmonious colouring, and Lhe rree vigorous Louch of Lhese ]apan es<:> "o ld rnaslers" have jus Lly excited th e admiration of s ucc<:>ecling ge nerations of Lheir countrymen . But Lhe circl<:> of id eas within which Lh e

es ho s, Lhe

hobuns, Lhe l anos, and the other classical Japanese painters move, is Loo narrow and peculiar for Lh e ir proclu c lions Lo be ever like ly Lo gain much hold on Lhe es teem Europe ... Granl Lhe id ea ls of old Japan, g ranl Buddhi s m and Chinese convenlion , and you rnus l granl Lhe claims of Lhe worsh ippers of Lh e old mas lers. But Lhe world does nol granl these Lhings.2'> o[

The "world" here, of course, is Lhe Wesl, and these "old mas ters," lauded today a quintessential Zen painters, were appa re ntly Loo esoteric for general audiences in Europe and America who favored ins tead ukiyo-e and Lh e " decorative" qualities o[ Japanese art.

That said, Chamberlain and olher wrilers a l Lhi s Lime brought allen lion Lo Lhe "directness, facility, and s trength of line" in Japanese inl painting, "a sorl of bold clash clu e probably lo Lhe habit of writing and drawing fi路orn Lhe elbow, nol from th e wris t." In Lhis mode, Chamberlain explained , Lhe Japanese arti sl "paints Lhe feelings evoked by th e memory of the scenes, Lhe feelings when one is be tween wakin g and drearning." 26 u ch atlention Lo ink line would b e s us tain ed in laler writings aboul painting in Japan and would fi gure in arl p edagogy in Lhe We t. 27 Descriptions of Lhe painler unfellerecl from nalural de tail and omitting whal is "irrelevanl to the p artic ular e molion which he himself feels ... " aligns closely with Lhe Rorn anlic ideal of arlislic expression and presaged la ler descriptions of the swni-e painter's work as expre sing a Ze n slale of consciou sness. 28 This is a Lopic Lhat, from Lhe 1930s, D. T. Suzuki would wri le a bout wi lh great verve for Weslern audiences.29

0:\'

DIS PL\ Y TO TIIE \YOH LD

Japan's exhibition s al Lh e world's fair during Lhe second half o[ Lhe nine leenlh cenlury generally reinforce Lhe impression Lha l Lhe arlislic pas l of Japan as conce ived by Lhe Wesl did nol include Ze n art. Japan's prese ntalions al the 1876 Philad elphia Exposition includ ed earthenware, porcelain, and other Lypes of ceramics, lacquer ware, Lexliles, me talwork, 路wood and ivory carv ing, and painting. Th e Official Catalogue of the Japan Section, drawn up

by Lh e J apanese commissioners, introduces the hi s tory of the Fine Arls in Japan in relation to I orea and China, Lo Buddhis m, traits of national charac ter, a "predilection for the quiel and harmonious scene o[ na lure," and motion over accuracy, and the use of ink monochrome in pain Ling.

ow here, however, is th ere r f erence Lo Ze n-inspired art.:30 The United States report

on Lhe ] 889 Exposition Universell e in Pari s, meanwhile, commented on "The pain Lings on silk furni shed by nin e Japanese exhibitors have all the rich and quaint features, 路w ith Lhe harmonious coloring Lh al we were accus lom ed lo expecl from Lha l interesling empire ." Joining these works were pain Lings in oil and 路waler color and "a very foll display of inge nious Japanese work in bronze, e namel, lacquer, i vo ry, wood , faience, iron , and sil ver, including vases, censers, boxes, p la tes, panels, tables, e lc.":31 Zen arl had ye t Lo enter Weslern imagina ti on as parl of th e "Japan e ffec l" famously described by Oscar Wild e.:32

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The

1893

World's Expo ition in Chicago reveal

Columbian a looming

shift in visual and rh e torical intere Ls in th e display of Japanese art Lo and in the We t.

Ernpha is was placed fir t and foremo L on "decorative art," including paintings and sculpture and a profusion of cera mics and lacquer ware that shimmered with color and gold in the dim galleries. The dominance of this visual and material regi ter wa evid nt in two of the three rooms of the Hooden, the Phoenix Pavilion , an architectural replica of the eleventh-century Amida H all a t the Byodoin, Uji. As Judith Snodgra s point out, Okakura Kakuzo decorated the pavilion in large meas ure Lo accommodate prevailing Wes tern tastes for color, gold, and heavy ornament. 3:3 Still the imperial commissioners gave oblique attention to Zen art in the pavilion's outh Wing, which was designed with a hoin-style reception room and tea room th at replicated, according to contemporary Japanese comment, the "antique astringency" (koboku kanketsu) of the Ashikaga period."

In the display alcove of one room hung copies of paintings of the Chan/Zen Ox-Herding The me by Sesshu, comple ted by the modern painter Tsuruzawa Tanshin (1834-1893), whic h were surrounded by sliding-door paintings of landscape in ink monochrome by Kawabata Gyokusho (1842- 1913). 3 1 The introduc tion into the Phoeni x Pavilion of such archi tectural spaces and their res trained decoration , primarily in ink, was linked partly to the As hikaga period's (1336-1573) te mporal relationship to Columbus's discovery of America, but Snodgrass suggests that they "appealed to new tastes for elegant simplicity and appreciation of natural materials.":35 What is not coincide ntal is that the A hikaga (or Muromachi) period was beginning Lo b charac terized by Japa nese intellectuals as the gold en age of Zen art. Ze n itself, moreover, was being fixed into the rhe toric of Japanese militarism and the "samurai spirit" as promoted by :figures such as the Rinzai lineage Zen mas ter Kogaku (Shaku) Soen (1859- 1919), a prominent parti cipant a t th e 1893 Chicago World's Parliament of Religions. 36 A t the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition in London there re mained, nevertheless, a gap be tween Japanese art and Zen. The Times and other papers paid consid erable allenti on to paintings of th e H eian Lo Edo period, many National Trea ures, borrowed from te mples and shrines, th e Imperial Mu seums, and private collectors. By exhibiting them Japan ese officials sought Lo ge nerate recognition of ancient trad iti ons and achievements in the fin e art aside from porcelain and ukiyo-e. Among the exhibits were fi gural and landscape scrolls by Mincho, Shobun , and ess hu , including a "Splashed-ink " Landscape (Haboku sansui zu ) (fig. 2).

106

2 . Sesshu Toyo,

"Splashed-ink" Landscape (Habaku san sui zu), 1495 (detail). H anging scroll : ink an paper.

Tokyo N ational Museum

Z1 \IHI 1\1 ltlHI

\tlllll\t.\1"

Though laud ed laler as "ZPn painlings," Lhese works were described nol in Lerm s of Zen bul Lhrough compa rison - some limes unfavorably - Lo Lhe formal ac hi everne nls of Weslern arli Ls like ha ngelico, Mic helangelo, and Whi s tJ erY

By Lhe Lime of Lhe publicalion of Histoire de l 'art du ]apon, wrillen und er Lhe direc lion of l ul i RyCtichi for Lh e ] 900 Expo iLion Universelle in Pari , a direcl link had been forged belween Zen, arl, and Japan. Thal volume, also published in J apanese in 1901, present among olher Lhings an exlended narrali ve on Zen arl and reproduces many of Lhe "grealesl hits" of Zen art, including Muqi's Lhirleenlh-cenlury Guanyin, Gibbons , Crane and Josetsu's Caifish and Gourd.:38 We read LhaL Lhe s pread of the Ze n secl during Lhe rule of the Ashikaga s hoguns s hifled eJite art away from Lhe co urlly Lradition. Since the mosl important painters were Ze n adepts, painting al this Lime was "Zene que." The Zenness of art, meanwhile, was due Lo Lhe sect's "propagaLion of Lhe conle rnplaLive spirit a nd the tas le for seclusion and solitude . IL inLroduced Lo th e arts a simplicily Lhal i somewhal ru Lie and asce tic in na ture . In all ways iL preferred the somber painLings in Chinese ink in Lhe s tyle of Song a nd Yuan. IL eschewed Lhe decoralive in objecls."39 A " predileclion for profound calm," meamvhile, "led Lo paintings of landscapes and flowers and birds and so on that offer a sense of repose." Moreover, "jusl as Lhe basis of Lhis [Zen] doc lrine affirms that in order achieve awareness of the hearl it is necessary to prac tice medita ti on, it is natural that the paintings influenced by it mus t how a character that is simple and elevated." 10 Vigor, monochrome, quie tis m, abs LracLion, as tringency, and meditation - Lhese and other aspecls establish both the qualiLy and grealness of Zen painLing. Greal painLing, which is ink painting, "sumiye," is, in Lurn, Zen painLing. 11 AlLhough Lhe Histoire is nol Lhe single "smoking gun" for what brought Zen arl into global altention, its presence sugges ts Lhe keen agenda of Japanese officials and Lhe new possibilities for Zen and art wi thin perceplions of Japanese culture . 12

OKA K lTHA' s ZENl'\I S i\I ' FE NOL LO SA 's AHT III STOHY

For many Viclorians and Gilded Age Americans the arts of Japan were produc ts ultimaLely of an inferior race whose achievemenls co uld not surpas those of the West with its Classical and Renaissance heriLage. Even so, collectors did not hesitate to acquire the sort of Japa nese art Lhey enjoyed, and Lo revel in Lheir visions of Japan and Japanese c ulture, leadin g Lo Oscar Wilde's famous critique of Vic torian Japani m: " the whole of Japan is a pure invenlion." 1:3 Parl of Lhis invention was th e Euro-American unders tanding of Buddhism and iLs metaphysics and mys ti cism, and from th e 19 10s and the 1920s, Japan ese Zen became in creasingly prominent in Weslern perceplions of and interests in Buddhis m. 11 Personal inleres ts drove fascinalion wi lh Buddhism and specifically Zen, but it was also a producl of Japanese domes lic di cour es on modernity and en uing interventions in European and orlh American perceplions of Japan . Deb a tes on art and nation Laking place in Japan during Lhe la te Meiji and Taisho periods paid increasing a ttenlion to the artislic culLures associated with Zen, drawing th e m into modernizing strategies, art his lorical examination, mechanical reproduclion , museum exhi bi tion, and Lhe internalional art market. This was the larger process und erlying th e crealion of the panoptic narralive of the arts of Japan presented in th e Histoire of 1900. In a malerial sen e, iL began with Lhe art survey co nduc ted b y th e Meiji governrn enl

107

Li

in Lh e 1880s Lo 1890s, \路1 hich ide nLifi ecl a nc ienl paintings and calli graphi es produced by Chan and Ze n monks a nd led Lo Lheir cles ignalion as National Treas ures. i:; Among Lh e rn were Muqi's LripLych of Guanyin, Gibbons , and Crane and Lh e same arlisL's Six Persinunons, Lhe reaf'L er pe rhaps Lhe mos l freque ntly re produ ced work of Ze n painling. 16 Newly es tablis hed na tion a l mu se ums inlrocluced s uc h works in th e ir gall eri es Lo Le ll Lhe Lale of J apanese or Ori ental arl

(Toyo bijutsu). Arl Lrealises, journals, as well as popul ar Lexls quid ly spread premoclern Chan and Zen painting and calligraphy. 17 A mod ern canon of Zen pain Ling and calligraph y Look s hape rapidly Lhereafler both in Japan and abroad and form ed Lh e basis for addition al surveys and exhibitions from Lhe 1930s Lhal sec ured Lhe canonized s la lus of works now inlernalional ly famous a Zen arl. 18 Japanese intellec tuals, including the noveli L alsume So e ki and Lhe philo op her ishida f iLaro, were a lluned Lo Lh e teac hin gs of prominent Zen a bbots of Lh e pasl and prese nl, were lay pracLiLioners of Zen mediLaLion, and dabbled in Lhe rendering of canoni cal Zen pictorial theme and Zen calligraphy. 19 Colleclor from a mong Japan's business elite and inclusLrialisL class, s uch as Mas uda Takashi, ezu f aichiro, and, later, Masaki Takayul i, so ught ouL works of Lhe ong and Yuan dynas lie and Lhe Kama kura, Muromachi , and Momoyama p eri-

掳

ods Lha t were associated with Chan/Zen, often for th eir i mporlance to Chanoyu. 5 Collectors were like~wise turnin g to Edo-period painters such as H a kuin and engai, presaging th e later emergence of th e category of Ze nga." 1 Zen rock gard ens (karesansui, sekitei) were likewise emerging as a focus of interest and debate wi Lhi n modern discourses on Japan's old art.s2 There was likewise a diffusion of Zen pic torial s ubj ec ts into mod ern Japanese painting (Nihonga , YOga ) and public di spl ay:':~ As Zen art came to be variou sly in vogue in la te nine teenth- Lo early twen LieLh-cen Lury Japan, Lhis dome tic process was nearly simultaneously Lurned outwards toward th e \.Ves t, alongside Japan's military victories and colonial expan sion in Asia. This occurred partly Lhrough world's fairs and al o through the presence abroad and th e English writing of s pecific individual . Okakura' books, The Ideals of the East (1903) and The Book of Tea (1906), which were parL of a larger nation-building genre, introduced " Zennism" in an effusive lyricism while identifying Zen as the religion of Lhe samurai.s' The followers of Ze n, 01 akura explained , "aimed al direct co mmunion with Lhe inner na ture of things, regarding their outward accessori es only as impedim ents Lo a clear perception of Trulh." ss The great age of Zen p ainting in Song dynas ty China, meanwhile, is embodi ed in Lhe scrolls of Ma Yuan , Liang Kai, and the monk Muqi Lha Lfound Lheir way Lo Japan. In Okakura's view, not merely did Zen painting reached ils culmin ation in Japan , " Life and art, as influenced by th ese teac hings, wrought changes in Japanese habiLs which have novv b ecome second na lure."s6 In shorL, from Oka ku ra we learn th a LChinese Chan was s urpassed b y J apanese Zen, and Lha l Ze n and Zen art are part of, if nol predominant in , th e " na tional essence" (kokusui) of Japan .s' Okakura's writings provided both a vocabulary for describing Zen arL and ex plana tion of Lhe me lap hysical s lale of th e Zen artist. The ar'lisls of Lh e As hikaga period "were all Ze n priests, or lay me n who li ved almos l like monks," and th e ir arl, "pure, solemn , and full of simplicity," discarde d " the hi gh- Lonee! drawing and colouring, and Lhe delicale c urves of Fujiwara and Ka ma kura [pe riod painting]" in favor o [ "simple ink-s ke tches and a few bold lines" Lo

108

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"ma ke expression as s imple and di re el as possibl e.":;8 Th e conve nLional sy mbol s of Buclclhi s l imagery are di s pe nsed wiLh , we read , a nd Lhe besl Ze n pa inte rs, esc hewin g me re 111i111es i ', de rnons lratecl through brus hwork a nd compos ilion a " clirec l communion wiLh Lh e inne r nalure o[ Lhings" ancl "cl ear perceplion of Trulh."路59 Jn th e work of Lh e painters

ess hc1 and Sesson

ShDkei, Lhe re f'ore , " Each s troke has ils mome nl of lire a nd death ; all LogeLh er a sis l Lo inlerprel a n idea, whi ch is life wiLhin life . Sesshu owes hi s p o iLi on Lo Lhal direc ln ess and self-con Lrol so Lypical of Lhe Zen mind .. . To

esson, on Lh e olh er hand, b elong Lhe freedom , ease, and

playfulnes which cons LiLuLed anoLh er essenLial tra il or Lhe Zen ideal. " 60

rn akura'

Zennis rn ,

meanwhile , \Vas expliciLly juxlaposed wiLh Lhe European LradiLion a nd Weslern perceplions of Japan: The ab ence of syrnrnelry in Japanese arl objecls has oflen been c omme nted on by Wes lern criLi cs. Thi s, al o, is a res ulL of a working oul through Zenni s m of Taois l ideals . .. Tru e beau Ly could b e di scovered only by on e who men Lally complete d Lhe incomple le .. . Since Zenni s 111 has become Lhe prevailing mode of LhoughL, Lhe art of Lhe exlre me Orienl has purposely avoided Lh e sy mme trical as expressing nol only comple ti on , bul repe lition. Uniformity of design was considered as fa Lal Lo Lhe freshness of imagin alion. 61 Okakura's pronounceme nls on Zennis m and art were mas terful in th eir use of th e romanti c and exotic, and Lhey s land in clear dis Linc lion from the pic luresque descripLion of Zen Lemples and largely a-philosophical comrne nlary on Zen art foun d in Lh e wriLings of Europeans and North Americans in preceding decades . Arguably, Okakura's effort were s lraLegically "self-Orienlalizing, projecling a n image of Japanese cultural prac lice long pasl as Lhe essence of the presenl." 62 Tha l presenl p eriod was acutely importanl to J ap a ne e officials and inLellecluals, and Oka kura was nol alone in su ch efforls . lnfluenlial Loo was Buddhist flrt in its Relation to Buddhist Ideals, b ased on leclures given by Anesa ki Masaharu al Lh e Museum of Fine Arts, Boslon , in 1914. The book's fourth ch apter, " Buddhisl na turalis m and individualis m: Th e LransiLion from religiou s Lo secular arts," is foc used on Zen and ils diffusion into Japanese culture and illu slra ted wilh more th an a dozen pa inting of Chan/ Zen figures a nd Chin ese-s lyle landscape 路works alrnos l exclu sively in ink monochrom e. Like Okakura, Anesaki presenls a Ze n devoid of monas lic ritual, devolion , social cla

, his lory, and

ideology and cenlered solely on Lhe individual's rn ediLa Lion and intuiLio n leadin g Lo realizalion of the absoluLe. This is wha L differentia tes Zen from other forms of Buddhis m, h e proposes, and Zen art is thus th e direcl produc l of Zen inLuiLi ve realizalion . .F or An esaki, Lhe "union of th e indi vidu al soul wilh Lhe cos mic spiriL," whi c h the Zenis l alla ins, is manifes t in " arl of a Lransce nd e nlal kind.

a luralis m and inLuiLioni s m enabled Lhe Zeni s l not only Lo absorb the

serenely transient beauty of na lure, but also to express it, di s Linc t from hum an passions a nd interesls, in placid clignily and pure simplicity .. . " In turn, "a pic ture s hould be the oul of na lure broughL Lo a focus b efore the purified , spirilual eyes of man - the cos mic spiril e mbodied in a liLtle sp ace through a mind in full gras p of Lhe cos mos ." 6:i Thus, painLings of Lhe Buddha, bodhisatlvas s uch as Ka nnon, and other me mbers of the pantheon personify Zen enlightenmenl: " All cleiLies are de prived of their LradiLi onal glories and decorations, of Lheir golden light and brilliant colors, and appear simply as hum an figures, semi-nak ed o r clad in white robes, a biding in Lhe mids L of na lure." Thi s is Lh e sec ul aris m Lha L Anesa ki wishes to direc t hi s audience to: s uch painLings "are nol meanl to be worshipped , but to give pleasure -

109

l, 1 I 1\1

Lhe pleas ure o[ ere ne compos ure , of pure simpJiciLy, of Lhe b eauLy of sle nd er human figures ." Ze n arL, in oLh er words, is all Lhe be LLer and more significanL [or having IefL Lhe monas Lery and Lransforrn ed inLo a universal "reli gion of simple b eauLy" for humanity. 6 1 WesLern

cholar

vvriLing abouL A ian arL were highl y

s uscepLible Lo s uch ideas. In Painting in the Far East (1908), Laure nce Binyon wroLe in a now-familiar vein that Zen painLers pu sh ed beyond form to Lhe transcendental: To find one's own soul, Lhe real subs Lantial soul, beyond and behind noL only th e passions and unruly inclinations of nature, buL also Lhe semblances with which even knowledge, even religion, may cloud reality by imagery, form , ritual Lhis was Lhe aim of Ashikaga culture; liberaLion , enlighLenmenL, self-conques L. 65 Binyon su gges ts too that Zen painting communic aLes a " spark b e tween mind and mind;" the viev1rer who catch es th e s park and comple tes the painter's composition achi eve a form of awakening.66 A Zen painting, therefore, expresses its maker's inner spiritual grasp of things and offers th e viewer an opportuniLy Lo " ummon an interiorized experie nce,"67 both of Lhe painLer and within him or herself.

If Binyon fell largely under Okakura's sp ell, ErnesL F enollosa's vision of Zen art was of a differenL vis ual ilk and arL hi s torical order. In Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art (1912), F enollosa singled out works already canonized as Zen art by Lhe Japanese governm ent including the " Muqi Triptych." 68 What was mos t captivating for F enollosa was not so much Zen simpliciLy and asymme try a the Oriental harmony of line, the poe Lic nuances of

3 . Zhou Jic hong , Lohan

notan (dark and lighL), vivid coloring, and evocaLive sp acing. If Zen painLing h ad an a ura

Manifesting Himself as an

for F enollosa, b eyond iLs formal feaLures, iL seems to have b ee n primarily about Lhe Lrans ub-

ca . 1178. H anging sc roll :

stantiation of the soul and more in keeping with his interesLs in Tenclai Buddhis m, occulLis m, Theosoph y, and Spirituali s m Lhan wiLh Ze n mediLation or me Laphysics p er se.

This is the sorL of rhe Loric Lha Laccompanied Fenollosa's exhibi Li o n of scrolls from the

500 Luohan borrowed from th e Zen mon as Lery Daitokuji and displayed a t the Muse um of Fine Arts, Bos Lon, in 1894 Lo 1895 (fig. 3).69 Forty painLings from Lhe set of a hundred scrolls, produced in Tingbo (China) be Lween 1178 and 1188, were exhibited in the "J apanese corridor" of Lhe muse um's Copley Square building. Fenollosa deemed Lhe scrolls rare Lreasures of Song-period Buddhis t arL, the Song d ynas Ly being, in his words, the "golden p eriod of arL for Lhe Ze n sect in China." Fenollosa was preoccupied with the painLings' s tunnin g vis ual form , and his florid descriptions of indi vidual scrolls rejoice in th e powerful aes th e ti c effecLs

110

Eleven - Headed Guanyin,

in k and color on si l k .

Museum of Fi ne Arts, Bos t on, Denmon Wa ldo Ross Col lectio n [06 . 289]

/.i路 \

\Ill 1\1 l<ll!I \01111\t.\I"

of undulaLing lin es and whirls of co lor wiLhin clramaLi c figural, a rchiLecLural, and land scape cornpo iti ons. 70 Given Lh e momenLous loan of Lhese painLings from a prominent Zen monasLery Lo Lhe Mu eum of Fine ArLs, perhaps Lhe pre mier venue for Japanese art in No rth Americ a, and Fe nollosa's praise, one mighL describe Lhis as Lhe big debuL or Ze n arl in th e Wesl. One ca nnoL help buL noLe now, however, LhaL these so-called masLerpi eces of Zen arL bear liLLl e resemblance Lo Okakura's explan aLions regarding simpliciLy and s ugges Lion or, for thaL ma Lter, pos Lwar perce ptions of Zen painLing as inl monochrome de pi c Lions of abstracL circles or quirky Zen eccenLric .

Be LhaL as iL may, Fenollosa was assertive in his efforts Lo defin e Zen art. His writings give Lhe arL of Lhe conLe mplaLive Ze n sect a particular valence: it i "idealisLic" rather Lhan " mys tical." This is because th e Zen doc trin e, "certainly the mos t aesthetic of all Buddhis t creeds," "holds man and nature to b e two parallel sets of charac teris tic form s be tween which perfec L sy mpaLh y prevails." 71 Fenollosa ees the shifL from EsoLeric mysticis m Lo Zen idealis m as epochal, "for iL implied no less a change in Buddhist and in social conLempla Lion than Lhe substiLuLion of Lhe naLural for the supernaLural. If I call it IdealisLi c conLe rnplation, iL i because iL regards naLure as more than a jumble of fortuitous facLs, raLher as a fine storehouse of spiriLual laws . It thus beco mes a great school of poe Lic interpre LaLion." 72 Landscape painting in Asia was transform ed , therefore, through the "Zen-like recognition tha t some thing charac teristic and structural in every organic and inorgani c form is fri endly to man, and respond s gladly Lo Lhe c hanging moods and power of his spirit ... to make, in shorL, nature the mirror of man - Lhis is co mpleted Zen syste m; this give vasL vitality to landscape art. " 7路~ Showing his Wes Lem philosophical colors, he adds that the Zen-painter-adep t achieved "a sort of independenL discovery of H egelian categories tha t lie behind Lhe Lwo worlds of object and subj ecl. Possibly, Lhe LelepaLhi c power of the teach er, and of the whole Zen enlighLenmenL, worked Lhrough th e percepLions of Lhe neophyte, to bring him to this general unity of plan." 71 Fenollosa seems on his way Lo a heady, full-blown discourse on Zen art, but in the end such state ments are arguably pre fatory to the biographi es of painters and the formal and aesthetic fea tures of th eir work. H e writes of "priesLly arti s ts" (such as Li Longmian, Muqi, and Sesshn) but doesn't elaborate upon their specific mental and spiritual sta tes or the qualiLies posited by OI akura. InsLead , great Zen painLers achieve marvelou s form - bold outline s Lrokes, mis ty effects, accenLs of light and dark, and so on - and become parL of a grand lineage and Lransmission of pic Lorial types and innovaLion from China to Japan. 75 ole his e ulogy of Sesshn: Sesshu i th e greaLes t rnas Ler of straight line and ang le in th e whole range of the world' art ... We may say tha L Sesshu's line combines the broken edge and th e velve Ly gloss of a dry-pointist's proof, wiLh the unrivalled force and resource of a Chinese calligrap her's brush - Godoshi [Wu Daozi] and Whis Ller rolled into one. BuL though Sesshu's line dominaLes mass and color, his noLan taken as a whole ... is the richesLof anybody's except E al ei's [Xia Gui] ... One other greaLes LqualiLy Sesshu possesses in large measure, and LhaL is "spirit." By Lhis f-ir t of the Chinese caLegories is meant th e degree in which a pi c Lured Lhing impresses yo u a really presenL and permeated with a living aura or esse nce.76

111

F'e nollosa may haYe dee med ess hcr a "greal Ze n seer"" and hi s painting full o[ "spirit," bul all grea l arl s hould have thi s quality, and Zen arl per se is nol Fe nollosa's e ndgame. Rather, iL is Lo impress upon Lhe \Vesl Lhe magnifice nce o[ Oriental arl within world arl and promote a ulopia of visual form, fu sing Easl and Wesl.

Fe nollosa wrole in Epochs abou L Ze n arl in ways LhaL differ co nsiderably from 01 akura's Book of Tea, but th e re is no qu es tion Lhal both wrole a l co nsiderable length , bringing Ze n inlo Lhe arl world limeli ght and ushering in a new world of Ze n arl. Isab ella Stewart Gardner may have been e ntranced with th e ir accounts, bul iL bears equal mention Lhat in Lhe span of only a half century generalized co mments aboul Lhe Zen sect and treas ures found in Zen te mples gave way Lo quite parti c ular explanations of Zen painting and other arts and elaborate descriptions of th e spiritual consciousnes of Lhe Zen artist and th e re ulLanL aesthetic achievements. Rom a ntic conceptions of arLisLic crea tivity are prominent in this shift, and th e LranscendenLal a ura s urrounding the Zen-influenced arls is s triking partly by virtue of its dis tinc tion from Lhe posiLivisLanalysis of many arl his torians o[ the time whose allegiances were to artis tic biography, formal analysis, and cultural hi s tory in th e mode of Jacob Burc khardt, Alois Ri egl, and H einrich Wolfflin.

There were other figures whose vvrilings in Lhe 1910s and 1920s h elped fix Zen art furth er inlo both scholarly and popular disc ussions of Lhe arts of Asia, including Garrell Chatfield Pier's Temple

4 . Bunsei, Landscape,

Treasures of Japan of 1914, which reproduces numerous works of painting from Zen mon-

second ha lf of the 15th

as teri es s uch as Tofukuji , DaiLokuji, and Myosbinji, and lauds their so mber monochrome and th e Zen feeling for na ture .78 Arthur Waley, meanwhile, weigh ed in with an es ay of 1922, Zen

Bucldhisni ancl its Relation to Art. 79 The same year the his torian of Japanese pain Ling Fukui Rikichiro wrote at length in Lhe Burlington Magazine on the famous land scape painting by Bunsei (mid-15 th century) in th e Muse um of Fine Arts, Bos ton (fig. 4). Fukui, who wrole th at "Thi s landscape leads me far away Lo my na tive land , and appears Lo me like a dream h er in bus tling Bos ton ," was of a new generation of arl his torians in Japan who would su s tain th e intensive inlerc ulLural efforts of Oka! ura and others and perceptions of Zen painting as revealing Lhe Lrulh of na ture beyond ils outward forms while bringing Lo Zen arl a more "scientific" mode of formalist arl his torical inquiry.80 The Ze n arl beal would go on , therefore, and Lhe s lage wa 路well sel for Lhe nexl generation of players, including

uzuki and Hisama lsu Shin'ic hi , whose performances would

expound upon n ew concep ts, among them "ab solute noLhi ngne "and "formless self," garner more lasting a lle nlion than even Okakura, a nd imprint upon audien ces Lhe philosophical and aes the ti c regis ter s Lha l would come Lo define Lhe postwar und ers tanding of Zen and arl. From Lh e 1930s onward, therefore, and more in si tenlly from the 1950s, Zen arl would co me Lo be aboul

oLhing.

11 2

century. Hanging scroll: ink on paper. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Special Chinese and Japanese Fund [ 05 .203]

/.I\

I I! I ll H ll Ill \ ll I 111 \<.\I '>

I. \ arncdoc dcri1t•d .. pi('Lures of nothing·· from an cssa) ii)

\\ iII iam I lazl iti . 11 ho r<-'porl<-'d the comment as a p<-'jorali v<-' r<-'s ponse to a pielur<-' b) Turner.

Kirk r arnedo<-'. Pictures of 1\orhing: Abstract ilrt since Polla ck (\\ashington. 2006). p. l. Although Va rnedoe refers lo John Cage·s famous compos ition 4·33·· and Cage 11 as informed b) D. T. uzuki's explanations of Zen (Suzuki 1934). \ arnedo<-' makes no reference to Cage·s composiLion as con1 eying a Zen-influeneed 1othingness. The questions of likeness and nothingness that Varnedoe confronts are. nevertheless. releva nt Lo the postwar affection for Zen art.

2. The scholar is Martin Powers. professor of Chinese arts and cultures. Uni versi ty of Mi chigan.

3. ee: We Lgee L 1996, p. 479: Colin ki and Hiekisch-Picard 2000: Munroe 2009.

4. Nancy Wilson Ross, ·'Whal is Zen'?," Mademoiselle (January ] 958), p. 64.

9. This 11 as ulso a 1wriod of debate in Japan regarding "Oriental paint ing.""Japan<-'S<-' pa inting." and "'a rt.'. Se<-' \fong 2006 and Ts<-'ng 2008. On \~ 'es le rn e rs practi cing Zen meditation in Llw c-'a rl y L11 entieth cenlu1"). see T11 eed 2000. p. 45.

JO. For the Jesuits, Zen , and the pri nciple of nothing. see App 2010, pp. J8- 19. 138-.39.

142- LJ.cl.. For entries in the Vocabidario . see Morita Takes hi. el aL eds., 11oyaku Nippojisho (Tokyo. 1989). pp . .356-59. 561.

For references Lo Z<-'n ancl Z<-'nrelated a rl, see: Cooper 1981 , pp.

202. 316- J7. 320-21 ; Cooper 2001. pp. 288-89• .305, 321. 357; Elison ] 97.3. p. .3.39.

6. Bert Win ther-Tamaki, 'The Asian dimensions of Postwar abstract art: Calligraphy and metaphysics," in Monroe 2009, pp. 145, 151-5.3.

7. For museum loa ns, see, for instance, the unpubli heel ·'Meiji nijo kyonenbun joho ki tak u ikken" (Meiji 29-90) (]896), Kyo to Furitsu ogo Shi1yokan, f yoto.

8. ee harf 1995.

16. Chamberl ain 1891, p. 299: Mary C. Slopes. A } ournal.fi·om Japan: A Daily Hecord of Life as Seen by a Scientist (London.

19 JO), p. 266.

17. Ibid. and J athari ne Schuyler Baxl<-'r, In BeautijuJ Japan: A tory of Bamboo Lands (New York, 1904).

18. On the Roman ti c and Buddhism, see McMahan 2008, chapter 5.

19. Jarves 1876. pp. 52, 98.

12. Mary Jane Bickersleth, Japan as \Tie Saw ft (London, 1893), p. 297. Annihilation and the principl e of nothingness as fixated upon in nineleenthcenlury Europea n philosophy are examined in DroiL 2003.

sc hool), zazen (sea ted meditation), and Daruma recur in nineteenth-century Japanese-English di ctionari es but nol, appare ntl y, "Zen art" or explanations thereof. See James C. Hepburn, A } apnnese and English Dictiona ry (Shanghai, 1867): Waego rin sh usei: www. meij igaku in.ac.j p/mgda and Google Books: l~ rn es l Mason Satow and Ishibas hi Masa kata, An Eng lish-Japan ese Dictionary of th e Sp ok en La ng uage (London, 1876; reprint: Tokyo, 1970).

J4. Sir Ruth e rford Alcoc k, A rt and Art Industries in J apan (Lond on, 1878), pp. 4, 14, ] 5, 278.

of a Visit in 1879 (London, 1880): Sada ki(' hi I lartman n.

Japanese i\rt (London, 1904): J. F'. Black<-'r, Th e A BC of Japanese Art (Philad<-'lphia, 19 11 ).

24. Chamberlain 1891. p. 45.

lL Cooper 1981, pp. 342-45.

l.3. The Lerm Zensh u (Ze n

5. '·Thunderous silence." as ide from its use as a title for a lecture by the modern Zen interpreter Alan Walls, deri ves fi·om the Vimalakirti sutra.

15. 1 oshihara 200:3. p. 26; Douglas laden. Th e }ops at l/ome (London, 1895), pp. l.38-50; Max Put, Plunder and Plea sure: Japanese Art in th e West , 7860- 1930 (L<-'iden, 2000); Guth 2004. chapter :3.

20. Greey J883.

2 1. Greey's illustra tion may have been based on the R ed -Robed Bodhidharma allributed Lo Sessho (now in the Idemitsu Museum. Tokyo). a work related Lo this pain ti ng, or, for that mailer, the Hed - Robed Bodhidharma by the Chinese pain ter Xuejia n and inscribed by the Yuan dynasty Chan monk Ping hi R.uzhi in the collection or the monastery hokokuji , I yoto. See Sesshu: botsugo 500-nen tolrubetsuten (exh. l(yolo National Museum and Tokyo National Museum. 2002), no. J 08; Yomiuri Shinhunsha.

D ciihonzan ho lrnkuji to f< inlrnku, Ginkakii no meiho ten (Osaka, 2004). no. 42.

22. Greey 188.3, pp. ] 7LI- 76, 234- .36.

23. ee: Edward J. Reed, } apcm: Its History, Traditions, and R eligio11s, with the Narrative

113

25. Chambe rla in J 89 1a.

PP• 4Ll-46.

26. Chamberlain 1891. pp.

48-49; Manners and Customs of the Japanese in the Nineteen th Century, .fi·om th e A ccounts of Hecent Dutch Hes iden ts in J apan, and from th e Germ an Work of Dr. Ph. Fr. Von Siebold (London.

1841), pp. 225. 226: A. 1-Terbage Echrnrds, Kalw mono: Japanese k etch es (London. 1906). pp. l.36-.38.

27. Arthur Wesley D01r (1857-1922), in his fine arts course would Leach the ··q uali ty in drawn line" th rough the works or Millet. Rembrandt. Joh n Swan, "and Japanese brush work, preferably by esshu:· Arthur \\cesley Dow. "A course in fine arls fo r candidates for the higher degrees." Bulletin of th e College Art Association ofAmericci l: no. 4 ( eplember 1918). p. 117.

28. Henry Oyer, Dai Nippon, Th e Britain of the East: A tudy in 1 ational Evolution (London, 1904). p. 205.

29. uzuki 1934. pp. 289-3 1, 3 15,.3.37.

30. Official Catalog ue of th e Jap a nese Section, and Descriptive Notes on th e Incl ustry a nd J.l g ricult ure of Japa n (Phil ade lphia, 1876), pp.

97- 101.

:n.

('Cf"Ptal") or tat('. Reports

of th e Unit ed tal es Commissioners to th e L11iversal Exposition of7889 at Paris (\\'as hington. 1891), p. 163.

32. ee

!.. ee: Ric hard King, Ori.e11 to lis111 and Relig ion:

<I

Postcoloni.al Theory, India and " Th e M)'stic East " (London , 1999), chapter 7; De Gruchy 2003, pp. 16--33; nodgrass 2003.

1

unokawa 1994.

Society, e11 York, ] 998), p. 59; Guth J993, pp. 77, 159; Tana ka I lisao, "Sengo bijutsuhin iclo 36: Kubuso Taro, Masaki Takayuki no sho ho ," Geijillsu sh inch.a 26 (December 1975), pp. 118-23.

5 1. Yoshizawa I a tsu hi ro,

66. llTid.; see also John Ilate her, Laurence Bin)'On : Poet , Scholar of East; and \:Vest (Oxford , ] 995), p. ] 84.

67. Frederick

. Bohrer.

Orientalism and Visual Culture: Imagining Mesopot;amia in Ninet,eenth Centllr)' Europe (Cambridge.

2003), p. 3.

33. Snodgrass 2003, p. 43.

45. On su rveys, see Guth 1993 and Levi ne 2005.

IlakiLin: Z eng a no sek ai (Tokyo, 2005). p. J 6.

34. Umi o wauata Meiji. no

46. F )'Oto.fiL kaku shaji

52. Yamada 2009, chapter 5.

bi.ju tsu: sai.lrnn ! .1893 h.i.kag o

36. Sllali 1995. pp. 112-16 .

h omotsu mokuroku: Atag og un (l 880s-1890s). Tokyo Kokuritsu 1-la kubul ukan hi1yo kan (microfilm 6831 204).

Muqi's Six Persimmons was reproduced in woodblock illustration in Matsudaira Sadanobu, S huko jissh.u (1800) and copied by painters of the Kano school.

Modern reproduc tions include Ouo Kummel, Die Kun st Ostasiens (1921); Arthur Waley, An Introduction to th e Study

54. See Weston 2004, p. 232; F. G. otehelfer, "On idealism a nd reali sm in the thought of Okakura Tenshin," Journal of Japanese Studies 16 (1990), pp. 330-42. Japa n acq uired Taiwan, the Penghu archipelago,

71. Ibid .. vol. 2. p. 4.

37. Hiraki 路hi Mutsu. ed., The

of Chinese Painting (J 923); and F okka 493 (J 931).

the Liaoclong Pen ninsula, and Manchuria fo llowing the

72. Ibid ., vol. 2. p. 1.

British Press and th e JapanBriti.sh Exhibition of1910 (Londo n, 2001), pp. 17, 59-61, 73-74.80-82, 161-63.

47. See Okatsuka Akiko. " Meiji ki no bijutsu shas hin shuppanbutsu: Kokka, hinbi taika n,

Sino-Japanese war (1894- 95) and annexed l orea in 1910.

Okakura's books also s traddle the Russo-Japa ne e War of 1904- 5.

Koronbusu selrni hakurankai.

(Tokyo National Museum, 1997), pp. 103-4; P. I-J a ndy, eel., Th e Official Director)' of the Worlds Colwnbi.on Exposition (Chicago. 1893), pp. 131-32.

35. Snoclgra 2003, p. 43; see p. 32 for a photograph taken by Okakura.

38. Commission 1900; Nas honariz wnu to bi: Kohon l\Tihon Teikoku bijutsu r)'akushi (Tokyo, 2003; originally publis hed 1901 ).

Histoire de !'Art du Japon o c hC1shin ni," BijutSLl Foria11 21: no. 4 ( ummer 2001 ).

53. ee himomura's Linji ( Rinzai), ca. 1914 (Mats uoka Museum) and Z en Master lkk)'Lt, 1918 (Eisei Bunko, Tokyo).

55. Okakura J 903, p. 50.

68. Weston 2004路, p. 264, notes that Fenollo a路s aim was to explain the uni ve rsality of art. while Oka kura"s agenda was the unity of Asia.

69. See Levi ne 2004 and Levine 2005.

70. Fenollosa 1912, vol. 2. pp. 5, 8, 17-18.

73. [bid., vol. 2. p. 7.

74. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 5.

75. See ibid., vol. 2. pp. 36, 51, 64.

56. Ibid., p. 176.

39. Commission 1900, p. ] 3.

48. ee Onshi Kyo to Hakubutsuka n, eel. , Dai.toki~ji. m ei.ho shu(I yoto, 1933); documents of the " Kyo tofu jiin jcd10

40. Ibid ., p. 146.

c hosa" (1941- 45) [Kyo to Furitsu Sago Shi1yokan].

59. Okakura 1906, p. 67.

4 1. lbicl., pp. 106--7.

49. On Soseki a l Engakuji,

60. Okakura 1903, pp. 179-81.

see Sachiko Ka neko 1orrell

6 1. Okakura 1906, pp. 69- 71.

42. At century's Lum we Gncl gr01ring references lo the Zen ins titution and expla na tions of Zen as a 路'doctrine of a bstrac tion" noted for "au. lere discipline."

See Brinkley 190la, pp. 61, 62.

a nd Robert E. Morrell, Zen Sanctuary of Purple Robes: J apan s Tok eij i Con vent: since 7285 (Albany, N.Y., 2006), pp.

139- 40.

43. 0 car Wilde, "The decay of lying: An observation" in idem. ,

50. ee Audrey Yoshiko eo, Th e Art of Twentieth-CenttLry Zen : Paintings and Calligraph)' by

intentions (London, 1891).

JcLpanese Masters (exh. Japan

114

76. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 8 1-83.

57. On {; okusui see Wong 2006.

77. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 80-81.

58. Okakura 1903, pp. 179- 8 1.

62. ee Snodgrass 2003, p. 270; a nd Tweed 2000.

63. Anesa ki 19 15, pp. 48, 53, 57.

64. lbicl., pp. 54, 55, 62.

65. Binyon 1913, p. 167.

78. Garre ll Chatfield Pie r, Temple TreasLLres of Japan ( ew York, 1914).

79. Arthur Waley, Zen

Buddhism a nd its R elation to Art (London, 1922).

80. Rikic hiro Fukui, "A landscape by Bunsei in the Boston Museum," Bu.rlin.g wn Magaz ine 41 , no. 236 (J 922), pp.

221, 222.

115

The painter as collector EAST ASIA

OBJECTS AND

J AMES McNEILL WIIISTLER's ABSTRACTING EYE Ailee n Ts ui

J ulius Meier-Graefe's his tory of mod ern art, published in 1904 and translated into English in 1908, includ es a chapter on the art of James McNeill WhistJer that is subdi vided into four sec tions defined by nationalis t strains. 1 Although Whistler was born in the United tates to American parents, none of Meier-Graefe's sections - "The Englishman," "The Frenchman," "The Japanese," and "The paniard" - focuses on what might be identified as the American components of Whistler's art. 2 Ins tead, the firs t three ections associate aspects of his art with the London context in which he lived and worked, his artistic connections in Paris, and his much-vaunted fascination 路with Asian art, while the last section refers to comparisons between Whi tler's and Veli:'izquez' art. Meier-Graefe's anal y is of " the Japanese" Whi tler includes the following remarks about th e effects of the artist's enthusiasm for collecting Japanese and Chinese objec ts: Collectors are lunati cs of a harml es kind. All artists are collectors, and, as we learn from a hundred examples of all periods, there are fanatics among the m. Many neglec t Constable's rule Lo forget all about art when creating, and the s trikingly small number of mas ters of wealthy origin may be explained in our clay, by the dile ttantis m which is denied Lo the poor. Whis tler's art was obscured by his love of collecting. Th e vessel in which talent is refined Lo art was filled wi th his dile ttantis m. This outgrew the normal dim en ions ... :i Although not espo using Meier-Gra efe's value judgme nt that Whis tler's love of collectin g necessarily weakened the quality of his painting , the present essay pursues furth er the id ea that an exceptionally close connection exis ted be tween collecting and painting for this expatriate American artist who so av idly collected Asian objects. Exis ting s tudies have focused on tracing th e influence of s pecifi c works of Japan ese and Chin se art on Whis tler's 1 visual productions, whereas thi s essay instead explores the e ffects on th e artis t's paintings of his e ngage ment wi th As ian objects in the parti cular sites and situations of collecting: firs t, the initial encounter with s uch exotic objects in the commercial settings of international exhibiti ons and shops in Lond on and Paris; and second, the posi ti on of a given object a fter its purchase, once re-located within the self-cons tru c ted and self-enclosed context of the artis t's personal co llection. ot only does \:\Thi tler's a rt convey an admiration for the vis ual properties of Chinese and Japanese objects, it also expresses a fascina tion wi th the collectability of these objects and with the pleasures o[ collecting.

117

\Vhile Whistler collec led a variely of Japanese and Chinese objecls in Lhe 1860s and lale r, his collec lion of blue-and-while Chinese porce lain was particularly notable and influenLi al al Lhe Lim e.~ Whis tler's earl y biographers, Elizabeth Robins Pennell and Joseph Penn ell , slale thal Lhe dealer Murray Marks told the m, "TL was [Whistler] who invented blue and while in London." 6 This comme nl credits Whi Ller wilh having initia ted the British fashion for collecting blue-and-while Chinese porcelain Lha Lgrew more popular in s ubsequent decade and came Lo be dubbed "chinaman ia" by George du Maurier. 7 Marks's assertion al o gives voice to the perspective of the collec tor, in equaling the collecting of porcelain with its invention: from Lhe collector's point of view, Lo collect is to create. 8 Whi s tler competed intensely with hi fellow-artist Dante Gabriel Rosselli in collecting Chinese porcelain in the 1860s.9 Th e Pennells furth er write tha t Marks " told us how the fever spread from Whistler and Rosselli to Lhe ordinary collector." 10 Whereas later in the 1870s and 1880s the collec ting and display of Japanese and Chinese ma terial culture became a popular fashion in domestic decoration in Britain and the nited tates, in the mid-1860s Whis tler's collection of s uch objects as Kangxi-era porcelain, prints by Hiroshige, Japanese fans, and embroidered kimonos signaled his unconventional and aes thetically advanced Laste. 11 Although the East Asian objects that Whis tler collected in the 1860s were sold and dispersed a t auctions in 1879 and 1880 following his bankruptcy, 12 traces of his early collection remain in several pain Lings he produced in th e 1860s that feature young women surrounded by Japanese and Chinese objects from his collection. 1:3 In the decades after his bankruptcy, the artist built up a second collection of East Asian ceramics that is preserved today at the Hunterian Art Gallery a t Lhe University of Gla gow. 11

In addition to being renowned himself as a collector of Asian objects, Whis tler also became closely involved with impressive collections of Chinese porcelain assembled by other men in London in the la ter 1870s. Whistler famou ly painted the interior of Frederick Leyland 's dining room with images of peacock and ornamental motifs derived from peacock feathers, titling the decorated interior as Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room (1876-77). This room featured an elaborate yslem of shelves, designed by Thomas J eckyll, for the display of Leyland' collection of blue-and-while Chinese porcelain. As Linda Merrill has written in her important s tudy of the Peacock Room , "Whistler regarded the blue-andwhite porcelain as an integral part of his Harmony in Blue and Gold." 15 Whis tler's splendid decoration of Lh e Peacock Room was designed to work visually in tand em with the display of Leyland 's porcelain collection on th e ranks of shelves around th e room. The dazzle of the golden designs on the peacock-blue gro und speaks to Whistler's concern to complement Lhe collec tion of porcelain on display in all its splendor, the gleam of Lhe gold leaf and the Dutch metal (a type of brass) that the artis t employed responding Lo the lus ter of Lhe porcelain.

Although a black-and-while photograph of Lhe Peacock Room taken in 1892 (fig. 1) does nol do justice Lo Whis tler's blue-and-gold decorations, this image does provide a sense of how the room func tioned as a space nol only for dining bul also for the display of Leyland's porcelain.

Moreover, in the same period Lhal he was painting the interior of Lhe Peacock Room , Whis tler was involved with a second artis tic project centered on an imporlanl collection of Chinese porcelain. He was hired by Sir Henry Thompson Lo make watercolor drawings of select pieces from Th omp on's porcelain collection (:fig. 2), Lo be reproduced in aulolype as th e illus trations to a limited-edition catalogue. 16 The invilalion card to the private view of the exhibition

118

of Si r Henry Thompson's co lleclion of "BJue and While Iankin porceJain" clepi c l four men, including Whi Ller al Lhe righL in Lhe aLLiLude of a colleclor (fig. 3): Lh e arli Lres ts his lefL hand on an Asian or Asian-slyle fo lding screen while his righL hand grasps a Chinese nuff boLLle, held up close Lo his gaze. 17 The folding screen visually connecls Lo Lhe represenla ti on of a ship below, from which a sailor or porter di sembarks wi Lh a large vase in hi s arms, Lhu s emphasizing Lhe exolic origins of Lhe Chinese porcelain collecled by WhisLler, Thompson, and Lheir fellow-colleclors in London.

The fashion for collecling Chinese porcelain that grew more widespread in England through Lhe 1870s and 80s overlapped with the burgeoning trend of collecting Japanese objecls, following Japan's new inlernational Lrade treati es of the 1850s. Many Viclorian viewer firsl saw Japanese objecls in th e 1862 InLernaLional Exhibition in London, which included a seclion of Japanese objects amidst a mulLiLude of commodities of all sorls. Such association of Asian objecls wiLh commercial conlexts resonales wiLh the composition of Whistler's Purple and Rose: The Lange L eizen of the d'j['~~ ,-::!" "1 Y!m¡ks requests Lhe ltonow \~ of lhe COlllJ->dll}"Of Six Marks (fig. 4), a painting that explodes with intense colors juxlaposed ' ~fl)> :oi=.â&#x20AC;˘ I at a speciol private view or - in unconve nlional, eye-catching fashion. IL shows an interior crammed wiLh - - :l~u- l:!emy Th.omvsou's colleclfou Qf Blue and 'White Nanktn porcelam Asian objects organized within the pictorial space for maxi mal display to the "tn Tu ... sday evening April 3o"'~ RSVP. ~,o'c1oc1s;; viewer, like items in a shop. Comments by boLh the painler and his molher, 2. Jomes McNeil! Whistler, Anna Whis tler, confirm Lhal Lhe arti t aimed to evoke a commercial selling Square Canister with for the exolic wares wiLhin his painting. In a letter penned when her son was Square N eck and SaucerShaped Dish. l 876 - 78. Ink at work on Lange Leizen, Mrs. Whis tler described the woman in Lhe picture and wash on paper. Freer as sealed next to a shelf "upon which several pieces of china and a pretly fan are arranged Gallery of Art, Smithsonian In stitution, Washington, as if for purchasers." 18 In that same month, February 1864, the artis t himself wrote that the Gift of Charles Long Freer painting represented "une marchande de porcelaine" - a dealer of porcelain. 19 He furth er [Fl898 .4l5] . This drawing was used for plate XVI I in described his work a "filled with s uperb porcelain from my collection,'' 20 as if the s uccess of A Catalogue of Blue and the painting might be guaranleed by Lh e high quali Ly of hi s china collection.

White Nankin Porcelain, Forming the Collection of Sir Henry Thompson (1878)

3. Invitation to a Private View of the Collection of Sir Henry Thompson, l 878 .

Lithograph. Notional Art Library (reserve co ll ection Q.4.), Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In Lange Leizen of the Six Marks , Whis Ller's ugges lion of a shop display is especially apparent in th e way tha t Lhe fan, lacquer tray, and large circular platter are LilLed againsl the wall, parallel to the pic lure plane, in order fully to display their surface to the viewer. Such organization of the surfaces of objecls toward the viewer continues in the luxurious spread of fabric of the woman's costume, pulled out along the carpe t - itself tilted up a l a s teep angle to reveal it patterned design - Lo s how off ils embroidered clecoralions. The intermingling of J apane e and Chinese ma lerial c ulLure tha t often occurred in Viclorian Britain is evident here in Lhe artis t's decision Lo coslume his model in an e mbroidered Chinese robe layered over a Japanese kimono. The decoralive patterns on Lh e purple kimono and the while robe are rendered by Lhe arlisl, however, nol as a persuasive represenlalion of colored Lhreads embroidered on silk draped over a woman's body bul rather as overtly painLed marks - clas hes of vivid paint tha t indexically register the traces of the arlist's Louch - resting on the fl a t canvas support. Through such eleme nts, the pictorial structure of Lange Leizen may s uggesl a blurring, or even potential collapse, of the disLincti on beLween an organizalion of commodities for commercial display and a moderni s t or AestheLicisLmove Lo showcase a painting's con Lilu enl

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'J'q1

4 . Ja mes McNeil l Whistler, Purple and Rose: The Longe Leizen of the Six Marks, 1864 . Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Collection

elements of colored pigment on a fla t surface . The allming s urfaces of Lhe exoti c objec ts availabl e for purchase from Whis ller's fic ti ve porcelain seller wiLhin Lhe pic Lure may fold into Lh e alluring s urface of the painLing-objecLtha LLhe arLis LpresenLed Lo hi viewer a l the Royal Acad emy in 1864, who were posiLioned as poLenLial purc hasers of his painting-co rn modi Lies.

Thal Whis Ller d e igned Lhis pai n Ling of exo Lic wares for sale as iLself a n obj ecLof novel b eauLy Lha Lrni ghL appeal Lo the acquisiLi ve gaze of Lhe Vic Loria n collecLor is Lro ngly s ugges Led

by Lwo accessory eleme nts of Lhe painLing's design: iLs Li lle a nd iLs fram e . Throughout his career, Whis tler Look greaLcare in Lh e special design of boLh LiLles a nd fram es. 21 In Whis tler's prac Lice both verbal and ma lerial accessory e le me nLs we re given Lh e sa me scrupulous atle nLi on as th e paintings th emselves, so LhaLth e ordinarily s upple me nlary ele rn enls became effec-

120

T111

1路11\ 11 11 ,, , 111111 r1111

Li, ely inseparabl e cornponenls of' a work. From iLs firsl exhibiLion al Lhe Royal Acade my in 1864, Whi sLler's picLure a LLracLed aLLenLion by iLs c uri ous Lill e, give n al Lh e Lime as " Di e Lange Lize n - of' Lhe s ix marks ." 22 MosLcriLics who me nti oned Lhe painLing in Lheir reviews of Lhe exhibiLi on included an expla na Lion of' Lhe work's provocaLively - some LhoughL, preLenLi ously - myslerious Lille. One criLic of Lh e Lime provided Lhe following expl anation: "The subj ecLis a Chinese lady, pain Ling Lhe blue jars known Lo coll ecLor of' Ori enLaJ china for Lheir 'six marks' a ncl Lh eir painLed represenlalions of' ladi es innoce nL of crin oline and as lanky a Lhose of LhirLeenLh-cenLury sculpLure - hence call ed, die Lange lizen." 2:i Whi sLler's eni gmaLi c Lille Lhus combined Lwo arcane phrases known only Lo collec lors of Chinese porcelain : recogniLi on of Lhe "six marks," ac lually Chinese characlers on Lhe boLLorn of a pi ece LhaLidenLified iLs producLion in Lhe ~ angxi reign (1662-1722); and familiariLy wiLh Lhe DuLch phrase " Lange Lijzen" (loosely LranslaLecl inLo English as " Long Elizas") Lh aL was used by collecLors Lo describe boLh Lhe slender figures pain Led on Chin ese cerami cs a nd Lhe clecoraLecl pieces of ceramics Lhemselves. 21 By composing hi Lille in Lh e speciali sLlingo of porcelain coll ec lors, WhisLler noLonly provoked his viewers' curi osiLy bu LfurLher asserLed his posiLion as a painLer-collec Lor of cosmopoliLan Lasle and likened his painLing Lo Lhe Lreasurecl possession of a collecLorconnoi seur. For while "Die Lange Lizen - of Lhe six mark "may refer Lo Lhe blue-and-while vase al which Lhe cos lumed wo man gazes while ap pearing Lo be in Lhe process of painLing iL, one may also see Lhis provocaLive Li Lle as referrin g Lo WhisLler's pain Ling as a whole. Such an interpretation gain validaLi on when one views Lhe picLure in iLs specially designed fra me. 2路' WhisLler, pos ibly in colla boraLi on wiLh his friend and fellow-collec Lor Danle Gabriel Rosselli, incorporaLed Lhe Chin ese characlers LhaL mark Kangxi-era cera mics inLo Lhe design of the gild ed frame of Lhe painLing, now clesignaLed by Lhe six charac lers on iLs frame as iLself a .fine collecLible Lha Lonly Lhose wiLh a con noisseur's knowledge and discernmenL wo uld appreciaLe. 5 . Lawrence Alma -Tadema,

Pottery Pointing, 187 l.

Oil on wood. Manchester Art Gallery

As several scholars have noLed, Lhe woman picLured in Lange Leizen may be Laken as a melaphorical self-porLraiL of Lhe painLer.26 WiLh a long gaze Lhro ugh lids so lowered as Lo appear nearly shuL, Lhe seated 路wo man poses as if in Lh e process of painLing Lhe vase, a bru sh grasped Lhro ugh Lhe fabric of her long sleeve. Thal the vase in her hand ha already been .fired Lo iL cobalL-and-whiLe compleLion no more clisru pls Lhe scene Lhan doe Lhe apparenLly Cauca ian casLof Lhe woman's fac ial fea tures, for Lhis image clearly presenls Lo Lhe viev1rer Lh e arLi.ficial concei Lof a Chinese painLer al work raLh er Lhan a meLi culously acc urale reconsLruc Lion of such a scene as iL rnighL aclually occur in China. In Lhis way, WhisLler's painLing openly di spl ays iLs arLifices Lhrough Lhe blaLantly posed disposiLion of iLs female s ubjec Las well as Lhro ugh Lhe foregrounding of iLs formal makeup as colored oils on a Dal canvas.

Comparison wiLh a pai nLing by Lawrence Alrna-Taclema fro m 1871, Pottery Painting (fig. 5), helps clarify whaLwas dis Linc Live about WhisLler's Lange Leizen as a work al Lhe Royal Academy exhibition in 1864. WiLh iLs precisely rend ered deLails of coslume and setLing, AlmaTaclema's represenLa Lion of a classical vase-painLer is designed - al leasLos Le ns ibl y or inLenLi onally even if perhaps not effecLi vely from our

121

viewpo inL Loclay - Lo promoLe an e ffecLof auL he nLiciLy in recons Lru cLin g a clis LanL Lime and pl ace. Th e head of A lmaTacle ma's re male p ainLer inLersecLs wiLh Lhe corn er of a window Lha L I rovides access Lo a v iew or Lree and Lhe pedi-

6. James McNeil! Whistler, Variations in Flesh Colour and Green : The Bo/cony, ca. 1864-70. Oil on wood .

Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, Gift of Charles Lang Freer

rn e nL or a Doric Lemple ris ing againsL a s unny sky. This view Lhrough Lh e window connecLs Lh e poLLery workplace to the seeming reali Lies of an ancien L selling in Magna Graecia, wi Lh iLs characteristic archi LecLural form s, plant life, and climate. 27 In contrasL, the head of the female figure in Whis Ller's painLing app ears almosL engulfed by Lhe circle of Lhe large porcelain plate leaning againsL

7. James McNeil! Whistler,

Lhe wall, eve n as the swell of Lhe porce-

The Artist in His Studio,

lain jar adjacent Lo the woman's s Lrongly mod eled head echoes its form wi Lh a similar size and shape. The painting provides no access to any wider setting or external space b eyond Lhis corner of a room :filled with objects on display, which simulates th e inLerior of a shop and also speal s frankly to the selling of Lhe artis t's s tudio, where he posed his Irish girlfriend, Joanna Hiffernan, in Asian cos tum e .

1865-66 . Oil on paper mounted on wood . The Art Institute of Chicago, Friends of American Art Collection 8 . James McNeill Whistler,

Lo Princesse du pays de lo porce/oine, 1864-65 . Oil on canvas. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington , Gift of Charles Long Freer

If Whis tler' Lange L eizen presents Chinese and J apanese objec Ls as co mmodities increasingly available for purchase b y Lhe Western collecLor in modern comm ercial con Lex Ls, th e painting further sugges ts such exotic objecLs' capaciLy Lo be posiLioned as triggers for the collec tor's fantasie of cultural alteri Ly, su c h as Lhose s limulaLed by Lh e pleas ures of playing dress-up in Asian garm enLs . The year after h e comple ted Lange L eizen , W his tler posed in a Chinese robe for H enri F anLin-LaLour's Honunage in this group porLraiL wore European garb.

28

ci la verite: le toast, while Lhe oLher men

Whi Ller's fascinaLion wiLh picturing the paLen L

artifice of fanLasies of China/Japan as one of Lh e new plea ures of Lhe mod ern consumer in a field of expand ed marke Ls serving up a wider array of commodiLies is even more apparenL in his pain Ling Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony (fig. 6), where Caucasian mod els pose wi Lh Asian cos Lumes and props on a balcony overlooking th e Th ames, with a view of th e industrial d evelopme nts on Lh e opposiLe ba nk.

In Lange Leizen of the Six Marks , Lhe cosLuming, the co mm ercial e lling, and Lhe overLly mi med ges Lure of seeming Lo painL an alread y-fired vase se t up Lhe female figure as an artis Lic self-porLraiL only wiLh a playful, cheeky irreverence: co uld Lhis Irish woman in Asian fancy dre s be Laken seriou ly as a me Laphor for Lhe ambiLious, implici Lly male, American arLis Lin London any more than a Chinese decorative objecL co uld b e elevaLed Lo equ al artistic s ta Lus with Lhe fine arL of oil painLing in Lh e WesLern tradition ? Ye L, as man y have noLed sin ce Lhe arLi L's own day, a significanL co mpon enL of Whi Ller's moclerniLy a an arL is Lr esided in

122

1'111

I'll\ 11 H I' 1111111 lllH

Lhe unco nve nLionaJ ly e levaLed arLisLic valu e Lh aL he granLed Lo Chinese porcelain and Lo Japanese scree ns, prinLs, fans, lacqu e r, LexLiles and oLher objecls. Whi sLler's bold move Lo place EasLern and Weslern visual procluc Lions on equal foolin g, and Lo view Lh e decorative a nd Lhe fin e arL as equally imporLanL, is appare nL, for example, in his celebrated "Ten o'clock" leclure of J 885, Lhe concluding senLe nce of which Lreals a Japanese fan and Lhe ParLh e non marbles as equi valenL in elevaLed arLis Lic s LaLus : " Lhe s lory of' Lhe beauLiful is already comple Le - hewn in Lhe marbles of Lh

Parthe non - and broidered , with Lhe birds, upon Lhe fan

of Hokusai-al Lhe foot of Fusiyama [sic]." 29 In Lhe penulLimate secLion of Lhis same artistic manifes to, th e arList cites the example of Lh e "refrnemenL" of blue porcelain produced "among Lhe opium-eaLers of Iankin":3o Lo argue for th e independ en ce of greaL art from Lhe poliLical, social, and moral condiLions of iLs producLion. This secLion of Lhe lecLure p ersonifie Art as a "whimsical godd ess" who granls Lhe favor of h er intimacy firs t to an unnamed Chinese poller in anjing and then to " the Mas ter" in Madrid, also unnam ed buL s urely Velazqu ez.

E xpressed verbally by hi s association of Chinese porcelain wiLh Velazquez's p ainLings as example of true art in his lec ture of 1885, Lhe seriousn ess of Whi s tler's commiLmenL Lo Chinese porcel ain as hi gh art had assumed dram a tic pic Lorial form two d ecades earlie r in The Artist in His Studio (fig. 7). This p ainting is one of Lwo similar oil s ke tches mad e in preparation for a painLing thaL he intended to execute on a grand scale - ten feel high - for Lhe Paris Salon of J 866Y Although the large-scale picLure was not aclualized , the e ' is ting oil s tudies provide insighL inLo Whis Ller's plans for his nex t painting to follow his Lwo previou

ubmissions to the Paris Salon: The

W hite Girl, exhibiLed as La dame blanche at Lhe Salon des R efuses in 1863, and La princesse du pays de la porcelaine (fig. 8), included in Lhe alon of 1865. WiLh Lh ese two works, WhisLler had iniLia Led his re puLa Lion as a promising me mber of whaL Michael Fried has dubbe d "The GeneraLion of 1863,":32 and he would h ave ploued carefully hi plans for his next alon submission. In a le LLer Lo Lhe French artist H enri Fantin -Latour, Lhe n a close friend, WhisLler claimed Lha L Lhe p ainting h e plann ed for th e Salon of] 866 would include porLraiLs of F anLin and Lhe English arLi LAlberL Moore, as well as his self-portrait, Lhe Lwo female figures in whi Le and in " flesh color," and his collecLion of porcelain.:B This descripLion see ms Lo associa te Lhe planned canvas with Lhe group porLraiLs of arLis Ls a nd wriLers Lha LFanLin painted in 1864 a nd ] 865, boLh of which h a d includ ed WhisLler among Lhe asse mbled arLis Ls .3 1 YeL Lh e two very si milar versions of The Artist in His Studio in

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ChiC'ago and Dublin do nol inC'lude lhe fi g ures of F'anlin ancl Moore, nor does a relaLecl s ke lc h in walercolor and go uach e in De lroil. \ViLh Lh e olher male fi gures e lid ecl, The Artist

in His Studio becomes a self-portrait of Whis Lle r in his sluclio \\ iLh sy mbols of his arlislic icle nlily and production.

Insleacl of picturing a group of artisls, T he Artist in His

Studio re prese nts gro upin g ' of Asian objects, as well as L\\路o female mod els, as s ignifl ca nl co rnpone nls of an arLisLic self-porlrail. Acljacenl Lo Lhe Chinese porcelain in the Lall china cabinel al Lhe lefL, Lhree dimly percepLible As ian scrolls han g hi gh on Lh e wall. Th ese Lhree scrolls are more boldly indicaled in Lhe walercolor and go uac he s ke Lch in Detroil, " 路hi c h furlh er includes Lhree Japanese fans pinn ed to Lhe >1all b elow Lhe scrolls a nd alongside Lh e porcelain .:i5 ln The Artist in His Studio, Whis Ller's coll ec lion of blue-and-whi Le Chinese porcelain fills five shel ves al Lhe lefL side of a composiLion Lha L, in iLs overall design , pays Lribute Lo Diego Velazquez.:J(, Thi s oil s ludy alludes Lo a con sLellaLion of di verse arLisLic precedent

Lhal Whi Ller

admired: Lhe Chinese porcelain Lhal he promolecl as fin e arl, Lhe acknowledged mas lerpieces of Velc'izquez, and also the avanl-garcle procluc lions of Guslave Courbel.:i; Mo t apparenl are the multiple signs thal The Artist in His Studio pays Lribule Lo Velazquez' famou Las

Meninas (fi g. 9)::38 Lhe represenlalion of Lhe arLi s Lal worl al Lhe side of Lhe co mposiLion, his gaze in Lhe direclion of Lhe viewer, Lhe silvery a lmosphere, and Lhe mirror on the s luclio wall.

AL Lhe same Lime, Lhe grouping Loge ther of Lhe slanding japonaise, Lhe sealed.fille blanche,:i9 and Lhe china colleclion in Lhe left half of Lhe painLing is re miniscenl of CourbeL's gaLhering Loge Lher of an assorlrnenl of models, benefaclors, and olher elemenls of his "arti Lie life" in a relrospeclive s tockLakin g of his career in The Painter's Studio: A Real Allegory Swnming

Up Seven Years of My Artistic Life (J 855, Musee d' Orsay, Paris) . Ye l whereas Courbet in 1855 had a rich variety of arLi s Lic achievemenls Lo s urvey in looking bac k over his arli Lie life Lo dale, WhisLler in 1865 drew on a narrower range of arLisLic accomplishmenls: Lhe Lwo mos l ambiLious canvases LhaL he had painLed - The White Girl and La princesse du pays de la porcelaine - and Lhe Chinese porcelain LhaL he had collecled. ln th e le lter Lo Fanlin-La lour previously rn enlion ed, WhisLler described his conceplion of Lhi s painLing as assembling Loge Lh er an "apolheosis th erefore of eve ry thing lo oulrage Lhe Academicians." 10 Indeed La dame blanc he, referenced by th e sea led woman in while, h ad been one of the mos l notorious pain Lings al Lhe Salon des Re fuses, and La princesse du pays

de la porcelaine, signaled by Lh e woman in pink holding a fan, had dis Lurbed and offended criLi cs a l Lhe Salon of 1865. Behind Lhe woman in while, Lhe gleaming rows of blue-and-while porcelain in Lhe olherwise auslere grey space of Lhe s lucli o visually propose the arlisL's c hina colleclion as anolher affronl Lo Lhe a ulhorily of Weslern academic s lanclards for arl. In place of Lhe canvases on Lhe bac k wall of Velazquez's s luclio in Las Meninas , h ere Lhe porcelain collecLion s lancls as a model for Whistler's procluclion a l his ease l. By posiLioning ohjecls ordinarily

124

9. Diego Velazquez, Los Meninas, 1656. Oil on canvas . Museo del Prado, Madrid

r 111

I'll\ 1111 \ ' I !II 11 <IOI{

class ifi ed among Lhe decoraLive arls as mod els for Lh e fin e arL of pain Ling - moreover, ohjec ls from an Easlern culLure dee med inferior Lo Weslern culLures, and from a naLion over which BriLain had rece nLl) asserLecl iLs mi liLary domina nce in Lhe Opium Wars- Whi sLlerwould have slaked hi s repuLaLion as an arLisl on Lhe merils of his china collection, had he cornpleLed Lh e large-scale version or Lhis painLing for Lh e Salon of 1866.

A self-porlraiL of Lhe artisL in Lhe acl of painLing

10. James McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in

Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother, 1871. Oil on canvas .

Musee d'Orsay, Paris

m his slue! io by defini Lion resonales wi Lh irnplicaLions about LhaLartisL's understanding and e nvisioning of the acL, purpose, and achievernenL of pictorial creaLion. The china collecLion LhaL sh irnmers on Lhe wall of Lhis particular inLerior space - Lhe artist's sLudio - Ll1L1s becomes noL merely decorative ornamenlaLion, but raLher serves as a symbol of artisti c creation, a sign of wha LWhi stler' pain Ling mighL achieve. AL Lh e Salon of 1865, La princesse du pays de la porcelaine had generaLed critical disapproval for iLs slrange conflation of the painLed designs on Chinese porcelain or oLher EasLAsian objects wiLh a life-size oil portraiL. 11 Th e cornposiLion of The Artist in His Studio appears Lo propose an equivalence be tween Lhe implied oil painting on an ea el jusLbeyond Lhe righL edge of Lhe image and Lhe shining porcelain al Lhe lefL ide of Lh e image. 12 In this case, however, Lhe rnulLiple pieces of porcelain are grouped LogeLher Lightly in a tall china cabineL, perhaps suggesLing LhaL Lhe collec Lion of porcelain as a whole - Lhe collecLion as such - mighL consLituLe a work of arL Lo be emulaLecl by Lhe painLer al his easel.

rn

oLher words, I would like Lo propo e LhaL Lhe composi Lion al prominence of Lhe collec tion of porcelain in The Artist in His Studio refers Lo oLher implicaLions for Whi sLler's art beyond iLs forceful clisrupLion of conve nLional hierarchies of Eas l and WesL, and of Lhe fine and Lhe decoraLive arts. In lighL of Lhe subsequenL clevelopmenL of WhisLler's pain Ling mode, which moved Loward Lhe Lhreshold of absLracLion in his oclurnes of Lhe 1870s, and of Lhe arLisLic Lheories LhaL he elaboraLed in Lexls of Lhe 1880s and 90s, my conLenLion is LhaL Whi sLler aclopLed Lhe vi ion and ac Liviti es of Lhe colleclor as a model for Lhe vision and processes of his version of Lhe modern painLer. 1:i The balance be Lween Lhe painLer al Lhe right s ide and the china collec Lion al Lhe lefL side of The Artist in His Studio Lhen may be interpreLed as a visual expres ion of WhisLl er's conceplion or what I am calling " Lhe painLer as colleclor."

Among Lhe firsL of Whi Ll er's painLings Lo employ his malure picLorial mode i his celebraLecl Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother of 1871 (6g. 10). This work, in which asyrnmeLrically balanced forms and nuanced Lones appear as if magically from veil of painL Lhinly applied Lo Lh e ca nvas, conveys Lhe work or Lhe eye's di scrim inaLing judgrnenL more Lhan of Lhe hand 's execu Lion. 11 The predominance of selecti ve vision over Lhe generaLive acLof pain Ling resulLs noLjusl from Lhe near invisibiliLy of much of Lhe brushwork buL al o fi路orn Lhe eponymous and osLenLaLi ously ordered arra ngemenL of Lhe subjec L: Lhe woman' sealed profile precisely balanced againsL Lhe LraighL perpendicular of

1 25

pi cture Crarnes, c urtain , and dad o. The collector's vision given form in thi painting in vol ves not only a n apprec iation for the embroidery that animates the Asian textile hung as a curtain on the left s ide of th e corn po iLi on, but also th e fastidious positioning of the elderly wo man's profile in just the right loca tion relative Lo the geometri c forms of the color-coorclinatecl fu rnishings, as if the artist's mother were a n object from hi s collection arra nged for vis ual display. 1â&#x20AC;˘5 Even more than through the selection a nd arrangement of obj ec ts dep icted within the painting, the collector's vision is expressed in Whistler's paintings after ] 870 through the artis t's selection and arrangement of the formal ele ments of the image, so th at colors, Lones, and shapes ma ke up the elements of the painting as itself a kind of choice collec tion.

The artist's aes the tic judgment or tas te plays a crucial role in guiding the selection and disposition of colors and forms Lo combine into a painting, a th e coll ector's tas te guid e the elec tion of objects for his or her collec tion. Such e mphasis on the artist's selection of choice visu al elements as central to the process of artis ti c production can be heard in a well-kno-vvn pas age from th e "Ten o'clock" lec ture, when Whistler declares that " the artis t is born to pick , and choose, and group with science, these elements [of color and form], tha t the result may be beautiful." 16 This description of painting as an ac tivi ty of first choosing and then "group[ing] with science" - the "science" of rigoro us aes thetic judgment, or th e knowledge of the connoi sseur - resonates with two phases of the experi ences of the collector: first, the phase of selection, in choosing which objects for sale in a varie ty of external contexts to purchase for the collec tion; second, the phase of the internal organization and ordering of the objects within the system of the collection - the grouping with science. Since Whistler's carefully composed writing does not typically feature verbal redundancies, the c uriously repetitive phrase " Lo pick, and choose" seems designed particularly Lo emphasize his notion of selec tion as artis tic creation.

Another way to think about the relationship between Whistler's paintings and the collection as such is to consider the implications of the term "ab traction." The formal self-reflexivity of Whistler's paintings after 1870 is most striking in the canvases that he called Nocturnes, such as Nocturne, Blue and Silver: Battersea R each (fig. 11), which Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased from the artis t in 1895.

The hermetic domain of the s tudio as represented in The Artist in His Studio gives way in this Nocturne Lo the self-enclosed and self-referential space of the painting as an organization and display of choice tones of grey-blue punc tua ted by select dabs of yellow pigment. Whistler's oclurnes approach a point al which the fields of color on the canvas nearly detach from the func tion of representing the Thames a l night, and thus approach the threshold of ab traction in painting. IL is likewise an ac t of abstraction a de tachment that marks an object's entry into a collection: severed and abs tracted from the earlier contexts in which it exis ted and may have had real use value, the object loses the functions and meanings tha t it held in its previous contexts and takes on a new significance as one among a series

126

l l . Jomes McNeill Whistler, Nocturne,

Blue and Silver: Battersea Reach, ca. 1872- 78. Oil on canvas . Isabella St ewart Gardner Museum

1'111

l'\1\111! ,,l<lllltllll!

of' elernenls in Lhe herme li c syslern o[ Lh e coll eclion. A Jea n BauclrilJarcl describes in T he System of Object , an obj eel enlers a coll ec lion Lhrough a proces of absLracLion: " Lh e obj eel pure and irnple, divesled of iLs fun c lion , abslraclecl from any prac li cal conlexl, Lakes on a slri cLly s ubj eclive s lalus. Now ils cl es lin y is Lo be colJ ecLecl." 17 This abslracling operalion of Lhe collec lion in general is parlicularly pronounced for collec lions of obj els from foreign cullures of which liLLle i lomwn by Lhe coll ec Lor, as was Lhe case wiLh WhisLler' co llee Lion of Easl sian obj eels.

At firsl glance, Lhe minimal deLail and spare composilion of suc h works as Lhe Nocturne from the Gardner collection appear antithetical Lo the profusion of objects, patterns, and surfaces represented in Lange Leizen and Whis Ller's other paintings from the 1860s LhaLshow off piece from his personal collection of Chinese and Japanese iLems. Whistler's painLings after 1870 only rarely include depictions of East Asian objects from his colleclion, yel Lhe artisL' passion for collecting continues to inform the des ign of his mature pain Ling al a level tha t is less immediately apparent though still significant. The emphasis on the discrimina ling selection and arrangemenl of formal components in "\Vhis tler's mature paintings resona tes wilh the pleasures of collecting; so, too, does the cons truction of the painLing as a self-enclosed domain disconnected from the larger world bear association wiLh the collector's experience of his or her collection as constitutin g a world of its own, apart from everyday reality. Studies of the collection as such have identified the collection as an autonomous a nd self-reflexive sy tern , as when Baudrillard writes that "whatever the orientation of a collection, il will always embody an irreducible element of independence from the world." 18 In Susan Stewart's words, "The collection seeks a form of self-enclosure which is possible because of its ahis toricism"; she further assert that " the point of the collection is forgetting - slarting again in such a way tha t a finite number of elements create, by virtue of their combination, an infinite reverie." 19 The la tter remark may aptly be associated with Whistler's octurnes, which express the arti t's formalist aims in moving away from histori cal reference toward an atmosphere of dreamy, solipsistic absorption, reminiscent of Stewart's "infinile reverie" of the collection.

The dusky colors, nuanced tones, and rnisly form in Nocturne, Blue and Silver: Battersea Reach combine toge ther in a painting Lhal aims al perfection in an aesthetic realm apart from the ordinary world with its moral, praclical, and social demands. 50 Sugges tions of the painter-collector's vision that seeks to create a If-reflexive world apart, whether in the collection or in the formalist painting, may be id enLified in Lhe Lwo artistic self-portraits-one me taphoric, Lhe other overt- previou ly discussed here. In Lange L eizen of the Six Marks , Lhe gaze of the costumed woman ymboli zing the artisLern ana les from a head encircled and engulfed by blue-and-white porcelain, as if seeing and Lhinking in the realm of porcelain itself. 5 1 Much as Lhe large porcelain plate encircles Lhe head of Lhe woman in Lange Leizen, Lhe oblong mirror in The Artist in His Studio s lrelches upward from the artis t's head, his keen gaze directed outward from the mirror's corner. This mirror is, of co urse, a reference Lo the mirror on the rear wall of the room where Velazquez paints in Las Meninas . Ye l whereas Velazquez' mirror refl ects Lhe faces of the king and queen, bringing hi s royal patrons inlo Lhe space of Lhe im age, Whistler's mirror reveals no living visages. The only vaguely perceptible forms vi ible among Lhe glints of lighL in Whistler's mirror s ugges t the shapes of olher framed works of arl hangin g on an opposite wall. In this way, the mirror - and by exlension the realm

127

oCthe a rti st's ' is ion - turns bac k in on a rt itse lf', in a 1nise-en -abynie of' a rti sti c self-refl exivi ty. lt seems rele\ a nt here that \\~ h ereas Las Meninas inc lud es unmista kable ev idence th a t light e nters the room from a window just be) ond the right edge of the image, Lh ere are no s igns of' a n)' ,,~ind o 11 in Lhe sLuclio represented in Whi stler's painLing.

The importance of Chinese and Japanese arL for Lhe developrnenL of WhisLler's art was mulLi n1lenl. A number of scholars have provided insight inLo how Lh e parLicular formal properLies of ukiyo-e prinLs, lacquer, painLed scree ns, and other EasLAsia n obj ec Ls conLribuLed Lo Lhe forma tion of Whistler's arl. For example, Robin Spe ncer wriLes LhaL Lh e "flowing calligraphic hrushstrokes on the Chinese porcelain was probabl y a Lec hnical inDue nce on liberaLing his om1 brushworl .".s2 This essay has aimed Lo add Lo such sLudy o [ the formal simll ariLies beLween WhisLler' art a nd Lhe Eas LAsian ohjecLs he collecLed a new consideraLi on of how Lhe experiences of Lhe collec Lor a nd Lhe parLicular charac Ler o [ Lh e fascina tions of the collec Lion underlie Lhe disLincLive qualiLies of the version of modem , fonnali LpainLing Lhat Lhe artisL produced afle r 1870. In Lhis way, Lh e imporLance o [ Chinese porcelain for Lhe approach of Whi sLler's arL Loward absLrac tion may ulLimaLely have involved less Lhe specific design of Lhe paintings on such ceramics than whaLLha t porcelain could embody or evoke for viewers and collecLors, including Lhe arLisLhimself, in London in the laLe nineLeenLh centmy: Lhe rnys Liqu e of the fe ti shized exoLic commodiLy on di splay, and perhaps eve n more Lhe vi ual allure of suc h lu strous blue-and-white surfaces ran ged in row upon glimmering row - selected, possessed, and ordered within Lh e self-enclosed and self-referenLial sysLe m of the arLisL's colJ ec Li on and Lhe painLer's vision.

128

1'111

l'\l\111! \ '

t

!II.I I l lllll

l. ~le i c r-Craef'e 1908. 101. 2,

9. For disc uss ion of this coll ecL-

pp. 198-225. The original

ing ri1alr), see Merrill 1998, pp.

Crrman 11ag publis hed as

60-6 1: Cha ng 2010, pp. 97-110.

Cabinet , Paintings, and Other Worlrs of !I rl of J. A. McN. lflhisUer, Solhe by's,

10, 1864: quoled in Young el al.

London, February ] 2, ] 880.

1980. p. 25.

19. Le ller from Whi Li e r Lo

En 1wic/...t11 ngsgesch ich t e der 111odern en Kun st (Slullga rl,

10. Pe nne ll a nd Pe nn ell l 908,

190,1) .

101. l , p. 11 7. The Pe nn e ll s

13. These pa inlings include

also seek Lo eslabli h \>;! histler's

Purple and Rose: The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks, Cap rice in Pwple and Gold: Th e Golden Screen , La princesse dll pays d e la porcelaine, and Variations in Flesh Colollr and Green: The Balcony.

2. J\l e ie r-Graefe does ho11 ever refe r in passing Lo \Vhisller's '·Ame ri ca nis m in Lhe ma nipulaLion of ideas" (Meie r-Graefe

pri ori Ly over R.osselli in coll ecling Easl Asian objecls.

They 1vrile Lhal Willi a m Mic hael Ros elli was "certain Lhal hi s

1.8. Le lle r from Anna Whistle r lo James H. Camble, February

Fanlin-La tour. Feb ruary 3, 1864; Whisller Correspondence, rec. no. 08036 (accessed 5/23/11).

20. Whis tler lo Fa ntin-Latour,

1908, vol. 2 . p. 2] 5), and he con-

brolhe r was ins pired by Whis Lle r,

cludes a l Lhe e nd of Lhe c haple r

who boughL not only blue and

Lha l "" Fundame nlally [Whis ll e r]

wh ite, but s ke lc h-books, colou r-

was. I Lhink. mosl fai LhfuJ Lo

prinls, lacqu e rs. kake mono ,

Lhe land of his birth" (p. 224).

e mbroideri es. screens" (ibid ..

14. Wh isller's collecti on now

Meier-Graefe th e n c iles several

vol. 1, p. 116).

al Lhe Hunle rian Art Callery includes over 330 pieces of

21. On Whisller's frame , ee Ira

as an American artis L one of

11. The exacl dales when

Chinese ceramics a nd about 15

H orowitz, '·V:f his tler·s frames,"

which is tha t·'[-] is exoticism. his

Whi sller beca me acq uainled

pieces of Japanese ceramics.

Art }oLLrnal 39. no. 2 (1979/80),

te nd ency to mingle Ori e ntal and

wilh a nd Lhe n bega n collecling

lnformalion on indi vidua l ilems

pp. 124-31. On Whistler's Lilies

Europea n forms. was essen liall y American,. (p. 224).

Chinese a nd Japanese objecls

ca n be found in th e online

from 1867 o nwards. see John

are nol kn own, bul V;This ller 1rns

ca lalogue: www. hunlsea rc h.gla.

Welc hma n. Jn visible Colors: A

living in Pa ris in Lhe late 1850s

ac.uk.

Visual History of Titles ( ew

15 . Merrill 1998, p. 267.

an a nalys is of Whis ll er' tilling

reasons for viewing Whis tle r

3 . Me ier-Graefe 1908, vol. 2,

and fri e ndl y with Fre nc h artis ts

p. 2]4.

involved in ea rl y Ja po nis me Lhen. expos ure to th e new e nlhus ias m

pp. 4 1-86, ] 43-52: and Spencer

for Japa nese prinls in Pa ri s

1980.

as early as 1 856( Pe nn~l

5. On Whistler's in vo lve me nt

a nd Pe nn eU 1908, vol. l , pp. lJ 5-16) allhough Ono 2003, p.

wilh Japanese a nd Chinese

43, noles Lhal "the ir da le of 1856

(accessed 5/23/11): "C'esl rempli de su perbes porcelains Lires de ma colleclion.'·

Have n. 1997). pp. 121-41. For pracli ces in 1862-63. ee T ui

The Pe nn ells dale Whistler's 4. See, for exa mple, Ono 2003,

February .3, 1864; Whislier Correspondence, rec. no. 08036

objects, see Me rrilJ 1998. The

is debaLable." More definite

pre e nt essay is inde bted to

evide nce of Whis tle r's collecling

16. A Ca talog LLe of Blue and White Nankin Porcelain , Forming the Collection of ir llenry Thompson , l llllstrated by the A Lll otype Process .from Drawings by James Whistler, Esq. , and Sir llenry Thompson. (London, 1878).

Linda Me rrill's work.

ac liviLies e me rges in 1863: a

For analysis of Whis ll er's

lelle r wri lle n by Whi s tl e r Lo

illustrations lo Lhe catalogue,

a nd Rose." See Young e l al.

6. Pe nn e ll and Penne ll 1908, vol.

John O'Leary in Septe mbe r 1863

see Mac Do nald 1978 a nd

1980, p. 25. In my Lex L [ use Lhe

1, p. 116.

s tales Lhal he had purc hased

MacDonald 1995, pp. 217- 18.

s pelling a nd punctualion of The Lange Lei;:;en of the Six Marks mosl ofte n e mployed today.

Chine e porcela in in Amslerdam

2006.

22. The "Purple and Rose" color co mpo nen l of Lhe Lill e was included when Lhe pa inling was exhibiLecl in 1892 a l Lhe artist's re lrospec li ve al Lhe Goupil Callery, London, as "The Lange Leizen - of the s ix marks. Purple

7. On th e popu la r fas hion for col-

Lha l s umme r; Merrill 1998, pp.

17 . My thanks Lo Ding N ing al

lecting b lue-a nd -white Chinese

53- 54.

P e kin g Uni vers ily for idenLifying Lhis s mall obj ecl as a Chinese

23. " Fine Arls: exhibiLion of th e

12. The Lexl of the calalogues

s nuff bolll e . On Lhe ide nlifica-

Royal Academy (Lhircl notice),"

8. Jn her ins ighlful a nalys is of

fo r Lhese auctions of \>;/ h is lle r'

lion of lhe me n represenle I on

lllllstra ted London News 44

th e collec li on as s uc h, Susan

possessions a re reprinled as

Lhe invitation card , see George

(May 21, 1864), p. 494.

a ppe ndi ces in Ono 2003, pp.

C. Williamson, Mllrray Marks and Uis Friends: A Tribute o.f Regard (Londo n, 1919), pp.

Young el al. ] 980 , p. 25.

porcelain, see A nd e rson 2009.

Lewarl wriles: "Nol simply a cons umer of Lh e objec ls Lha t

143-52: " The White Hoitse,"

fill Lh e decor, Lhe self ge nerales producer of Lhose objecls, a

Tite Street , Ch elsea , A Catalog LLe of th e Remaining n ollseh old FilrnitLtre, Ba ke r

producer by arra ngeme nl an d

& Sons, London , Seplem ber

lfosselli may have de igned

ma nipula lion.'· lewarl ]993,

JS, ]879: a nd Catalog ue of the Decora tive Porcelain ,

s urely have had Lo meel wi lh

a fanlasy in whi c h il beco mes

p. ] 58.

24. See Merrill 1998, p. 53;

39- 42.

25. Whi le il is possible Lha l Lhis frame. the design would

129

\\h istl <'r's approrn l. See M<' r-rill 1998, p. 56, for the rcfC'rcnc·c lo Rossetti's i111 oh emenl.

26. ee: Elizabeth Broun, ·'Thoughts that began with the gods: the conte nt of Whi stler's a rt," Arts Mag azin e 62, no. 2 (Oc tober 1987), p. 39: Fried 1996. pp. 224-25: Merri 11 1998, p. 54:Chang2010,p.98.

27. Rosemary Barro\\· has identi fied the pain ting's selling a Magna Craecia, noting thal the vessel that the wo man i painting i a lek y thos from Apulia. ee ir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, ed ited by Edwin Becker el al.

(Ne11· York. 1997), p. 169.

28. ee Me rrill J 998, p. 74.

29. Whistl er 1890, p. 159.

30. fb id ., p. 156.

3 1. The compositi ons of the Lwo oil sketche are genera ll y s imil ar, aJthough Lhe pain ting in Lhe collec tion of Dublin City Calle ry The Hugh La ne, known a T he A rtist 's Studio , is more loosely executed in some a rea .

The mosl notable diffe rence between Lhe two works is Lhal the pa inting al the Arl 1.nsLiLule of Chicago includes Whi stl er's bullerfl y signatu re, a later add ition lo the painting, whil e Lhe Dublin ve rsion does not. The catalogue raisonne of \"Xfhi sLler's paintings dales Lhe butterfl y signature in Lhe Chicago painting to aboul 1870-71, based on its style; see Young cl a l. 1980, p.

37. Whi stl er's bu llerfl y . ignalure mark Lhe Chi cago pain ting with a defin itive a uthori al approval not included in Lhe painting in Dublin .

:3:3. Whistl e r to l<'a ntin-Latour, August 16, 1865: Whi stl e r Corres ponclC'nce, rec. no. I 1477 (accessed 5/23/l I).

34. These group port ra its by Fant in- La tour are ll omma.ge cl.

Delacroix and I lommage lei uerite: le t oa s l.

a

:35. Thi s sketch kn01111 as In the Studio (Detro it lnslilule of Arl ) is reprod uced as fig. 324 in Mac Donald 1995, p. 105.

36. Connection betwee n Whistler's The Artist in Dis Studio and Velazq uez's Las Menina.s have been noted by many scholars. For the rela tionship between Whistl er's arl and tha t of Velc'izquez, see M. Eliza beth Boone. " Why drag in Velcizquez?

B.eali sm, Ae thetic i m, and the nineteenth-centu ry Ameri can respo nse Lo La.s Meninas" in Velazquez's Las Meninas, edited by uzanne L. StrallonPruill (Cambri dge, 2003), pp.

80- 123.

37. The looser affil ia tion of thi s wo rk with Courbet's Th e Painter 's S tudio has been noted by E ric Denker, In Pursuit of the Butte1jly: Portraits of } a.mes McNeill Whistler (Wash ington, 1995), p. 56, aJthough Denker focuses on the version of the pain ling in Dublin rather than in Chicago.

Connections between the painting in Ch icago and the artisti c precedents of Courbet and Velazquez are traced in Rhonda Lase man Rey mond, "James McNeiU Whistler's The A rtist in 11 is S tudio: a stud y in the concealment a nd reve lati on of a n arli l" (MA Thesis, Univers ity of Georgia, 1997).

32. Fri('(l 1996, pp. 5- 7.

130

:38. Wh is Li er 011 ned a photogra ph of a cle LaiI of Las Meninas; th e com pos ition of Th e Artist In I/is S tmlio is even more sim ila r Lo Lhe composi ti on of the section of Ve lazquez's pain ting rep rod uced in th is photograph.

This photograph, whi ch crops Lhe pa inti ng Lo focus on the arli and Lhe Lwo fema le figures of the lnfa nla a nd her kneeling lady-inwailing, is reproduced in Nigel Thorp, "Studi es in Blac k and White: Whistl er's photograph in Glasgow Uni versity Li brary" in Jam es McNeill Whistler : A R eexamination, edi ted by Ruth E. Fine (Washington, 1987). p. 88.

39. These are Lhe terms LhaL Whistler used for the two fe male fig ures in his leller Lo FanLinLatour of Augusl 16, 1865; Whistler Correspondence, rec. no. 11 477 (accessed 5/23/Jl).

40. Whistler Lo Fan tin-Latour.

Augusl 16, 1865: "enfin un apolheose de Loul ce qui peul scanclaliser les Academ icie n "; ibi d., rec. no. 11477 (acce eel 5/23/ll ), E ngl is h transla tion fro m this ource.

41. ee Ts ui2010.

42. ee Chang 201 0, pp. lOl-3. The prese nt essay was origi nally wrillen prior Lo Lhe pub lication of Cha ng's book in 2010, whi ch also discusses the role of Lhe blue-and-while china in The Artist in llis ludio in it a naly is of how Chinese porce la in served as a stimulus Lo Whistler' art.

43. Whi Lier's Aeslhetic i l version or modern painting di verges from Lhe now ca nonical forms of modern pa in Ling that develo ped in France in Impress ion ism and Pos L-1mpress ion ism.

44. On Wh isLler's unusual ])

attenuated faclure a fter 1870, see Uk e Breath on Glass: Whistler, In ness, and the Art of Pai11ti11g Softly. ed ited l>y Marc Si mpson (exh. te rling a nd Francine Cla rk Arl lnslilule.

Willi amstown, 2008).

45. Margaret MacDona ld posi ts Lha Lthe "curta in"' in thi painting i actually Lhe embro ide red kimono worn by the female figure in La princesse du pays de la porcelain.e, here suspend ed on the wall. See Margare t MacDo nald, "East and Wesl: sources and infl uences" in W histler, W'om.en , and Fashion (exh. Fric k Collec tion.

Ne" York, 2003). p. 61.

MacDonald furth er slates (p. 62), "By 1864 Whistle r. Rosselli , and Tissot were com peting with one another in coll ecting Orien tal robe ."'

46. Whistler 1890, p. 143.

47. Jean BauclriIlard, "The syste m of collecting.'· Lrans.

R. Cardinal. in Th e Cultures o./' Collecting, edited by John E l ner a nd Roger Card ina l (Cambridge. Mass., 1994). p. 8 [originally publi shed a " Le sysle me marginal: la collection" in Baudrilla rd's Le ysteme des objet;s (Paris, l 968)].

48. l bid., p. 24.

49. Stewa rt 1993, pp. 151, 152.

50. Wh is tler's a rt. and nineleenth-cenlury Aeslhetici 111 more broadly, i based on ideas tha t deve loped fro m Immanuel KanL's Critique of J uclgem.enl ( 1790). See Eliza beth Prellejohn. Art for A rt 's Sake: Aestheticism in Victorian Painting ( e11· Haven, 2007).

I' ll!

I'll\ 11 ll I' I 111.111 rllli

5 1. E1 iclt> nc-e:> of \\ h isl Ir r's

fasc inalion 11 iLh Lht> iclt>a tha t ChinC'St' porcela in could CTt'alt' a ra nlaslic 11 orld ofils 011n ca n ht> fo und in Llw curious Lille of his pa inling La princesse du

pay d e la porcelai11e. See Tsui 2010. If Lhal 路路princPss" comes from a nd C'x isls in LhC' 路路Ja nel of potTela in." Lhis pa inle r in Lhe La nge Lei;:;en appears lo :oee in a nd Lh rough Lhe rea lm of porcela in .

52. pe ncer 1980. p. 72.

131

Japanism in Stanford White's dining room for l{ingscote

Elle n E . Robe rts

In January 1880, the ew York architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White accepted a commission from David and Ella King to design an addition to their summer home in Newport, Rhode Island. Stanford White's new wing included a remarkably Japanesque dining room (fig. 1). 1 White's use of Japanese sources has not been systematically examined until now, an omission that sterns in part from the lack of archival material related to his early designs, when the trend was most relevant. 2 His Japanesque interiors of this period were part of a larger movement after the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposilion, where American designers found in the Japanese displays the ideally artistic productions they sought to create during the Aesthe tic movement.a Ye t, at f ingscote and his other houses of the early 1880s, White interacted with Japanese models in a new way, becoming one of the first American designers to emulate Japanese architecture.

In 1839, architect Richard pjohn designed the hou e that would later be named Kingscote for George oble Jones. 1 The original struc ture is Gothic Revival, with details characteristic of that style such as an asymmetrical plan, diamond-paned windows, and pointed arches (fig. 2). In 1863, Jones sold the house to William Henry King of ewport. King and his brother Edward had made their fortunes in the China Trade, :firsl at Russell and Company, one of the leading tea companies at Canton and Macao, and then through inve Ling in ships and real estate.5 In his ewport house, King installed the many East Asian objects he had acquired in China, including an extensive series of Wes Lem-style views of the country, which ~were placed in the dining room (now the library) . William Henry King suffered a mental collapse in 1867 and spent the res t of his life under the guardianship of family members. In 1875, this responsibility passed to his nephew David King (1839-1894).

David King had a cosmopolitan upbringing in ewport and ew York, a cily that became an early center for American Japanism in the 1850s.6 He was Lhe son of a doctor who was also a serious book collector, founder of the Newport Historical ociety, and a president of the Redwood Library and Atheneu rn. King's mother was the daughter of the rector of ewporl's Trinity Church. At seventeen, King followed his uncles inlo the China Trade. He lived in China for fifte en years, working a t Wetmore, Williams, and Company; A. A. Low and Brolhers;

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and Russell and Company. King's earl y letters from China reveal a typically di smissive attitude: in 1858 he wrote that China was "an uncivilized country, where books are hardly heard of."7 Ten years ofresidency, however, tempered his views. In 1868 he noted: " I find Foo Chow [Fuzhou] a very healthy place, and during the summer months when I am constantly occupied in buying and shipping teas, iL is very interesting." 8 In China, King collec ted Japanese lacquer and coins.9 He amassed a fortune, retired early, and traveled extensively through Europe and Asia - including possibly to Japan - before returning to Lhe United States in 1873.

In 1875, David Kin g married Ella Louisa Rives (1851-1925), an intelligent and sophisticated woman. The Kings wintered in ew York and summered at Kingscote, moving in cosmopolitan circles that would have brought them into contact with both Japanism and the architects Charles Follen McKim, William Rutherford Mead, and Stanford White. 10 In 1876, the Kings visited the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, where they likely saw the Japanese government's popular display. 11 The Kings felt that Kingscote needed modernization. Life in Newport had changed a great deal since the house had been built thirty-five years before. The area 路was becoming one of the most fashionable upper-class vacation spots, with new mansions by architects such as Richard Morris Hunt and Henry Hob on Richardson. Kingscote was in the old-fashioned Gothic Revival style and had been somewhat neglected since William Henry King's illness. 12 While the Kings likely decided jointly to update the hou e, Ella King probably had greater influence on the changes, since household decor was considered part of a woman's sphere.J 3 The l ings began extensive changes to Kingscote in 1876. 14 The ew York firm L. Marcotte and Company redecorated the interior in the most up-to-date, eclectic style of the Aesthetic movement.

These spaces included many non-Western objects, especially from East Asia. Such pieces were not only fashionable because of J apanism, they were also more accessible for the King family because of their involvement with the China Trade. Even for this Japan-crazed time, the rooms contain an unusual number of Chinese and Japanese obj ects. The north parlor (fig. 3) has East Asian ceramics, an embroidered screen (back left) , a small teak shrine (back alcove), and lacquerware. Althou gh th e Kings bought ome of these for the space, many had been acquired by family members in China. In contrast, while the new dining room contained furni shings drawn from many places and his torical periods, it bore a significant resemblance to Japanese architecture not found in the rest of the house. The source of this aes thetic was the Kings' new architect, Lanford White (1853-1906).

Born in 1853, the year Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Japan, White came of age with Japanism. Like David King, he grew up in the early Japanist center of ew York. White's father had an extensive library tha t included critic James Jackson Jarves's influential publica-

13 4

-r 3. N orth par lor at King scat e as redecorate d by Marco tte and Compan y ca. 1878

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tions on Japanese art. 15 He also introduced Stanford to arti t John La Farge, an early enthusiast for Japan who lived only a block away from the White farnily. 16 While Stanford was apprenticed with H. H. Richardson in the 1870s, he worked with La Farge on projects such as Trinity Church in Boston and the William Watts Sherman house in Newport. White and La Farge became close friends, and La Farge likely introduced White to other Japanists such as Helena de Kay and Richard Watson Gilder. 17 White frequently visited the Gilders' New York home in the 1870s where he encountered a igni:ficant J apanist community, including painter-designers Samuel Colman and Louis Comfort Tiffany. 18 White and Tiffany became life-long friends and collaborators, and likely encouraged each other's interes t in Japan during this period. White also visited the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, where he probably saw the Japanese governmen t's exhibit. 19

4 . Utagawa Toyo haru, Snow-Viewing Entertain ment, ca. 1771. Woodblock print. Art In stitute of Ch icago, Clarence Buckingham Co ll ecti on, 1925.3 184

5. Lonins or Outlaws Robbing a Rich Merchant's H ouse. Chromolithograp h reproduction of a Japanese drawing from J.M. W. Silver 's Sketches

of Japanese Manners and Customs (Landon, 1867), opp. p . 36

White could have learned about traditional Japanese buildings through a number of sources in the 1870s. Western interest in Japanese architec ture developed relatively late. The fir t Western visitors to Japan after international trade recommenced in 1854 judged that Japanese structures were not true architecture, since they were wooden and low-lying, the opposite of the monumental stone buildings favored in the West. 20 Although Westerners began writing about Japanese decorative arts and prints in the 1860s, the first significant Western treatment of Japanese architecture, by English designer Christopher Dresser, was not published until 1882. 21 evertheles , White could have seen J apanese buildings in ukiyo-e prints, such as Utagawa Toyoharu's Snow-Viewing Entertainment (:fig. 4). White may have owned such images himself; he had quite a few J apanese objects at the time of his death in 1906, although it is unclear when he acquired the m. 22 He would certainly have known of ukiyo-e through the collections of fri ends such a La Farge. In addition, White could have seen Japanese interiors illus trated in Western books on Japan, uch as J. M. W. Sil ver's 1867 Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs (:fig. 5), and in the souvenir photographs made by the Japanese for Western touris ts . 2 :~ H e likely saw the dwelling and bazaar that the Japanese erected a t the Centennial Exposition as well. 21 Through Richardso n, White would also have knov1rn of contemporary Engli sh Queen Anne architects' significant emula tion of Japanese design. This style, which combined Japanesque, English Tudor, seventeenth-century, and eighteenth-century elements, evolved

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the work of William Eden Nesfield, orman Shaw, and Edward Richard William Godwin in the 1860s and 1870s. 25 Richardson admired Queen Anne, and, although he did not emula te its Japanesque aspects, 路would have introduced his apprentice to the mode.

111

Inspired by these sources, White began to experiment with a Queen Anneinfluenced Japanism in designs such as his 1874 hall for Richardson's William Watts Sherman house in ewport (fig. 6). White's space resembles Japanese interiors in its overall horizontality and spare decoration, which leads the underlying geometry of the structural elements to dominate the aesthetic. In the 1870s, American architects became interested in uniting a building's decoration with its physical structure in this way. Henry Van Brunt, for example, in a series of a1ticles in American Architect and Building News in 1877, discussed the new "sensitiveness as to the essential relationships existing between constructive and decorative forms," arguing that to achieve "perfect fitness," structure ought to dictate decoration. 26 White found a model for such design in Japanese architecture.

After working for Richardson for six years, White spent thirteen months in Europe in 1878 and 1879. There, he probably viewed the Japanese display at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris and Japanese art at the South Kensington Museum in London. 27 In London, \: bite likely also saw examples of Japanist Queen Anne architecture, including the radically spare, architectonic interiors of Japanist architect Edward William Godwin, who was just then designing the White House for James Mc eill Whistler (1877- 78) and the Frank Miles house (1878-79). White could also have visited the unified J apanist interior Godwin created with Whistler for William Watt's display at the 1878 Exposition Universelle, which they called Harmony in Yellow and Gold or The Prinirose Room. These Godwin interiors, which emula ted the plainness and geometric emphasis of Japanese architecture, perhaps led White to experiment further with emula ting Japanese buildings in his interiors.

Back in the United States, White may have gained further knowledge about Japanese architecture from Edward S. Morse, who would go on in 1886 to publish Japanes e Homes and Their Surroundings, the first serious American treatment of Japanese domestic arc hitecture.28 Mor e re turned from hi first trip to Japan in fall 1879 and began a series oflectures on th e country at Boston's Lowell Institute, just when White 路was creating Japanesque designs for McKim, Mead, and White. Morse's talks on Japan were extremely popular among the elite circles in which White traveled, so it is likely tha t either he or someone he knew allended thern. 29 One of the first commissions White worked on for McKim, Mead, and White was the Kingscote addition, which would provide a larger dining room on the first floor and new bedrooms in the upper stories. 30 He did not use Japanesque elements on the addi tion's exterior

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6. Drawing attributed ta Stanford White, "Staircase and Hal l in Cottage far W. Watts Sherman, Newport " from New-York SketchBook of Architecture 2, no . 5 (1875)

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(.fig. 2), bul adopted a Tudor-derived version of Queen Anne that harmonizes with Upjohn's Gothic Revivai.:3 1 For inslance, White's octagonal tower rhymes vis ually with Upjohn's eas t bay, and with its s maller size, contributes to the hou e's asymme lry, an ele men Lfo ndamenlal to both the Gothic R evival and Qu een Anne . Despite Lhese allegiances be tween the original house and WhiLe's addition, de tails such as double-hung windows, large expanses of glass, and overlapping shingles would have marked the new section as modern.

7 . Stanford White, co urt yard pia zza s, New p o rt Ca s in o, New p o rt, 1879- 80

The lack of Japanesqu e ele ments on WhiLe's exterior is consi tent with th e way this mode .first appeared in American architecture: on th e interior of buildings . Perhaps Japanese resonances 路were considered too radical for the exterior, where they would have prevented a building from relating vis ually to the surrounding architeclure, an iss ue of parlicular concern to McKim, Mead, and White.32 Japanism was appropria le on Lhe interior, however, since it implied fashionable Aesthetic Las le.

This confining of Japanism to a building's interior is also evident in McKim, Mead, and 'White's contemporaneou ewport Casino. McKim 路was responsible for the exterior fa cade, 路while White designed the courtyard (:fig. 7) and interiors.:33 Th e di ssimilarity between Lhe version of Queen Anne used on the exterior and that on the interior may be partially attributable to the difference in architects .:3 1 Perhaps because of his lacl of sys lernatic academic training, White was more open than McKim, Lhe .firm's olher major designer, to the alternative presented by Japanism. Indeed, when Japanis m appears in McKim, Mead, and White commissions in th e early 1880s, it tends to be in White's proj ects .35 At the Casino, Md irn's s treet facade is symmetrical, with a gable directly above the entrance arch, fram ed by Lwo side gables. This Georgian-influenced Queen Anne marked the Casino as an imporlanl public building by associating it with the classical tradition typically used for such s tructures in the West. White's courtyard departed from Lhis model. His asy mme trical facade was derived from French Renaissance chateaux, but he also incorporated elements from Japanese architecture, especially in the piazzas around Lhe courtyard (.fig. 7). The latticework in the piazzas, pun ctua ted by circular holes, evokes similar effects in Japanese buildings.:36 As in Japanese s tructures such as that depicted by Toyoharu (:fig. 4), White's pi azza have limited ornament so th a t structural components s uch as the ceiling beams and vertical and hori zontal supports domina te the aes thetic. Moreover, also as in Toyoharu 's build ing, WhiLe's piazzas allo-vved visitors to be both inside and oulside at Lhe same Lime and to observe olhers and exhibit the mselves in turn . In the Newporl Casino, Japanism marked the interior a fashionable and exolic, a place of escape from the modern indus trial world. White's emulation of Japanese aes Lhe Lics func lioned similarly al E ingscote.37 Tn White's new bedrooms for Kingscote, he used Japanesqu e elements, but only selectively. On the mantelpieces, the a ttenu a ted classical ornamentation resembles eighteenth-cenlury eoclassical de igns, but the gold highlighting th e decoration evokes Lhe

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color scheme of Japanese lacquer or Lexliles. On one mantel, White also used roundels thaL suggest both Ieoclassical decoration and Japanese family cres ts, or mon. Early Wes lern writers on Japanese art, such as English critic John Leighton, praised the decorative qualitie of such motifs .38 English Queen Anne architec ts began experimenting with orna ment derived from nwn in the 1860s, as, for example, Nes:field did in his Cloverly Hall doorway (1865-70, now in the Vic toria and Albert Museum). In his mantel , White used a varie ty of decoralive circles, giving the vvork an asymm elry tha l allies it with Japane e rather than Neoclassical design. Different gold-highlighLed, nwn-like form s also appear in olher White interiors of this time, such as the ewport Casino theater. 39 However, these spaces, like the E ingscote bedrooms, look nothing like J apane e room . In the Kingscote dining room, in contrast, White emulated Japanese architecture.

AlLhough some of the ecleclic variety of furni shings now in the dining room are later additions (such as the sphinx pedestals by the :fireplace), White originally chose examples from many different cultures and eras, as was typical during the Aesthetic movement. These included an Indian fall-front desk (:fig. 1, south wall), a colonial American sid eboard (:fig. 1, northwest corner), a Chinese bell (:fig. 1, northwest corner), and a traditional American spinning wheel (northeast corner). The E ings already owned some of these pieces, but White found others specifically for the room. 10 The furniture that White designed for the room also exhibits an array of in:fluences. The built-in ideboard (northeast corner), although much larger than American eighteenth-century examples, is based on such pieces. White also designed a screen al Lhe eastern end of the dining room to divide it from the lobby, which ha turned elemenls that sugges t colonial furniture, a band of acanthus leaves surrounding a roundel in emulation of Renaissance decoration, and abstract decorative pattern influenced by Islamic design. 11 Over the :fireplace, White used mosaic, a medium of Byzantine and Islamic origin.

Missing in th e AestheLic-movement eclecticism of the Kingscote dining room are any obviously Japanese obj ects. Ionetheless, the overall feeling of the room is Japanesque. In contrasl to contemporary spaces such as Joseph S. Decker's New York dining room (:fig. 8), White discarded many of the conventional Wes tern ways of decorating walls, omitting brilliantly colored wallpaper, paintings, and hanging obj ects. In White's dining room (:fig. 1), the limited ornament is all in flat mosaic and stained glass, so thal noLhing breaks the wall's plane. The unadorned wood Lhroughoul suggests the wooden structure of a traditional Japanese house. 12 Indeed, the mosaic and stained glas are Lhe only elements tha t depart from the brown pale tte of different woods. White's choice of opalescenl ralher than clear glass for Lhe windows on either side of the :fireplace hides the house's service wing, but also offers subtle color variations tha t s tand out in the austere space and are allied to the limited color schemes that J apanists admired in u ki yo-e prints. In ad di Lion, Lhe floral designs in the opalescent blocks (not visible

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8. D i ning room , Joseph S. De cker H ou se, N ew York, 1881 - 82 . From Arti sti c Houses 1883 , vo l . 2 , pt . 2, opp. p. 149

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here), stained glass frieze, mosaic o ermantel, brass wall sconces, and cast-iron fireback unify the room's decora tion, allying White's design Lo the simplicity he admired in Japanese art.

The Japan esqu e abstraction of these decorations also makes the m more understated, allowing th em to harmonize with th e room's overall plainness.

These floral motif are the space's only non-geome tric elements. As in White's earlier Sherman house hall (fig. 6), the decoration echoes the architecture's struc ture. The mahogany paneling is rectangular, the mosaic and glass blocks form a grid, and the cherry in the floor and cork in the ceiling and fri eze are arranged in geome tric patterns. Even the rug White chose (no longer in the room) had a grid pa ttern, o that it harmonized with the space's architectonic decoration. As in a traditional Japanese space, the architectural s tructure becomes the dominant aesthetic element. i:3 That struc ture also echoes Japanese interior . A line of woodwork extends around th e room above the windows and below the fri eze, suggesting the kamoi rail that runs above the fuswna , or sliding screens, in a traditional Japanese house. 11 The wall below is unbroken by the conventional Western chair rail, enhancing its resemblance to a Japanese space. The large windows suggest a Japanese room's opennes to nature when the fuswna are drawn back.

9. "Japanese" Bedroom, Dr. William A. Ham mond House, New York, co . 1879. From Art istic Houses 188 3, vo l. l, pt. 2, opp . p . 89

Thus, despite the lack of Japanese art and overtly Japanesque motifs, the Kingscote dining room bears a more fundamental resemblance to Japanese rooms than contemporary J apane que interiors such as Dr. William A. Hammond's "Japanese" bedroom in ew York (fig. 9). Hammond decorated this room with his extensive collection of Japanese fans, paintings, and prints. Yet his room's structure is Western: the wall is divided into three bands of decoration and the diamond pattern below the chair rail is a Gothic motif. This bedroom is an extreme example of the typical J apanesque interior of this time, which had Japanese objects and Japanesque ornament in a Western structure. In contrast, in the Kingscote dining room, White became the first American designer to emulate Japanese architecture.

White accep ted the la te nin eteenth-century's acade mic theory of style, which held that a building's form should reflect its use. Consequently, he must have felt tha t Japanisrn was an appropria te stylistic choice for th e Kingscote dining room. Indeed, the King family's China Trad e connections made allusions to East Asia particularly suitable. Also, th e house was located in a country resort, where the connection to nature was celebrated. For White and his contemporaries, the Japanese lifestyle, with its verandahs and sliding screens, seemed to involve a close relation to nature, which made emulating such buildings in places li1 e Newport fitting. This charac teristic also helped to ally White's Japanism ideologically with Upjohn's original Gothic Revival. White and hi contemporaries believed that Gothic and Japanese cultures were related since both were pre-industrial, with art that was perfec ted through individual handcraftsmanship and close ties to nature. 15 Japan was fa t becoming

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Ho1n:wrs

industrialized in this period, but American designers associated it with the ideally pastoral culture they saw in ukiyo-e. In the Kingscote dining room, White's large wi ndovvs allovv visitors to feel close to nature, as the Japanese appeared to be in prints. In the Isaac Bell house, which White designed next door to Kingscole a year later, he took this characteristic even further, creating a verandah around the building which can be accessed through floor-to- ceiling windows. 16 Japanism allowed White to connect the Kingscote dining room to nature, but simultaneously give it the sophistication necessary for the King ' upper-class lifestyle. Of the new rooms White crea ted al Kingsco te, the dining room was the obvious place to use the style because it was the space where gues ts would see the fashionable d ecoration and be impressed by the artistic knowledge of their hos ts .'17 At the same tim e, J apanesque elements represented a departure from Western historical models and thus could provide an alternative to the industrialized Wes t - the sort of escape sought at resorts like Newport. Mos t of White's Japanesque interiors of the early 1880s appeared in co untry resorts like Newport and Elberon, ew J ersey, where his house for H. Victor Newcomb (:fig. 10) exhibited a degree of J apanism comparable to Kingsco te. In the New York house that McKim , Mead, and White designed for Newcomb a year later, the interiors were grander, more opulent, and had no hint of Japanism (:fig. 11).

While Japanese inf-luence had the ideal allusions for ewcomb's co untry house, iL did nol have the proper resonances for the modern city.

While began to turn away from Japanism after the early 1880 . Even in the Kingscote dining room, the Japanesque elements are tempered by those from other cultures and periods, particularly the American colonial era. McKim , Mead, and White were leaders of the colonial revival, which blossomed in the wake of America's centennial celebrations in 1876. 18 In the Kingscote dining room, the spare, two-dimensional ornament and wooden character of the colonial and colonial-revival furnishings allow them to harmonize visually with the room's Japanesque aspec ts. For White and his contemporaries, colonial forms, like the Gothic Revival, seemed allied to Japanese through their shared pre-industrial origins and thus alluded nostalgically to an apparently simpler past. Yet, at the same time, the dining roo m's colonial and colonial-revival forms made it recognizably American.

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l 0. Stanfo rd White, Holl, H . Victor N ewcomb House, Elberon, N .J., 1880- 81 . From Artistic Houses 1883, vol. 2, pt. l , opp. p. l 11 . McKim, Mead, and White, Library, H . Vic tor N ewcomb House, N ew York, 1881 - 82 . From Artistic H ouses 1883, vol. l , pt. 2, opp. p. 181

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As the 1880s progressed, Md im , Mead, and WhiLe's colonial revival took a cla ical turn, merging with their interest in the American Renaissance and leaving no room for J apanisrn. 19 The new class of Gilded Age millionaires :filled their hou es with Old Master paintings and antiques, and wanted interiors that were far more ornate than White's Japanesque paces. Perhaps White moved away from Japanism partly because it was too auslere for such clients, who used their houses to show off their wealth as embodied in an extensive arl collection. Harry Payne WhiLney was typical when he wrote to White in 1905: "My clear White, I am sending you 30,000 . .. You know what I want i.e. tapeslries, pic tures by Sir Joshua [Reynolds], Gainsborough or Van Dyke ... Turner . .. and a good rug or so."so Nonetheless, Stanford White's Japanesque interiors left an important legacy, becau e they represented one of the Wes t' first genuine engagements with Japanese architecture.

Unlike his contemporaries who added Japanesque motifs to fundam entally Western spaces, White emulated the structure of Japanese buildings. For the architects who came after him, such as Frank Lloyd Wright and broLhers Henry Mather and Charles Sumner Greene, White's interiors like the l ingscote dining room provided a model of how to incorporate Japanese architectural charac teristics into a modern American house.

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Hou1 u I>

Thi s paper is a shortened ve rsion of the third chapte r of my dissertatio n, "Japan ism and the American Aesthetic inlerior, 1867-1892: Case stu li es by James McNeiH Whi s tl er, Lou is Comfort Tiffany, lanforcl White, and Frank Lloyd Wright" (Boston ni versily, 2010). I am gra teful lo Paul Miller of the Preservation Society of Newport Cou nty for making archival photographs, diaries, and Lran cripts of court records related lo 1 ingscote availabl e to me.

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CRIPT SOuHC loS

David King diaries, Preservati on Soc iety of Newport County, Newport, Rhode Isla nd ewporl Coun ty Probate Couit, 1ewporl

ewporl Histori cal Society, Newport

1. Since this text focuses on an English-speaking architect and patrons, and an American house, it uses the term "Ja pa ni sm" ra ther tha n the French "japonisme." Both refer Lo the Western fascina tion with all things Japanese after the Japa nese recom111encecl internati onal trade in 1854. A "Japa nist" denotes an enthusiast for Japanis111, and "Japa ne que" 111ea ns Japanese-influenced .

2. Many of McKi111 , Mead, and White's drawings and reco rds were discarded when their office moved in 1891 and 1894.

Since Japa n ism was importan t in Wh ite's career for a relati vely short period, hi Loria ns of hi s entire output discuss the trend onl y brieDy. In his dissertation on White, Lawrence \Vodehouse, White of Mc Kim, Mead, ancl White ( ew York, 1988), pp.

1 24~25 .

for exa mpl e, 111enti ons the Japanese inrluence in the l(i ngscole dining roo111 but does not exp la in how it works. Si111ilarly, Vincent Scu ll y a nd Marilynn Johnson di scuss White's Japani s111 al Kingscole, but onl y in a cur ory manner. Vincen t Scully, The Shingle Style (New Have n, 1955), p. 137, writes of the house's cl in ing roo111: " Here the continuous pla te rail of the dining roo111, approx imately six fee t. ten inc hes above the Door, creates a hori zontal continuity of positi ve scale ... lt passes across the beautifully detailed gla block walls rlanking the fireplace, across the fireplace itself, a nd knits the space of the room together, in a definition not by planes of wall but by an interwo ven basketry of ske letal ele111enls. Here ... there is much of the Japanese." Johnson 1986, p. 127, writes that the Kingscole dining roo111 is " 111ore startling for its pe ri od a nd more obviously Japanesque'路 than 路white's contempora neous Isaac Bell House, but does not elaborate furth er.

3. On the Japanese di splay al the Centennial Exposition, see: Ryde ll 1984, pp. 29-30; and eil Harris. 路'All the world a melting pot? Ja pa n al Ameri ca n fair , 1876- 1904" in Mutual lmages: Essays in American}apanese Relations, edited

by Aki ra Tri ye (Cambridge, Mass., 1975), pp. 2~54. On the Exposition's influe nce on American Japa nism, see Hosley 1990, pp. 29---46.

4. The house was named " Kingscote" in 1880 (Newport County Probate Court records, vol. 33. p. 157: June 1, 1880).

T he best sources on the house' history are Chero l l 980 a nd Walter J. Fergu on, I ingscote:

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Newport Cottage Orne (Newport, 1977).

5. For the King fami ly history, see Co llins 2003.

6. Although he was the third Dav id King in three genera ti ons. the David I ing who commi ssioned the [ ingscole addition was known as David I ing Jr. and not Da vid King TU, as some authors have ca ll ed him. There was significant interest in Japan in New York and Boston before the 1876 Centenni al Exposition (Laidlaw 1996, p. 84).

7. David King Jr. Lo Sarah I ing and Dr. David I ing Jr. , Dece111ber 4, 1858; Newport Historical Society, box 144, fold er 2.

8. David King Jr. lo Dr. David King Jr., Jul y 1868; Newport Hi storical Society, box 144, fo lder 2.

9. On June 3, 1859 King wrote Lo his parents: "I shall send you a lot of Japane e lacqlue r] eel ware, by some of ou r ships Lo arri ve in November abo ut also a few of the Japa nese coins."

David I ing Jr.. Lo a ra h King and Dr. Dav id l ing Jr.; ewporl Hi storical ociety, box 144, folder 2.

I0. David King belonged Lo a number of organiza tions th rough which he could have met McKim, Mead, and White.

He was a trustee of the Newport Hospital, a governor of the ewporl Casino, and a member of the ewporl Reading Room, ewporl Hi storica l Society, Newport's Redwood Library, and New York's Union Club. David King's obituary described him as "a gentleman of large wealth [who] held a high position in

Newport's summer society" ("Loca l malle rs," Newport Mercury, Ma rc h I0, l 894).

11 . Dav id I ing' diari es (Preserva tion Socif'Ly of 1ewporl County) indica te that he and Ella vis ited the Centen ni al Expos itio n on June 2, 3, and 5, 1876.

12. Cherol 1980. p. 479.

13. Jorcly and Monkhouse 1982, p. 18 1, also credit the 1876-80 redecoration of IGngscole lo Ella King.

14. Before White's work al f ingscole. the most extens ive re novation Lo the house's exterior were by the ewporl firm George Champlin Maso n a nd on, who enlarged Lhe d ining room and servicf' wing in J877-78. The Kings also added a Vermont red sla te roof and installed indoor plumbing a t th is ti me.

15. See Catalogue of a Collection of Books . ..

Fanning the Library of Mr. Richard Grant W hite (New York , 1870).

16. La Farge began coll ecting Japanese prints in the late 1850s and experime nted with Japa nesque compositions and painting on Japanese lacque r beginning in the early 1860s.

Tn 1870, he publi shed "An essay on Japanese a rt," the fi rst s ignificant America n stud y of Japanese art, in Raphael PumpeUy's fl cross flmerica and fl sia ( ew York, 1870). On La Farge and Japanese art, ee Adams l 985.

17. In an ] 878 leller. White described the Gilders as his acqua in tances (Stanford White

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lo Augu tus Sa int-Gaude ns, May

22. White's coll ec tion was

27. In a le tter Lo his mother,

1878; White 1997, p. 85). On

a uc ti oned in several sa les in

White indi ca tes tha t he made

vol. 35, p. 300 [188 1 ]; vol. 35,

th e G ilde rs' importa nt role in

1907 a nd 1934. These auctions

fo ur visi ts Lo the Expositi on

p . 301 r1 881]; vol. 35, p. 303: Ja nuary 10, 1882; a nd vol. 36, p.

promoting inte rest in Japa n, see

included Japa ne e pollery,

n ive rselle. Although he does

Laidlaw 1996, pp. 177-79.

me talwork, paintings. and

not me ntion see ing th e Japa nese

carved pa ne l . For example, see

ex hibition, he likely did ince

18. On Sa muel Colman, see

Ameri can Art Galleri es, New

the di splay was one of th e most

3 1. Jord y a nd Monkhouse

Maribe th Flynn, "Art a nd

York , November 25, 26, 27, and

popular a l the Fair (Sta nford

1982, p. 181 , make th is point abo ut the effec ti ve rela ti onship

447 r1 882J.

design: Sa muel Colma n and the

29, 1907 (lots 4, 49, 62, 63, 64,

White to Alexina Mease White,

Aesthe ti c Moveme nt" (M.A. the-

182. 184, 269, 270, a nd 3 11).

July 20, 1878; White 1997, p.

between \.Vhite's Qu een Anne

The Sta nford While papers

44). In a letter lo Saint-Ga udens,

a nd Upjohn's Gothic Revival.

1999). On Tiffany's Japa nism al

in the New-York Historical

White describes a visit lo the

this s tage, see R obe rts 2006.

Society contain some purcha e

South 1 e nsington Museum

records for Japanese obj ects (for example, "Lis t of Stanford

(White lo Saint-Ga udens,

th at one of Md im, Mead , a nd

19. White mentions hi vis it lo

September 6, 1879: White 1997,

White's s tre ngths was the ir con-

th e Philadelphi a Cente nnial

White's Antiques,'" nos. 127,

p. 88).

s ideration o[ the exis ting context

Expo ition in a letter lo hi s

128, 183, 207, 288, and 448;

sis. Hunter College,

1ew

York,

mother. A lexina Mease White, on July 20, 1878; White 1997, p. 44.

Lanford White papers, Archi ves

32. Roth 1983, pp. 7-8, argues

in their buildings' design.

28. Morse 1886.

33. Wilson 1983, p. 71.

of A me rican Art). However, since White freque ntly bought

29. On the popularity of Morse's

art for his clie nts . these works

34. Although they have not

20. Ja mes Johns ton, a n

may not have been intended for

lectures on J apan in this peri od, see " Maine P ersonal." Lewiston

Ameri can visitor lo J apa n in the

his own collection.

Evening ]oiirnal, Fe bruary 20,

Newport Casi no, other scholars

1882, p. 2 .

have noted the aes thetic dif-

discussed th e Japani srn in the

1850 s, expressed th e lypi ca l view of the time, wri ting of the

23. See, for example, Unknown

J apa nese that "a rc hitecture is

Studi o (probably Yokohama,

30. The Kin gsco te addition

exterior and interior (see, for

not known a mong the m as an

J apan). Room, c. 1880 , hand-

design was begun in J anuary

example, Roth 1983, p. 68).

art - their te mple , palaces, a nd

colored photogra ph , Wadsworth

1880 , and the lruc ture was

private dwellings, being all low

Athe neum , Hartford , Conn.

built in J881 (Roth 1978, p.

35. Of Md i m, Mead, a nd

84). On December 6, 1880,

White's Japa nesque designs

24. See Thompson Westcoll,

the

of the early 1880s, White was

Centennial Portfolio

Court (reco rds . vol. 33, p. 435)

responsible for the } i ngscole

(Philadelp hia. 1876), pp. 22, 50.

approved the Kings' petition Lo

addition, the

have the Willi am Henry I ing

courtyard , the houses for Isaac

es late pay fo r the add i Lion, with McKim, Mead , a nd W hite as the

Bell a nd Samuel Tilton in

\~Ta ta n abe

a rc hitects, David A. Pall as the

House in Buffalo, a nd the Ross

On Godwin's Japanism, see also Nancy B. Wi lkinson, "E.

master builder, a nd th e project's

Wina ns H ouse in Baltimore

expenses not to exceed te n

(for the a ttributi on of these

thousa nd dollars. On Septe mber

s tru ctures Lo White, ee

and te mporary stru c tures, generally of wood." Ja mes D. Johns ton,

China and Japan : The Cruise of the U.S. Steam-Frigate Powhatan , in the Years 1857, '58, '59, and '60 (Philadelphi a, 1861). p. 405.

2 1. Chris topher Dresser, Japan : Its Architectiire, firt, and Art Mcuwfacturers (London,

fe rence between the building's

25. On Nesfield. Shaw, and Godwin's Ja pan is m, see 1991 , pp. 178-95.

ewporl Coun ty Probate

ewporl Cas ino

e wporl, the Frzelia Me tcalfe

decorative arts in the 1860s,

V Godwin a nd Japo ni me in E ngla nd" in E . ll? Godwin , Aesthetic Mo vement Architect and Desig ner (exh. Bard

see the two articles by Englis h

Grad ua te Center for Studie in

cost of the ne w add ition was

critic William Mi c hael H.ossetti :

the Decorati ve Arts, New York,

'9.018, plus interior finishing

1999), pp. 71-91.

cost of $3,409 (Roth 1978, p. 84). Mel im , Mead, a nd

l 987], p. 92) also a ttri bute the

26. He nry Van Brunt, "Studi es

White were pa id $884.25 for

1882). For exa mples of Wes tern writin gs on Japa nese prints a nd

" J apanese Woodcuts: An Illus tra ted Story-Book Brought

8, 1881. David King noted in

Wodehouse 1988, pp. ] 26-13 1).

his diary tha t they "inaugurated

Arnold Lewis, James Turner, a nd

th e new dining room." The total

Steven McQuillin (The Opident

Interiors of the Gilded fige: All 203 Photographs from "flrtistic Houses" [New York,

October 3 1, 1863. pp. 501 - 3,

of Interior Decoration :

their service as a rchitec ts a nd

Japanesque interiors of the l-l. Vic tor Newcomb house in

a nd November 7, 1863, pp.

X. Concer ning F urnitu re,"

travel expenses (Newport Cou nty

E lb ron, lew Je rsey, Lo White.

536- 38; a nd " Japanese F ans."

The R eader, Decembe r 16,

American Architect a nd Building News 2 (June 9 , 1877),

303 [18811). For the numero us

36. See, for example , the

1865. pp. 69J- 92.

p. 179.

firms W hite used in the building

la llicework window in Suzuki

a nd decorati on of the additi on,

H arun ob u's print Eight Indoor

from Japa n." The R eader,

Probate Court records, vol. 35, p.

143

Ho11F1ns

cenes: A Boiling T ettle: Nig ht Hain , 1766, woodblock print; Art Institute of Chicago.

37. Ella a nd David I ing wo uld have been awa re of McKim, Mead. a nd White's new Casino buil ding fro m the time of its commi ssion in autumn 1879.

David King's diaries record the official opening of the Cas ino on June 18, 1881. as well as the many sub equenl events he attended there. Mel im , Mead, a nd White's wo rk al th e Ca ino was likely one fac tor in the Kings' decision Lo engage the firm a few months later lo expand I ing cote.

fea tures everywhere . . . Lo ut wooden posts, supports a nd cross-Li e ... The absence of a ll pa int, varni sh. oil , or fillin g, which too oflen de faces our rooms al home, is at once re marked ... Wood i left in j ust the conditi on in whi ch it leaves the cabinetmake r's plane."

43 . ln White's conte mpora neous Sa muel Tilton house of 1880-82. also in ewporl, he Look thi s Japanesq ue emphas is on the architectu ral supports even further, clecorati ng the wall with a carved design that mimics the building's stru cture.

44. Johnson 1986, p. l 27.

38. John Leighton, " On Japa nese art.'. Journal of /;fie Society of'!lrts 11, no. 55 7 (July 24, 1863), p . 598.

39. For another example of mon-like orna me nt in White's interior. see the built-in benches in his 1880- 82 Samuel Tilton House in ewporl.

40. White fo und the sp inning wheel in one of the hou e's barns; Sa muel G. \l;Thite, The Houses of Mcf< im , Mead, and Tflhite (London, 1998), p. 34.

4 1. On the Islamic influence in the spind le sc reens designed by Mc Kim, Mead, and While in thi s period. see Wil son 1983, p. 20.

42. Although Japa nese buildings' wooden character had led the first Western visi tors Lo Japa n Lo conclude that Ja pa nese structures were not architec ture, by the 1880s We Lerners were increasingly intrigued by this characte ristic. Edward Morse in ] 886 (edi ti on: Rutla nd , Vt. , 1972, pp. J04, 108, 111), stales: "On enteri ng a Japa nese house, one noti ces ... the constructi ve

45. E ngli sh designer Willia m Burges ("The Japa nese Court in the International Exhi bition," Gentleman '.s Mag azine, eplember 1862, p. 254) arti culated the connection between Japanese and medieval art in his review of the groundbrea king Japanese art display a l the ] 862 International Exhibition in Londo n. He urged those interested in the Gothic Revival Lo study Japanese art: "An hour. or even a clay or two, spen t in the Ja panese department will by no means be lost time, fo r the e hitherto unknown barbari ans appear not only Lo know all tha t the Middl e Ages knew, but in some respects are beyond them and us as well." For the connecti on between Japanism and an Li-modernist im pulses in the United Stales, see Lears 198J, pp. 85-86, 187-90.

46. David King's diary records his freq uent socia lizi ng wi th the Bells; fo r exa mple. entries for March 22 and August 27, 188] .

Collins 2003, p. 22, li sts Mr. and Mrs. Be ll as amo ng " the l<i ngs' clo esl friendshi p ."The Lwo

144

fam il ies may have in fl uenced eac h other in their cho ice of Mc Kim, Mead, a nd White, and in the considerabl e degree of Ja pa nism in both their houses.

47. Hosley 1990, p. 108: "The Japa nese style was usually reserved for the fl as h and dazzle of Lhe quasi-pu blic recepti on room, a space loca led just off the ma in en trance whe re a fa 111ily could fl aunt its artistic pretensions."

48. Md im experi111en ted with coloni al models in hi s work as early as 1874, and, in Lhe su111mer of 1877, he, Mead, While, and William B. Bigelow e mbarked on a Lour of coloni al bui ldi ngs in lew E ngla nd.

White also designed the dining table chairs for Kingscole in a colonial revival style.

49. McKim, Mead, and White did continue Lo experiment with Lhe Japanesque open plan in their hou es after the early 1880s. In the William G. Low hou e of 1886-87 in Bristol, Rhode I land, for instance, the hall runs thro ugh the house, unifying the space in a Japane e 111a nner. Jn Box Hill, the house Wh ile remodeled for himself between 1885 a nd 1902 in St. James. Long I la nd . he covered the living room walls and ceiling a nd stair hall walls wi Lh split ba mboo rods. a Japa nesque ele 111enl that does nol appear in any of his official commi ss ions from th is later period. Perhap While was experimenting with th e Japan ism he fell he could no longer use in his clients' houses, which was ne vertheless appropriate for his own country house. The views of White' New York house in the 1arch 30, 1907 is ue of American Architect and Building News

reveal an eclecti c decora li ng style. including Renaissa nce, Baroque, Colonial, and Isla mi c e lemen ts, bu t no Japa nese or Japa nesque arl. These in te ri ors de monstrate tha t by the Lime of his death, Whi te viewed Japa nese arl as mos l early lwenli elh-cenlury Ameri cans did: as one of many necessary elements in a well-round ed arl collection.

50. Harry Payne Whitney lo Stanford While [1905); Stanford White Paper , New-York Historical oc iety, Archi ves of A rneri can Art.

J IP\\IS\I

I\ STl\ l Ollll \\ 11 1n -:" s ll l \l\C 1<00 11 FOil K 1\c;s c oT F

145

Satisfactory like a dream JosEPH LINDON SMITI-I, A BosToN ARTIST IN J APAN, Igo I

E llen P. Conant

The American painter Joseph Lindon Smith (1863-1950) formed a long and close friendship with Isabella SLewarl Gardner, beginning wilh a chance encounter in Venice in 1892. 1 When artistic fulfillm ent came to Gardner in her collecting and her museum, it was to Joe Smith she turned as director of her gallery, and she ultimately found it difficult to reconcile herself to his refusal in order to pursue his career as a painter and world traveler.2 Smilh benefited from a similar encounter in Egypt in 1898. While seeking to capture the grandeur of Abu Simbel, he met Phoebe Apperson Hearst.:3 When she showed Smith's paintings Lhat she had bought to George Andrew Reisner, whose excavations at Giza she was financing, he was fascinated by their beauty as well as their archaeological accuracy, and the two men became fas t friends. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston acquired more than one hundred of Smith's Egyptian paintings, which were often hung to enhance the ambiance and meaning of the Egyptian galleries. 1 Smith came to be identified with Italy and Egypt to such an extent that his work in Japan has been overlooked. However, Isabella Gardner acquired Abbot's Quarters, Chionin Temple, Kyoto (fig. 1), one of more than two dozen paintings Smith produced during his first visit to Japan wilh his young wife in 1901. 5 Smilh also purchased a pair of sliding door ifuswna) for Gardner during his second visil Lo Japan in 1910 with his close friend and patron Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935).6 Ross noles at Lhe outsel of his diary of Lheir :five- month journey that Mrs. Gardner hosted a dinner al her counlry club for them the nighl before Lheir departure. 7 Smith kept a witly and candid diary of both these trips for the private edification of his family, whereas Ross, an indefaLigable diarist, maintained his as an aide-memoire, detailing where he stayed, whom he met, what he saw, as well as his purchases, oflen accompanied by their cos ls. Both men were close friends of Isabella Gardner before, during, and after her more publicized associalion wilh Okakura l akuzo, which began in 1904 and ended wi th his death in 1913.8 The views of Asian art and culture contained in the diaries of Smith and Ross were bound Lo have influenced the role that Asian art played in Gardner's museum and the choice of the Japanese objects she acquired and displayed.

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However, Smith and Ross are invariably omiLLed from the literature on Boston's principal Japanophiles - Edward Sylvester Morse, Ernest F. Fenollosa, and William Sturgis Bigelow - with whom they were also well acqu ainted.9 Smith and Ross are not included in John Clark's recent index of visitors to Japan be tween 1850 and 1930, nor are th eir trips recorde d in Japanese ources. 10 Providentially, their diaries disclose the names of prominent Americans and Japanese whose mutual interes t in J apanese art and interaction likewise have gone unnoted, such as Quincy Adams Shav1' and his brothers-in-law, Alexand er Agassiz and Henry Lee Higginson. Moreover, the immediacy and specificiLy of the accounts of Smith and Ross provide Lh e detail and fl avor of informa tion lacking in the published writings of such prominent artist-travelers as John La Farge, Theodore Wores, and Robert Blum, who mask their contacts and sources.1 1 Because Joseph Lindon Smith's two trips to Japan were made und er different auspices and involved different circumstances, I shall confine this essay to mith's initial trip to Japan in 1901. By highlighting his activities as a painter, I identify his contac ts with members of the contemporary art scene, both Weslern and J a pane e, to spotlight Boston' broader circle of Japanophiles a t the turn of the twentieth century. 12 Despite SmiLh's success as a painter and producer of elaborate masques, he fares poorly in recent re-evaluations of American art. 1.3 Scholars tend to be dismissive of the technical skill and archaeological fidelity of his renderings of historical monuments, which can presently be achieved by an array of mechanical means.11 Fortunately, his career is aptly situated in the exhibition The Last Ruskinians (2007) which traces the influence of the social and artis tic principles of John Ruskin and his axiom "fidelity to nature" on American painting during the las t half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and on the teaching of art and arL history a t Harvard College.15 While the me ticulous landscapes and still lifes of the early Ruskinians are es teemed, Smith's sensiti ve re-creations of ancient monuments, once found so evocative, have been consigned to s torage. 16

POOR FOLK CAN ' T B U Y PI CT U RES

Smith was born and reared in Pawtucke t, Rhode Island , the elder on of a lumber merchant, Henry Francis Smith, and an indomitable mother, Emma Greenleaf Smith, who instilled in him a fondness for theatricals. His mother was rela ted to the poe t and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier, who persuaded the yo ung man's parents to permit him to forego college in favor of art school. Smith was barely eventeen when he entered Lhe School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1880. 17 He and his classmate Frank Benson (1862- 1951) went to Paris in 1883 for further training at Lhe Academie Julian, where they studied with Gustave-Rodolphe Boulanger, Adolphe-William Bouguereau, and Jules Lefebvre. 18 Benson's genial portrait of Smith is a memento of their Paris sojourn (fig. 2). 19 While they remained lifelong fri end s, Benson adop ted an Impressionist manner, Smith an interpretive realism.

148

2 . Frank Weston Benson,

Portrait of Joseph Lindon Sm ith , 1884. Oi l on canvas. Grant and Caro l N elson

\TISI \l.l'OH\ LIU

I llltE Ill

On his return to Boston in 1885, Smith rented a studio and sought to establish himself as a portrait painter. His work quickly attracted the attention of Denman Ross, who became his mentor, patron, and pupil. Ross ' a the only son of a wealthy Cincinnati businessman, who moved the family to Cambridge. Ross majored in history at Harvard and received a PhD in 1880 for a topic on medieval land-tenure recommended by Henry Adams. 20 Ross was already interested in art; as a senior he attended the first course in art history offered by Charles Eliot orlon, a close friend of John Ruskin. Ross briefly tudied watercolor with Charles Herbert Moore in 1877 and with Henry Roderick Newman in 1884. His father's death in 1884 lefL Ros with th e financial means to devote all his energies to art - as student, teacher, artist, collector, and benefactor. 21 Ross found Joe Smith so personable and his skill so promising that he invited him to accompany the Ross family to Europe in the spring of 1886 as his companion and instructor.22 Smith traveled through Europe with them for eventeen months. In Florence in October 1886, Ross introduced his friend to his teacher Henry ewrnan and urged Smith to "paint the fa~:ade of a church like Mr. Newman does." 23 Smith was as tonished to learn that Ross had paid Newman 1000 for hi s painting of Santa Maria ovella and was ela ted when Ross pronounced his view fully equal to that of ewman. 2 1 Smith began to contempla te a possible release from the vagaries of portraiture and :financial uncertainty in Boston, for a future of foreign travel and a career depicting different cultures and distant epochs. Ross, already a Ruskinian, shaped Smith's style and choice of subjects. Moreover, he acquainted Smith with the advantages of travel and the patronage it facilita ted from wealthy tourists and residents.

The Smiths lived most of the year in the studio-apartment lent them by Ross, near the School of th e Museum of Fine Arts, where Joseph was an assistan t instruc tor from 1887 to 1893.25 The accidental death of his brother, Albert, in 1892, as well as his father's earlier business failure, increased his parent ' dependence on Smith, both physically and :financially.

The artist expressed a slight embarrassment at "pleasing the fancy of Commonwealth Avenue" with hi client list like a "page in Boston's Blue Book." However, Smith received pithy advice from his cousin John Greenleaf Whittier: "remember, Jo eph, poor folk can' t buy pictures." 26 Smith strove throughout his career to balance devotion to his work and family with his ocial obligations and preoccupation wi th amateur theatricals and occasional professional masques.27 The Smith fam ily acquired property in Dublin, New Hampshire, where in 1896, Joseph built a Teatro Bambino (children's tb eatre) with the help of several neighbors, including Raphael Pumpelly, who had conduc ted a geological survey of Japan's northern island Hokkaido in early 1861. 28 In 1898 Smith staged a "Japanese water pantomime" that may have been loosely derived from fairy tale books published by Ha egawa Takejiro. 29 mith's exposure Lo Japanism dated back to a visit to Philadelphia's Centennial Expo ition in 1876 and he continued to partake of the mounting inLeresLin Japanese art in America and abroad. He also had personal acce s to Pumpelly's first-hand knowledge of Asia as recounted in his as tute memoir of 1870 which included a pioneering essay on Japanese art by John La Farge. 30 At the wedding in Oc tober 1898 of Pumpelly's second daughter, Elise, Smith met her cousin Corinna Haven Putnam (1876- J 965). 3 1 One of three daughters of the noted publisher George P. Putnam, Corinna was born and reared in ew York City. Smith was smitten with the

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allractive, socially adept, and well-traveled young woman buL, knowing how Lhrealened his mother would be at the thought of his marriage, he hesilaled to propose.

A month after meeting Corinna, Smith left for Europe on a painting trip. On the crossing he was persuaded by a fellow passenger, Joseph Sargent, Lo accompany him to Egypt, which he had long wished Lo visit and where he once again met up with H enry ewman. 32 Smith was impressed by ewman's work and lifes tyle in Egypt and what he heard of his recent trip to Japan. Smith may have seen some of Newman's 路watercolors of Japanese subjects in advance of their exhibition in London in 1899.:3:3 Soon after returning Lo Boston, by now thirty-six, he became engaged to Corinna. Corinna maintain tha t Isabella Gardner insisted on attending the wedding, was godmother to their third child, and visited them annually in Dublin, ew Hampshire. 31 The couple had barely two weeks alone before sailing with Joe's parents on a previously planned trip lo Italy, Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey. By the time they returned home, Smith was committed to Egypt's ancient monuments and Corinna to mastering Arabic.

CHINESE TA I LORS AND ClT HIO MEN'

Documents have thus far failed to de tail why Joseph and Corinna embarked on an extended voyage to Japan in February 1901.3.s However, a letter senl Lo Smith by his father, 路who served as his business manager and general fac totum, enclosed a clipping from the New Yo rk Tinies , da ted February 24: Joseph Linden Smith, who showed his colored drawings from antiquities in Greece and Turkey in ew York and Philadelphia recently, h as gone to Japan to copy the grand pieces of Buddhis tic art at Nara and other places . Many of hi drawings belong to the Fine Art Museum of Boston. The Japanese s tudies will appear in the two volumes on the his tory of the arts of Japan to be published by the J. B. Millet Company. Thi work will be written in Japan by Japanese and transla ted into English.

Smith senior adds, "Denman and I both hope that you have not committed yourself too fully.

It don' t sound ri ght Lo me."86 The Smiths, as well as Isabella Gardner, were well acquainted 路with Josiah Byram Mille t (1853- 1938), who, after graduating from Harvard in 1877, spent more than a decade as art critic for leading newspapers and journals in Bos ton, Philadelphia, and Iew YorL37 In 1891, he established the J. B. Millet Company, which published books and encyclopedia on art and music. AL Chicago's Columbian Expositi on of 1893, he was so impressed by Japan's progress and exhibits tha t he subsequently decided Lo produce a multi-volume work on Japan.:ia Bypassing Boston's Japanophiles, Millet engaged Captain Frank Brin1 ley, who since 1881 had been owner and editor of the Japan Weekly Mail. 39 Brinkley's literary and linguis tic kills had won him recognition as an authori ty on Japan and its arts. 10 Th eir initial venture, Japan , Described and Illustrated by the Japanese, appeared from 1897 to 1904 in multi-volume editions of varying degrees of lavishness. 11 While Millet parried Fenollosa's

150

1\1

s \ThFll ro1n

11~1

I llHI \\I

pleas to publish his still-to-be-wrillen opus on Japanese art, 12 he next commissioned Brinkley to write The Art of Japan , a deluxe two-volume edition illustrated with fine photographs and woodcuts by contemporary Japanese artists that appeared in 1901. i:3 However, color reproduc tions of Smith's paintings of Japanese monuments have ye t Lo be identified. Instead of his watercolor of the I ichijoten in the temple Yakushiji (fig. 3), there appears a Lipped-in halftone photograph of the painting. Whether it was an editorial decision not to include Smith's work or a result of technical difficulties is unclear. 11路 Denman Ross later purchased Smith's painting of Kichijoten, which he bequeathed Lo the Fogg Art Museum.

3. Joseph Lindon Smith,

Kichijoten, Yokushiji Temple, Nara, 1901 .

Watercolor and gauache

Despite his father's reservations, Joseph Smith may have been receptive to Millet's overtures because they offered him an opporLuniLy Lo spend some time alone with his wife. He felt amply justified when he could write his parents from Kamakura on June 8 that Corinna was pregnant, and in subsequent letters home he repeatedly urged his parents to rent a house, possibly from Bigelo路w, 路which would provide th em more adequate living quarters than their present apartment in the Ludlow.

over graphite on cardboard.

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard Art Museum, Bequest of Denman W. Ross, Class of

1875 (1936 .150 125)

Instead of waiting in Honolulu for Lhe nexL ship, Joseph and Corinna Smith proceeded on Lhe Nippon Maru Lo Yokohama and, arriving earlier Lhan expected, felt they could permit themselves ten days in Yokohama to recover from a stormy crossing and acquaint themselves with the country. The co uple came so well prepared for thei r undertaking that in his initial letter to his parents from Japan, Smith could 路write, "What shall I say of the people! so well known to us all by pic tures and prose? It is wonderfully satisfactory to find iL all so like your dream - so resembling your mind's eye pictures, most difficult of realization so much of the time in life." 15 Joseph and Corinna appear to have been thoroughly briefed by Millet and dispatched with abu ndanL introductions, both prestigiou and practical. In addition Lo assisting with their passage and reservations al Lhe Grand Hotel in Yokohama, he had provided Lhe names of his photographer, doctor, tailor, and even jinrikisha man. Captain Brinkley was designated to act as local informant. Millet, Brinkley, Bigelow, or Morse could have introduced them to Kuki Ryuichi, the former director of the Tokyo Imperial Museum, and to Okakura Kakuzo who, following hi s ouster from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1898, had set up the Japan ArL Academy ( ihon Bijutsu-in) with fonds provided by Bigelow and who was later to figure so importantly in the Gardner circle.

Joseph and Corinna Lindon Smith, like all foreigners, were gree ted by an "onslaught of Chinese tailors and curio men" as soon as they arrived at the Grand Hotel in Yokohama.

Curio dealers were to occupy much of their leisure hours . On hi s second clay in Yokohama, Smith "visited some antiquity shop ," and s lopped by several other dealers when briefly in Tokyo. On his first day in Kyoto, Smith bought an old bronze bowl and, without seeking advice or authentication, an old screen and another th e following day, as well as numerous small objects. In addi tion to the major dealers, such as Yamanaka, Hayashi, Lhe Kyolo Matsuki (relatives of the Boston dealer, Matsuki Bunkio), and the like, from whom they mad e purchases, they visited small shops Lhey encountered while wandering about the

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city, purcha ing objects to decorate their home and to serve as props for future theatrical performances. The dealers who frequented their Kyolo lodgings at the Yaami Inn included E awamura, who came virtually each evening, Yajima, who volunteered to teach Corinna Japane e, 16 and Komai, head of a me talsmith studio, who occasionally acted as their guid e and interpre ter, and arranged for Smith to paint his sis ter's two young daughters. 17 Smith also pent much of his leisure time with the main dealers in Nara, Kama kura, and Nikko.

He was tempted by a screen by Kano Tanyu at $900 and one by Iwasa Matabei a t 500, but did not s uccumb. 18 Occasionally they purchased objects beyond their means for fri ends, such as a screen painting for Mrs . Franklin Mac Veagh, a Dublin neighbor, or alerted the noted Bo ton collector Quincy Shaw, whom they knew would be interested in a particularly fin e lacquer. 49 Although often omitted in published accounts, the Chinese tailors in Yokohama were too good a perk to overlook. By the Lhird day at the Grand HoLel, Smith was measured

by Mille t's tailor am Shing for a tuxedo, which he wore to dinner the following eve ning, formal dress being de rigueur for dinner at the Grand. Joe ordered three more suits of English fabric for winter and Corinna all manner of clothing, leading Smith to complain that "Dressmaking and tailoring s traggles on to the end and garments appear during the packing undreamt of by me." 50 The Smiths arrived with some of their own credentials. A family friend of the Putnams, the newly elected vice president, Theodore Roosevelt, had provided them with an introduction to Baron Kaneko Kentaro, then minister of justice. Corinna had an introduction to her elder si ter's Bryn Mawr classmate, Tsuda Umeko, and visited the Women's English School (Joshi Eigaku Juku, pre ent-day Tsuda College), that she had established the previous year.51 Corinna also called on her Bryn Mawr classmate, Dogura Masa, ~who was married to the vice-minister of foreign affairs. 52 They likewise called on Commodore Matthew Perry's great-nephew, Thomas Sergeant Pen-y, a linguist and literary critic then teaching a t Keio University, and his wife, Lilla Cabot Perry, a painter trained in Boston and later at the Academie Julian and with Monet at Giverny. The Smiths found the Perrys so congenial that they frequently visited them and their charming daughters. 53 They had arranged for Lheir visit to overlap with that of two socialite patrons of Smith, Dr. and Mrs. . Weir Mitchell5 1 and Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Schuyler. 55 They were surprised and delighted Lo encounter at their hotel in Yokohama their Dublin neighbor , Mrs. MacVeagh and her son Eames. 56 By the time the Smiths departed for Kyoto on March 21, they were part of an elite expatriate milieu that had infuriatingly eluded Mm-y Mc eil Fenollosa during her residence in Japan with her third husband, Ernest F. Fenollosa.57 The Smiths spent the next six week in â&#x20AC;˘~ yoto, which they judged "simply perfect."

"We have grown as fond of the place as any I have ever been in, Venice nol entirely excepted," Joseph wrote to his parents. "Our little hotel [Yaami] is comfortable, our view superb; good table, kind attention, and heaps and heaps of things to paint."58 In his diary, Smith remarks on the authenticity of the experience: Kyo to streets and the general appearance of people and houses eems untouched by any foreign influence. Gay with flag , fluttering signs, and full of crowds, it is all most

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picturesqu e. Curio shops abound and, like all their shops, are most inviting and temp ting. Few if any English signs greet the eye and few foreigners are seen. We are objects of grea t c uriosity and amusement apparently. 59 They spent the following four weeks at a semi-Japanese inn, Kikusui, in ara, where they quickly adapted to Japanese sleeping, bathing, and other accommodations. They were troubled by the nightly rounds of rats and found the thin Japanese walls offered little privacy, as when gues ts al a neighboring party casually spilled over to their quarters, having found "us more interesting even than the geishas."

They regrouped in Yokohama before departing on June 27 by train for Yumoto and then on to the Fujiya Hotel in Miyanoshita: "Corinna in a chair, I by riki sha - A retinue of coolies (nine in all) assi ting us up the steep mountain pass." It rained s teadily the following clay and on the next, Smith "accompanied by a coolie, walked to Hakone," where in the late afternoon he "caught glimpses of Fuji with fin e s torm clouds whirling about its summit and a t nine at night saw an unus ual effect of the mountain lit up by the moon." He returned the following clay in " torrents of rain. " 60 It was still raining on July 2 when the Smiths " took the one o'clock train for ikko changing cars three time and reaching our destination at eight o'clock, taking seven hours to go a dis tance of only one hundred miles." Throughout their two weeks s tay at the Kanaya Hotel rn ikko, it rained and misted teaclily but when the sun :finally shone on th eir next to las t clay, Smith noted that "it certainly makes a difference but I a m not at all ure that the landscape is not more imposing when the mists simplify the forms." 61 They returned to Yokohama on the 15 th and left the next clay for their first and only s tay in Tokyo, where they spent a hectic week visiting the major sights and meeting with friends and officials. Joe returned to Yokohama with an injured toe and hobbled about their las t two clays of frantic packing and farewells , before they departed for home on July 26 aboard the Empress of]apan.

HEAPS Al\'"D HEAPS OF TIIIKG S TO PAINT

Immediately upon mrival in E yoto, Smith applied for permission to paint at the museum and temples. 62 The choice of subjects appears to have been previously selected in consultation with Millet and Brinkley.63 In Kyoto he began working alternately, mornings and afternoons, as weather and temple activities permitted, at Ti hi-Honganji or Cbion-in, where he was courteously received and frequently "tea-eel and caked." He set to work at Nishi-Honganji on an oil painting of one wall of the Taimenjo (a udience hall), re-creating the panels of s torks amidst sprawling pine and plum trees in jewel-like pigments and gold leaf that he believed Lo be by the seventeenth-century Kano Hidenobu, and at Chion-in on a watercolor of the shrine dedicated to Enko Daishi (Shumiclan) in the Hondo, or main hall.6 1 He worked for as long as eight hours a clay in the dim light and numinous ambia nce of the temple interior, producing what he regarded as some of his best work. In addition, he diligently depicted local scenes, beginning with a nearby temple gateway. 65 He also made sketches of a teahouse, a cherry tree at night, and a fountain, as well as a sumo match and geisha performance, some of which he later elaborated.

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At the urging of the Perrys, the Smiths mad e two brief trips from Kyoto to Tokyo.

The first, from April 8 to 10, was to attend Lhe Fire-Walking Cere mony at a shrin e in Kanda, where Corinna had the spunk to walk over the burning coals.66 A watercolor of this event was exhibited at the Art Inslitute of Chicago in 1905. Joseph Smith twice went to view the aged sensation Ichikawa Danjur6 IX perform at the Kabukiza and was greatly impressed by his acting and by the stage sets .67 His drawin gs of both these events were among the works shown at the exhibition of his Japanese paintings held in December 1901 at Lhe St. Botolph Club in Bos ton. 68 Joseph and Corinna also made an overnight trip to attend the imperial garden party on April 9, but he made no drawing of the lavish afternoon.69 Ka t6 Takaaki's le tter to the governor of ara secured Smith permission to paint at th e museum and the te mples he selected . He began working the following day at the recently established ara Museum, where many of the treasures of local te mples were temporarily s tored or exhibited, and also at the temples I ofukuji and Todaiji . He made impressive copies of some of the mas terpieces of early Buddhist culpture, including five watercolor tha t were purchased by the Museum of Fine Arts in 1902 (fig. 4), and three more acquired by William Bigelow tha t were on loan to the museum from 1902 and given in 1922. 70 Smith los t several days securing p ermission from the local miliLary authori ties in Kamakura before se tting to work on what he thought no other artis t had ye t a ttempted - a large oil paintin g of the Great Buddha that captured not only the "wonderful inward expression, and calm and fullness of all Human and Godly Wisdom in the face," buL the pa tina of the bronze, which h e likened to tha t of the Colleoni in Venice (figs . 5, 6).7 1 Despite th e insufferably hot and humid weath er, he fini shed it Len days la ter. H e also drew a large wa tercolor of the Buddha in three-quarter view, as well as a small walercolor s tudy Lha t was done by Lhe following day. They then went on to Miyanoshita to p aint a picture of Mount Fuji for Mrs . Mac Veagh , which Smith

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4 . Jose ph Lin do n Smi th ,

Sta t ue of Kongo Rikish i, Tokondo, K6fuk u-ji Monast ery, N ara, Japan, 1901 - 2 . Po n el, wa t ercolo r o n pa p e r. M use u m of Fine Arts, Bosto n, Purc h ase, James Fun d, 190 2 [0 2. 45]

5. Joseph Lin do n Smith , Amitobha Buddha (Daibutsu), After the Bronze Scu lpture, Kotoku-in , Kamakura , 190 1. O i l o n canvas. Wi ll iam Tay lor H ole, Brunswick, Moine 6. Josep h Lin do n Smit h,

Head of the Statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, Venice, l 894 . Wate rco lor on pape r. Museu m o f Fine Arts, Bas t on [94.2 15]

S ITISF\CTOH1

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7. Joseph Lindon Smith, Yomeimon, Nikko (Y6mei Gate, T6sh6gu Shrine), 1901. Watercolor, white gouache, and chalk over graphite on pape r. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Gift of Dr. Denman W. Ross (1916 689) 8. Joseph Lindon Smith,

Niomon, Nikko (Nia Gate, T6sh6gu Shrine), 190 1. Oil on canvas. Collection of Dennis O'Connor and Wil liam McCluskey, Chicago

failed to produce because it rained so continuously that they curtailed their visit. Although it continued to rain for virtually all of their s tay in Nikko, Smith found a sheltered spot from which to paint for Phillip Schuyler the Yomeimon of the Toshogu Shrine (:fig. 7).72 The following morning, he " began a large oil study of th e stone torii and the pagoda," and that afternoon started another oil study of th e "red lacquer sacred bridge." However, there is no mention in the diary, letters, or exhibition records of a signed oil painting by Smith that appear to repre ent the nearby Niomon of the Toshogu Shrine (:fig. 8) which, in terms of composition, style, size, and medium, is o like the work of a resident Japanese artist, Ioki Bunsai as to raise the possibility tha t Smith may have seen his worl in the local antique shops that he daily frequented (:figs. 9, 10).73 An unidentified Western-style (yoga) painter visited th e Smiths' hotel in Kyoto one evening and brought some of his work for Smith to critique, and he in turn examined some of Smith's work. He then spent the following morning with Smith a t Chion-in, ob erving hi watercolor technique. Other Western artists undoubtedly had similar encounters tha t likewise have gone unnoted. It is unlikely tha t the many foreign artists who visited and painted at ikko during the years that Bunsai was resident there (1892-1906) would not have met the artist or encountered his work. 7 1 On th e other hand , Bunsai's mas terful 路watercolor of the intricate architec tural exteriors and ornate interiors during the 1890 , when Japanese artists were still struggling to master Western watercolor technique, suggests the possibility of foreign tutelage .

Despite museum holdings, exhibition records, and diary entries, it is still not possible to compile a reliable catalogue of the works that Smith produced during this first trip, let alone determine their present whereabouts. What is vivid in the fragmented picture is that Joseph Lindon Smith was a far more ac tive player in the contemporary art scene of his day than acknowledged and that his influence may not resonate in his own work as much as it does in the exposure of his insights to others.

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9 . Joki Bunsa i, Pre cinct s of T6sh 6 g0 Shrin e, Nik ko. Ink an d w at erco lo r o n p a p e r.

Ide mi ts u Mu se u m o f Arts, T okyo

THJi. GRACE OF GOOD CONNECTIONS

Experience had taught Smith the importance of securing the most impressive credentials possible, which granted opportunities and experiences not otherwise available. He met with Brinkley in Tokyo immediately after his arrival and did not see him again until shortly before his departure. "Showing him my pi ctures was very satisfactory," Smith writes, "He was more than enthusiastic and appreciative." 75 Brinkley's own judgment was more fulsome: Of course Mr. Smith, for all his diligence, has not been able to do more than exploit a very small part of this mine of wealth, but we are much mistaken if his inimitable reproductions do not inspire the Boston connoisseurs to give him a second mission. At all events we sincerely hope that such will be the case. Photography and chromo-lithography are quite inadequate to accomplish the end which Mr. Smith has attained. 76 Both Kaneko and Kuki had deferred meeting with Smith at the outset of his visit, "owing Lo the very exceptionally important state business - Russia and Manchuria, etc." 77 I uki appears to have delegated his s uccessor Kubota Kanai to facilitate Smith's work at the Kyolo and Tara museums. Smith did not encounter Kuki until suddenly summoned on May 18 to meet him at the Nara Museum. He was as tonished to be invited by Kuki to accompany him at 6 am the following morning on a trip to an ancient temple on Mount Koya outside Kyoto, where Kuki was to attend the visit of the crown prince for whom the pries Ls planned to display the temple's finest treasures. Smith readily accepted and found the three-day trip fascinating, the cenery enthralling, and the te mple and its treasures beyond his expec tation. He was impressed by Lhe deference accorded Kuki, who introduced him to the cmwn prince, as well as Kuki's foresight in smuggling a can of corned beef thaL they s urreptitiously cons umed to supplement the temple's vegetarian cuisine. Kuki evidently found Smith s ufficiently attractive to invite him, when Smith was working in Kamakura, to dinner at his villa, a courtesy Kuki never extended hi s erstwhile colleague Ernest Fenollosa, when he vacationed there several years earlier.

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l 0 . Jok i Bun sai, In t erio r o f

t h e H 6 n ch id6 H all, T6sh 6 g 0 Sh rin e, N ik k o . In k and wa t e rco lor on p ape r. Mito C ity Mu seu m

S1ThFll.TOH\ 11,1

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Corinna was surely being disingenuous when she claims in her memoir that during their stay in Japan they came to know Kaneko Ken taro well, "and through him achieved an understanding of Japanese culture which was rare then." 78 They ac tually did not meet up with him until their last week in Japan, when he called at their hotel in Tokyo and invited them, Joseph writes, to "dine with him next Monday when he hopes to get hold of some J apanese painters to meet us ... He is a Harvard law school man and a class mate of many of my best friends." 79 Their sole meeting occurred on J uly 22, when the Smiths arrived at his house and were greeted by his daughter and by his sister. They were delighted to be introduced to three artists - Taki Ka tei, who became a leading professor at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts following the ouster of Okakura in 1898; a member of parliament and possibly an amateur artist identified only as Mr. Jizo; and an unnamed "leading woman artist" who could have been either Okuhara Seiko or, more probably, Noguchi Shahin, both loosely categorized as literati artists. They began the evening by taking turns painting a joint ink painting. The Smith watched them paint several other pic tures until dinner, a lengthy affair served by geisha, during which Smith, aided by l aneko's brother-in-law's skill as an interpreter, was able to have a discussion on arl with Mr. Jizo. As they were about to leave, Kaneko presented them with two of the works produced that evening, and the artists, likewise, presented them with works made ahead of time that they inscribed to a "fellow brush." Smith had brought, at Ka ne ko's reque t, some of his own work, which they carefully examined. "They told me, what I already knew to be a fact, that thi s is the first time these subj ec ts have been done," Smith confided to hi diary. " In many respects this entertainment was the most interesting and charming of all the many pleasanl experiences Japan has offered us, and as Corinna told our host 'it was a :fitting climax Lo our stay."' 80 During that same week in Tokyo, Smith again visited the Imperial Museum and called on the director, l ubota Kanai, who showed him about the "fine art school." He also went to the Imperial University and met with Edward Morse's colleague, Professor Mitsukuri Kal ichi, 81 who showed him about the local sites and "mos t interesting of all Okakura's school," where, absent Okakura, Smith toured the buildings and was shown "four wonderfully fine screens

by Hashimoto" [Gaho]. They then lunched in Ueno and had a long talk. Smith compliments Mitsukuri in his diary as "a very broad minded man, splendidly informed and as wise and sensible as he is optimistic. It was a great pleasure to meet him." 82 Smith received a note from Okakura, regretting that they could not meet, and another from Kobayashi Bunshichi, a dealer introduced by J. B. Millet, whom he also failed to meet. The urbane, We ternizecl Kobaya hi was supplying all the major foreign collec tors of ukiyo-e, and his own collec tion, de troyed in the great earthqu ake of 1923 only months after his death, is said to have numbered 100,000 woodcuts .

On their third clay in Kyoto, Millet's principal textile and art supplier, Iida Shinshichi of Takashimaya, called and arranged for the Smiths to tour his establi shment. He also invited th em to their first formal Japanese dinner a t his own home, which was most unusual. Smith was impressed by the design of Iicla's house and garden, the fine paintings and art objects displayed, and the discriminating dinner arrangements. Being novices, however, they found some of the delicacies difficult to digest, and sitting on their legs for an extended period exceedingly painful. Smith nonetheless realized that they had been entertained "in perhaps the mos t ideal simplicity and at the same time highest form of art." 83

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Their frequent meetings with Corinna's classmate Uchida Masa and her husband are indicative of a genuine friendship. IL was thanks to Masa's brother-in-law, Saiki Riic hiro, a prominent Kyoto physician, that Smith unexpectedly was able to meet one of Kyoto's leading painters, Takeuchi Seiho, who had recently returned from his fir t trip abroad to visit the Paris Exposition of 1900.8 1 Saiki took them to visit Seiho's home and studio, where they saw some of his paintings. Saiki's fluency in English enabled the two artists Lo have an extended discussion on European and Oriental painLing. The following day Dr. and Mrs. Saiki brought Seiho to the Yaami Inn to see some of Smith's paintings. 85 The arti Ls agreed to exchange works - Joe requesting a tiger and Seiho a landscape - but the exchange does not appear to have occurred and there i no record of their meeting. 86 Smith had forged a succes fol career representing noted monuments and ancient artifacts in Italy, Greece, Egypt, and the ear East by the time he e mbarked for Japan. He was secure in his abilities and in the es teem of collectors and his peers, as seen in a review of Smith's exhibition in December 1900 at the New York Architectural League that appeared in

The Critic: In a day when aimless, inchoate creation enjoys such vogue, here is a man who has had the modesty and the courage to devote himself almost exclusively to faithful, lucid transcription of the art of other men and other times. The positive permanent value of such work is unquestioned; it is, in its own way, as relatively important as a translation of the Vedic suctas or a version of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. It may not be what is loosely termed "creative," but it i interpretative in the best sense of the term ... He ha in every instance given originals their true setting, has caught their "ton local," and details down to subtle variations of stratification have been rendered with absolute precision. 87 Smith left for Japan confident that the Japanese monuments he planned to paint with unprecedented :fidelity were of comparable value and artistry. He may have relished the residual traditional charac ter of Kyo to, Nara, and other ancient cultural centers, but he was too impressed by the caliber of the Japanese he encountered and the abundant evidence of Japan's vi tality and rising stature among the Occidental powers to subscribe to then-current We tern notion that Japan's arL and culture were declining. He was also aware of another prevailing view forcefully enuncia ted by the British painter Sir Arthur East that Japan might have a decorative art but did not possess fine arts. 88 To the extent that such views might impede an American audience from appreciating his delineation of the little-known early Buddhist sculpture of Japan, he prefaced the catalogue Lo the exhibition of his Japanese paintings a t the St. BoLolph Club in 1901 with an excerpt from Brinkley's The Art of Japan that defined the salienL features of Japanese Buddhist sculpture as distinct from the normative values embodied in the classical traditions of Greece and Rome. 89 Smith's intense engagemenL wiLh Lhe art and history of different cultures and periods had sharpened his perception of their disLincti ve characteri stics. This enabled him to respond to classical Japan ese art in an uncommonly unfettered fashion. It is this absence of e capisrn, exoticism, ethnocentricity, and Lhe occasional racist-tinged chauvinism that ets his paper

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apart from the writings of so many other Wes tern artists and Japanophiles. The publication of Smith's Japan diaries and le tters, along with those of his colleague Denman Ross, will provide valuable data regarding the artistic interaction of Boston and Japan that could further illuminate the ongoing re-evaluation of the still-appealing narrative propagated by Boston's vaunted J apanophiles.

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I wish lo acknowledge Lhe generous a s islance and access lo source material on Joseph Lindon Smith's career provided

by Diana Wolfe Larkin.

A RC llllA L SOU RO:S

milh diary 1901 Diary of 1901 dicla led by Joseph Lindon Sm ith and wrilten by Corinna Lindon Smith.

Smith Family Papers, Dublin Historical Society Archives, Dublin , N.H. Smith Paper Joseph Lindon Smith Papers.

Archi ves of American Arl, Smith son ian Ins Li Lu Lion milh Family Papers Smith Family Papers, including lellers and diary of 190 1. Dublin Historical Society Archi ves, Dublin. N.H. l. They reportedly mel while milh was drawing Lhe sculpture

of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice in ] 892. Alan Chong in Bos Lon 2004, pp. 100- 104, details their association in Italy. A slightly different acco unt is provided by Smi th lale in life: milh 1956, p. 8. A watercolor painting of the head, entitled Bartholomeo Coleono [sic], was exhibited a l the \Vorld's Columbian Expos iti on; Official Catalogue o.f Exhibitions , World's Colwnbian Exposition, Department K Fine Arts , Part X (C hi cago, 1893), p. 33, no.

1336. Boston 2004, p. 10, fig. 71, reproduces Smith's watercolor of the busl of Coll eoni , da ted 1894, in the Mu eu111 of Fine Arls, Boston [94.215]. A graphite and watercolor drawing of the en Lire slalue. signed a nd dated 1887, was given Lo the Fogg Arl Mu eum by De nman Ros 111

1916 [1916.693].

2. hand-Tucci 1997, p. 158.

7. Denman Waldo Ross diary,

Gardner reveals her disappoinLmenl lhaL milh did nol accept her offer of the di reclorshi p of the gallery in a leller: undated leller and lyped copy from Tsabella Gardner Lo mith ; Smith Papers, reel 5115.

19] 0. no. l: Boston lo Kyo to.

The man y, remarkably informative diaries of Ross's Lrip lo Japan in 1908, 1910, and 1912 are in the Harvard Arl Museum Archi ves.

8. Gardner's relations with 3. The widow of George

Hearst, mining magnate and senator from Cali fornia, and mother of publisher William Randolph Hearsl, she was a philanthropist, arl colleclor, and major contributor Lo the developme nt of the University of California al Berkeley. See Winifred Black Bonf1ls, The Life ancl Personality o.f Phoebe Apperson Hearst (San Francisco, 1928).

4. \~T hi Leh ill 1970, vol. l. pp.

262-63. See al o Barbara S. Le ko el a l. , Joseph Lindon Smith: Paintings from Egypt , fin Exhibition in Celebration of the SOth Anniversary of the Department of Egypt;ology, Brown University (exh.

Department of Egyptology, Brown Uni versity. Providence,

1998).

5. Thi s painting is noL li Led in St. Botolph Club, '路Exhibition of pictures by Joseph Lindon Smith." 1901 [ mith Papers, reel 5118], whi ch sugges ts Lhal Lhe picture was acq uired immediately by Gardner. The relevant section of the temple and reproducti on of Lhe paintings are lo be found in Shohekig a Zens hi/,: Chion-in l Collection of Wall Pain lings: Chion-in], edited

by Doi Tsugiyoshi el al. (Tokyo, 1969), pp. 96- 103.

6. Boston 2009, p. 418, fi g.

21. Bamboo (recto) a nd Chrysanthemwns (verso); purchased in 1911.

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Okakura are ably explored

by Murai 2003; Murai 2009; and Boston 2009, pp. 72-94,

400-408.

9. Neither Smith nor Ross is

men tioned in Wayman 1942, Chisolm 1963, Murakala 1971, nor in a more recenl accounl of Japanophiles by Benfey 2003.

10. Clark 2001, pp. 221- 60.

Clark also overlooks some dozen other We Lem arlisls identified

by Willia m H. Gerd ts in hi s introductory essay lo Theodore W'ores: fin American Artist in Meiji Japan , ed ited by Chris Pearce (exh. Pacific As ia n fo seum. Pasadena, 1993), and Gerdls's expanded ve rsion in fimericanArtists in Japan, edited by Lynne Bl ack man (exh.

Hollis Taggert Galleries, New York, 1996).

11. La Farge 1897, describing hi s 1886 Lrip lo Japan with Henry Adams, is based on hi journal noles thal firsl a ppeared as articles in The Century in 1890, 1891, and 1893. La Farge carefully avoids identifying his conlacl , both Western and Japanese. Theodore Wares, who resided in Japan from 1885 Lo 1887 and again from 1892 lo 1894, published nine articles on Japan in various period icals between 1888 and 1938 Lhal likewise fa il Lo identify his conLacls and Lhe source of so much of Lhe dubious ma Leri al Lhal he relays. Roberl Blum published three arti cles entitled "An

I"

arli l in Japan" in Scribner 's Mag azine in 1893 Lhal describe his advenlure traveling aboul Japan wi th native guide .

12. Our principal source of information regarding Lhe Smiths' ] 90 1 travels in Japan is a diary [Sm ith diary 1901], dictated

by Joe and wrillen by Corinna, whi c h contains a lerse, malterof-facl record of their daily acti viti es. Their impre sions, observations, a nd allempls lo ada pl lo an unfa miliar culture and language can be further gleaned from Lhe sheaf of willy a nd occasionally arch lellers >vrillen by Joe and Corinna lo inform and am use his parents, a nd lo allay their concerns. Both the diary and letters by Joe are in the possession of the Dublin Hi stori cal ociely Archives, whi c h al o has a collection of uniclenlihed photographs taken

by Joe during Lhe course of the ir Lrip, as well as other me morabilia. No trace has been found of Lh e acco unl book, mentioned in Smith's leller lo his parents, March 28, ]901 , Lhal Corinna kepl, li sting all Jellers received a nd senl, daily expense , purc hases, and paintings. Th e di aries and papers of Joseph a nd Corinna Smith are the subjec ts of my forth coming researc h.

J3. Onl y limited allem pls have been made lo u Lilize Smith's papers in th e Archi ves of American Art [Smi th Papers], Lhe additional fami ly papers in Dublin [Smith Family Papers], and Corinna Lindon mith's papers al the Arthur and Eli zabeth Schlesinger Library, Harvard Un ivers ily. lo reassess a nd further document the account of his career presented in Smith 1956 and milh ] 962.

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L4. Smith's ·'cop)," ··erncalion," ··re-presenta tion" or historical monuments ra ises major issues rega rding the role of copying. Lhe di spl ay of' copi es in museums (which beca me a di visive is ue in the development or the Museum of Fine Art Boslon). and the dissemination of reprodu cti ons as a mea n or culli valing an a ppreciation of arl amongst Lhe general public Lhal cannot be addressed within the confines or thi s essay.

15. T heodore E. Stebbins el al..

The Last Ruskinians: Charles Eliot N orton, Charles Herbert Moore, and Th eir Circle (exh. Harvard Uni versity Arl Museums. Ca mbri dge. 2007).

16. For the earl y Ruskini ans, see Linda S. Ferbe r and William H. Gerdts. The i\Te w Path: Ruskin and the American PreRaphaelites (exh. cal. Brooklyn Muse um, 1985).

J7. mi th's regislralion card a l Lhe school li sts hi s entry as 1877, and he is also ] isled as such in Ba rllell Hayes, A rt in Tran sition: A Century of the Museum School (Bos Lon, 1977), p. 24. fi g. 43: but H. Winthrop Pei rce, who was a member of the first class of 1877, doe nol include Smith in hi s acco unt or the members of Lhe firsl lwo classes (Pei rce 1930. pp. 30-35). fl re mains uncerta in whether he entered in 1880 or 1881.

1.8. Faith Andrews Bedford, Frank IT( B enson, Am erican Impressionist (New York . 1994), p p. 18- 23, desc ri bes their train ing al the luseum Sc hool a nd in Pari s.

19. fimericans in Paris, 1860- 1900 (exh. Na tional Galle ry, London, el al. . 2006).

p. 17, fig. 3, illuslrales Be nson's portra it or Lhe yo uthful Smith but othe rwise ove rlooks hi s presence in Paris al lhal Lime.

20. Ross's dis erla li on was pri va tely published: see Denman Wa ldo Ross, Th e Early lJistory of Land-Tlolding among th e Germans (Boston. 1883).

21. 1\rn artic les by Ma ri e Fran k, " Denman Ross and the theory of pure design," American Art 22, no. 3 (2008), pp. 73-89, and ·'The theory of pure des ign and Ameri ca n arc hileclura l education," Journal of th e Society o.fArch itectiiral Historian s 67 (2008), pp. 248-73. feature Ross's contributi ons lo the theory of design, which Fran k furth er explores in Denman Ross and American Design Th eory (Ha nover, 2011).

22. Accompanying the m was Den man's mother. Fra nce Walker Waldo Ross: her cousin Phoebe Waldo Ross, a travel writer: and Denman's cousin, Loui se M. Nalhur l, of whom he pa inted a number of' port raits la ter beq uea thed lo the Fogg Arl Mu eum.

23. Smith Lo his parents, October 30, 1886; milh Fa mil y Papers.

24. Le ith 1996, fi gs. 38 and 39. reproduces the Facade or Sa nta Maria Novella by ewman a nd Smith res pecti ve ly; pp. 32- 37 detail 'ewma n·s rela tions with Ross and his encounter with Smith in Florence in 1.886 and their subseq uent meetings in Europe and Egypl.

25. Peirce 1.930, p. 73. He also remark Lhal Smith "is remembered as an inspi red arl teac her" (pp. 66- 67).

26. Ala n Chong, "Artistic life in Ve nice·· in Boston 2004, pp. ] 03-4.

27. Louis Con~fort Tiffany cmcl Lcmrelton Tlall: An Artist 's Country Estate (exh. Metropolitan Muse um of Arl, New York, 2006). pp.

195-99, describes the lwo masques milh orga nized fo r TifTa ny. Smith papers, reel 5123, includes lwo incomplete lists titled " Plays Given Away fro m Du blin" a nd "On Loon Poinl Mi sce ll aneous." See a lso Smi th 1962, pp. 254-63.

28. William I. Bauhan, "Loon Point," Dublin Llistorical ociety Ne wsleu er 32 (Augus t 1995), p. 2. For a n acco unt of milh's Du blin home and whal now remains, see Cowitry H omes 8, no. 2 (1929), pp.

34-39. See a lso Pump lly 1918. vol. 2. p. 658, for lhe building of th e Tealro Ba mbino.

29. " Houri Kouri and Hurri 1 urri" was perfo rmed for the benefit of the Massachusells Hosp ital Ship Bay State al Loon Poinl on July 12, 1898. milh Pa pers, reel 5122. provides a ] isl of casl and per formers and a synopsis or the play. For a possibl e sou rce of' Lhe play, see Frederi c Ala n harf, Tcikej iro Hasega wa : Meiji .lapa,ti 's Preeminent Pu.blisher o.f Tfloocl-block -illustratecl Crepe-paper Book s (Sa lem, Mass., 1994), and Guth 2008.

30. La Farge 1870. E ngaged

by Lhe Japa nese lo evaluate thei r mining operati ons in Yezo. present-day Hokkaido, P umpelly 1918, pp. 267- 341, described these even ls a half a cen tury la ter.

161

31. Corinna' mother was a siste r of Pumpe lly's wife, Eliza.

Another sister of Eli za P umpelly was marri ed Lo Thomas Hi 11, pre idenl of Ha rva rd fro m 1862 lo 1868. Their youngest siste r was ma rried lo Henry B. Hill, professo r of chemis try al Harvard. Early summer residen ts of Dublin , the Henry B. Hills evidently were res ponsible for e nticing Pumpelly lo acquire properly the re in J883 and Lo build a house the following year Lhal was destroyed by fire in 1893. Pum pelly then increased hi s holdings and bu ill a larger house which remai ned the ir summer home. The Pumpellys continued Lo reside the resl of the year in Newport, where he had built a large home and la bora tory in 1872. ee Pumpelly L918. vol. 2, pp. 578 and 656.

32. Joseph Sargent (1849- 1910) was an ind us lrialisl associated with a Bosto n lexlile firm. Born and rea red in Worcesler and of' Lhe Harvard class of 1870, he retired in 1897 and Lherea.fler spenl Lhe win ters in Egypt a nd Fra nce, and the summers in Magnoli a, Massachusells, with his wife and fo ur childre n, who welcomed the compa nionshi p of Joseph miLh .

33. Leith 1996, pp. 50-52 . relates Lhal 1ewman " made a producti ve bu l poorly doc umented Lri p Lo Japa n in L896- 97'' a nd lhal Lhe pictures he prod uced in Yokoha ma.

Nikko, Kyo to, and Kamakura were exhi bi ted al the Fine Arl Society of London in July 1899. buL Lhal " his watercolor of Japa n looked old fas hioned," and none of them sold. See Catalogue of a Collection of lVat:er-Colours of English Scenery by Onorato Carlandi,

Co\ 1 \ r

also a Series Illustrating Japan by llenry /~ . Ne wman and other Drawings by Variou s Artists (exh. Fine Arl Soc iely. London, exhi bition no.

203, Jul y 1899), nos. 60- 74. I a m indebted lo Royal Leith for this cilalion and olher malerials regarding Smith's meetings and relati ons wilh Newman.

Smilh then agreed lo accompa ny an arli sl fri end, Waller Brown, lo Greece and did nol relurn home un lil June 1899.

Although Lhis was rnilh's firsl lri p lo Greece, Ma rjorie B. Coh n, Wash and Goiwche: A Study of th e Development of the Materials of Watercolor (exh.

Fogg Arl !Vluseum, Ca mbridge, Mass., 1977), p. l 09, mi sta kenl y clai m Lhal Lhe arli sL's firsl lrip lo Greece was fro m 1886 lo 1889. which was spenl in olher E uro pea n countries.

fo r Mill et's new book on Japan? l hope yo u have nol comm illed yo urself - il wo uld be a mistake I think ." An arti cle descri bing Lhe lurbu lenl voyage of Lhe Nippon Maru and Lhe prowess of Lhei r cap Lain Lha l a ppeared in Lhe Japan W'eekly Mail 35: no. 11 (March 16. 190J ), p. 293, singled oul amongst Lhe passengers, " Mr. Smilh is a Boslon arli sl who comes lo ma ke studies of Lhe lemple archileclure of Japa n a nd of bronzes."

37. Flarvard College, Class of 1877, Sec retary's R eport, no. 7 (Norwood , Mass., 1917), p. 170.

38. A possible genes is of the Millel pu bli calion (Bri nkley l 90la) was prese nted by Ellen P. Conanl, " Harvard c ircle of Japa nophiles,'" paper a l Meiji Studi es Conference, Harva rd Uni ver ily, May 1994.

34. milh 1962, p. 130.

35. T he fi rsl menlion of an im pend ing visil lo Japan appea rs in the lasl leller Lhal Joseph Smilh senl his pare nls fro m Egypl on Marc h 14, 1899. A leller fro m hi s fa ther fro m Rome. da ted ovember 15, ] 899, lo their fin ancial agenl, Charles F'ilz, inslrucls Filz lo depos il $1000 wilh K. P. & Co. for Lhe couple's use in Japan. The Providence Home Journal.

Feb. 27, 1901 , reporls, "Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Smi th of T he Ludlow leave lwo weeks from Tuesday for Japa n.'" mi lh Papers, reel 5123.

36. Henry Fra nci Srnilh lo J. L. Smilh , March ] , J 901, Smi Lh Papers, reel 5115. Jn a subsequenl leller, da ted March 17, Henry Smith re ilerales, " Wha l do Lhe paper notices of [s ic] mean by saying Lhal you are going lo Japan lo ma ke sketches

39. For an accounl of the inle1t wined careers of Millel and Brin kl ey, see Conanl J 995, pp.

1 24~5 0 .

40. Brinkley's collection of Japanese ceramics and prin ls was purchased in Tokyo in 1892 by a lruslee of Lhe Melropolila n Museum of Arl, Charles Slewa rl Smilh , who shipped the cera mics directly lo Lhe museum in l893 and presented the woodblock pri nls lo Lhe New York Pu bli c Library in 1901. Brin kley's pamphlet, flrtistic Japa n a t Chicag o, A Description of ) apan ese Worh路s of fl rt Sent to the Tflorld 's Fair, Wo rks in Metal, Clyptic Works, Tex tile Fab rics, Lacquer, Enamel, Pictiires, Porcela ins .. .

(Yokohama, 1893) is a primary ource of informa tion regardi ng Lhe Japanese arl exhi bits. Other publica ti ons include: flistory of th e Empire of Jap an ,

162

Compiled and Transla ted for I.he Imperial ] apanese Com.mission of the World 's Colwnbian Exposition

by Capt . Frank Brinkley (Yokoha ma, 1893), a nd The f< yoto ln chistrial Ex hibition of 1895 Held in Celebration of the Eleven Hundredth flnniversary of the City's Existence , Written at the R equest of the Kyoto City Go vernment (Yokohama, 1895).

41. Brin kley 1897. The e deluxe editio ns were bound in silk. with copious Li pped-in photographs and some inexpensive original woodblock prinl , paintings on silk a nd paper, as well as some exec uted in cul velvel (birodo )'ii.zen) as ad ditiona l iJluslrali ve malerial. Each volume con tai ned an essay on arl wrilten by Okakura Kaku zo, then di rec lor of Lhe Tokyo chool of Fine Arts. ee Bethel 1991. The Ja panese con tri butors are not identified in Lhe lexL whic h was selected, lranslaled, a nd edited by Brin kley.

42. Ernesl F. FenoJlosa was so eager lo have Mill el pu bli sh his projected book on Japanese arl and so in need of funds Lha l he agreed, fo r a small commi ss ion, lo sec ure Lhe fab ri c needed fo r Lhe covers and Lhe small pai nled ill uslratio ns for the deluxe ed iti on of Japan , which were suppl ied by Lhe Takas himaya slore and olher sources in Tokyo. Di aries of Mary McNeil Fenollosa. 1898, City of Mobile Museum.

43. Bri nk ley 1901. Th e A rt of Japan wa issued in a Mikado Edi Lion of 25 (example al Starr Easl Asia Libra ry, Columbia University) and a De Luxe Ed itio n of 750 (example in Lhe Fine Arls Library, 1-T arvard

nivers ily) . The sa me lex l. wi lh an expanded seclion on Lhe appli ed a rt s, ap peared in vol. 7 of Lheir nexl publica ti on, Fran k Bri nkley, Japcui, Its History, A.rts and Literature, Lhal was publis hed in eighl volumes in 1901-2 (Brinkley l 90la); volume 8 , " Kera mics," appeared approximately Lhe same lime as Edward . Morse's ca talogue of hi s pollery collec tion (Morse 1901). Millel nexl issued a companion publiralion by Bri nkley, China , Its JJist:ory, Arts a nd Literatilre, in fo ur volumes in 1902.

44. The Kichijolen fro m Yakushij i and some of the major Buddhist scul ptures copied

by Sm iLh a re reproduced in Lhe book i nsleacl by means of Li pped in ha lf-lone monochro me photographs of these monumenls.

Despile Lhe erro neous label. Lhe Kichijolen pai nting is nol a wall pain Ling bul was painled on hemp and survives as a hanging scroll, whic h is rarely displayed.

45. Smilh lo his parenls, March 12, 1901; milh Fa mily Papers.

45. Altho ugh Corinna continued lo wo rk diligently on her Arabic, she acquired suffic ienl Japanese lo ma nage the ir da ily needs and lo haggle wi lh antique dealers a nd olhe r merchan ls. However, il has nol been possible, in the confines of this essay, lo discuss her acli vilies indepe ncle nl of her husband.

47. Jo eph Smith pain ted, kelc hed, and photographed these lwo young girls a nd beca me so f"riencll y wilh } oma i a nd his ramiJy Lhal Lhey all saw Lhe milhs off al Kyolo sla li on when Lhey lefL See name card, " . I omai , Arlislic Damasce ne, Inlaid wor k of Gold & ilver

S \TISI\(

TOI!\ 11~1

I lll!I 111

on Metal Ware, Manufacturer, Factory 1rill be Shown al Any Time. No. 10 Shin Monzen, Kiolo. P.TO.'" in Smith Famil y Papers.

1973), pp. 2-7, for an account or other Ja panese students and Bryn Mawr's c lo e ti es Lo Tsuda College.

President Taft. They were among the ea rly summer res ide nts of Dublin and Mrs. MacVeagh was one of the community's so :ial a rbi Le rs.

53. Perry's elde l isler was 48. Smith lo parents, Kyo to, April 30, ] 901; Smith Famil y Papers.

49. Smith diary 1901, Apri l 12. \/;Thi Le hill 1970 fails lo me ntion, both in his di scussion of Quincy Shaw's contribution lo the museum and in hi s acco unt of the Asian de partment. that haw was a major collec tor of Japa nese lacq uer. Whitehill also does nol record that several of Shaw's a soc.ia les a nd other benefactors of the museu 111 were collectors or Japa nese arl. Amelia Ruth Gere Maso n, Memories of a Friend (Chi cago, ] 918), describes the background a nd social acti viti es of Emily Eames MacVeagh.

50. Smith diary 1901, June 24.

51. Barbara Rose, Tsuda Umeko and W'om.en 's Education in Japan (New Haven. 1992), traces the career of the yo ungest of the fi ve women who ca me Lo the nited Sta les with th e Iwa kura Miss ion in 1871. She li ved with the Char les Lanma n fa mil y in Was hi nglon from the age of six lo seventeen, whe n she returned Lo Japan.

52. I am i nclebted Lo Lorett Treese. Bryn Mawr Co llege archives, for assisting me Lo identify Dogura Masa. who, li ke Corinna, was class of 1896 but stayed on an add itional year, a nd graduated from Bryn Mawr Coll ege in 1897. ee usie Inga lls Hutchinson, "Ja pa n and Bryn Mawr," Br)'n Mawr fllwnnae Bulletin (Spring

marri ed Lo John La Farge. The Perrys spent May and June of 1901 principally in I ama kura, and left Japa n on July 10, 1901.

In ] 903, they purchased a farm in Hancock, N.H., six mil e from Dublin.

54. E. Di gby Baltzell, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia (New York, 1979), pp. 295-99, provides an intriguing account or s. We ir Mitchell (1829-1914), a medi cal, literary, and social success, whose accomplishments he cla ims have yet Lo be adeq uately documented.

His wife, Mary Caclwalacler, was a member of a prominent Philadelphi a ramily; her brother, John Cadwalader. was a leading ew York attorney, an associate of J. P. Morgan, a nd a colleague of Phillip Schuyler.

55. Phillip Schuyler (18361906) was an e teemed New York a ttorney, sportsman, yac htsman, a nd a trustee of major inslilulions. The grea t-grandson of Major Genera l Philip Schu yler of the Conlinenlal Army. and on hi s mother's s ide, Alexa nder Hamilton , he trained for a sc ientific career, attended Harva rd Uni versity and the Uni ver ity of Berlin , and , after serving in the Civil War, elected Lo become a lawye r. The Smiths visited him and his wife al the ir stalely home al lrvinglon-011 -.I-ludson built by hi s ma ternal grandfathe r in 1835.

56. Her husband, Franklin MacVeagh (18.17- 1934), was a Chi cago lawye r who se rved as secretary of the treasury unde r

57. The Fenollosas visited Japan from July 9 lo ovember 6, 1896; they resid ed in Tokyo from April 10, 1897 until May 4, 1900, when Mary left, and August 25, 1900. when Ernest left. They were both back in Tokyo fi路om May 14 Lo eptember 21, 1901 so Ernest could complete fln Outline of the llistor)' of Uki)'O-)'e (Tokyo, 1901). Although the signatures of both couples appear some weeks apart in the Kanaya Hotel registra ti on book, pp. 98, 106. they did not eek Lo meet or chance lo e ncounter each other during the peri od that the ir vis it overlapped. l am indebted lo Anne Nishimura Mor e for making a copy of the I anaya Hote l registrati on book ava ilable lo me.

58. Smi th Lo parents, Yokohama, April 10. 1901; Smith Fami ly Pa pers.

59. Smith diary 1901 , March 22.

60. Ibid. , June 30.

61. Ibid .. Ju ly 13.

62. Brinkley secured a le ller from minister of foreign affa irs, Kato Takaaki , lo the governor of l yolo, who then furni shed Smith letters lo the heads of both ishi -Honga nji and Chion-i n, which Joe duly de livered with Ishigawa, a member of Lhe staff of the Yaa mi Inn , acting as i nlerpreler. By the folJ owing clay he had received their assent lo his pa inting al their templ es. See Smith Lo hi s pa rents, 1arch 28, 1901; mi th Family Papers. The

163

Smiths a lso received word from I ubota J anai , the direc tor of th e Kyo to and Nara museums, who tactfull y explained that Baron l uki had " retired because of ill health" but that he wou ld gladly assist them.

63. In acldi Lion lo Brinkley' pu bl ica lions, Smith me nLions "l uki's book." that is, Fiistoire de l'art chi Japan (Commiss ion ] 900), whic h con Lai ns the first official account of the nati on's arti stic development. The Japanese edition appeared the folJowi ng year, the Engli sh edition in 1908. Smith may have read John La Farge's review of th e F\enc h edition in International Monthly 3 (190 I), pp. 590-96. Smith also re f"ers Lo "Shimbi Ta ikan," that is, Shinbi tailwn [ elected Relics of Ja panese Art], 20 vols., edited by Tajima Shii chi (Kyo to, 1899-1908), the firsl four volumes of wh ich had appeared by Lhe Lime Smith a rrived in Japa n.

Jn addition , he rnosl likely read Brinkley's Lexl for The Art of ] cipan whi c h was issued in 1901. While in Japan Joseph a nd Corinna read aloud Pi e rre Loli , Madam.e Chr)'santheme (Paris, 1893; reprinted 1900) and La Farge 1897.

64. St. Boto lph Club, "Exhibiti on of pi ctures by Joseph Lindon mith ," 1901, no. 11 [Smith Pap rs, reel 5118], lists this pai nting whose present whereabouts is unknown. A photograph in the mith Family Papers labeled on Lhe verso "Royal Apartments, Nishi Honganji Te mp le, I( yo lo" in an unidentified ha nd , appears Lo be a reproduction of thi s painting of a waH of the Tai menjo, which is ably a nalyzed and reprodu ced in hohekig a Zenshu: Nishi Hong anji [Coll ection of Wall

Co\\\ 1

Paintings: 1ishi-Honga njil, edited by Oshita Os hie el al.

(Tokyo, 1968), pp. ] 2-15. o.

12 Lists a painting of an adjacent roo111 in this templ e, cited by 111 ith as the "0-B iroma, or Chief Audience H.00111." that was known lo have been in the possess ion of one of his heirs.

Both paintings are reproduced in S111ith Papers. reel 5124. This ame reel includ es a photograph of the Shu111idan that he 111ay have used a reference.

65. Although Smith worked on it for several clays. according lo his diary, there is no record of that subj ec t among th e paintings he exhibited a nd there are no known reproductions lo be found amongst his papers.

66. Smith does not identify the shrine. which may be the one es ta bli heel in J and a

by Yoshimura Masa mochi as part of an independent Shinto movement known as Shinto hinshukyo. See Encyclopedia of ShinJ;o, edited by orman Have ns and Inoue obutaka (Tokyo. 2001- 6). vol. 3, p.

223. The Fenollosas a llenclecl the same ceremony on Sept. ] 7, 1898, but Mary McNeil Fenollosa (d iary. City of Mobile Mu eum), likewi se fail s lo identify the shrine or the sect.

67. Smith diary 1901, April 9.

68. ee Smi th Papers, reel 5118, for a copy of this ca talogue.

69. Japan lVeekly Mail 35, no. 17 (April 27, 1901), p. 441, contains an acco unt or the garden party.

70. Accession numbers 02.43-47 were purchased by the museum in ] 902, a nd accession

numbe rs 22.13--15, acquired by Bigelow in 1902. were on loan lo the museum until formall y gifted by him in 1922. mi th lo pare nts, March 20, 1901 ; Smith Fa mily Papers.

45, 46. The ex hibition was also shown that same yea r al the I ori yama City Museu111 of Art and the Museu111 of Moclern A rl, I amakura.

7].

72. [n a letter of Jul y L2 lo his

parents, Sm ith writes. '' I have just fini heel a 路corking' fin e pi cture - which i lo go lo the c hu ylers," but does not mention the 111ed iu111 in either hi s cl iary or letters home. A I though there is no record of Smith having made more than one painting of the Yomeimon , he may ha ve produced another version that was acq uired by Ross.

73. There i a small unidentified photograph of thi same gateway in the mith Family Papers. It is onl y in the las t decade or so that Japa nese sc holars have bega n lo stud y and exhibit the watercolor and oil paintings of the Toshogu Shrine and Tai yu-in mausoleum of Nikko and surrounding landscape by loki Bunsai (1863-] 906) that were acquired by foreign touris ts and recentl y repatri ated via the international art market. Interest in this little-known yoga (Western-style) artist stems from his studi es of alpine flora that we re first publi shed by a noted botanist, Oba Hidea ki. Nihon sanso z ujiL: Ioki 13 unsai ga [Uluslra tecl Wildflowers of Japan Painted by loki Bunsa i] (Tokyo: Yasaka hobo, ] 982). The large, meticulously rende red wa tercolor paintings of hi s alpine ga rden were featured in a major exhibition and bilingual catalogue, Ruskin in Japan 1890- 194.0: Nature for Art , Art for Life I Shizen no bi, seikatsiL no bi: John Ruskin to kindai Nihon ten (exh. Ruskin Callery, heffi eld . 1997). figs.

164

74. A brief bi ography and chronology by Tera kado To h iaki appears in loki Bunsai ten: Sakikiso hyakka hyakuso, yom.igaeriL Me~ji no yogaka [Exhibiti on on loki Bunsai: One f-lunclrecl Blas oming Flowers and Grasses: A Re usc ilated Meiji Western-Style Painte r] (Tokyo: Tokyo Station Ca ll ery, 2005), pp. ll-24, 194-97.

75. Smith diary 1901. July 18.

76. Th e Critic 40 (May l 902), p.

293. cite the quoted comments on Smith 路s work, wri llen no doubt by Brinkley, that appeared in the Japan Weekly Mail 36, no. 4 (July 27, 1901), p. 85. I am much indebted lo Mary Cla re Altenhoven, Fine Arts Library, Harvard Uni vers ity, for her ass ista nce with thi s and many other citations in thi s essay.

77. Sm ith lo pare nts, March 20, ] 901 Smith Family Papers.

78. Smith 1962, p. 187.

79. I aneko had come lo Boston with the lwakura Mi ssion in the early ] 870s, graduated fro111 th e Harvard Law School in 1878, and thereafter had a di stingui shed career a a dipl oma t a nd ca binet mini ster, while mainta in ing close ti es lo his Boston me ntors and Japanophiles.

During hi s tenure as mini ster of agri culture a nd industry, which administered national and international expositions, he had worked close! y 11路ith Ku ki and Okakura on the Paris Expos ition of 1900, where J. B. Millet's brothe r Frank was in charge

of the mounting/display of the Ame ri ca n a rt exhibit.

80. Smith diary 1901, July 22.

81. A zoologist with a PhD from Yale and Johns Hopkins, he was clean of the college of science of Tokyo Imperial Uni versity when S111 ith met him . Hi s eld er brother, I ikuch i Dairoku, 1rns the First Japanese graduate of the University of Cambri dge (St. John's College); a noted mathemati c ian, Kikuchi served as president of Tokyo Imperial Univers ity, and in 1901 was mini ster of education. He later co llaborated with Brinkley on A Ilistory of the Japanese People Ji路om. the Earliest Tim es to th e End of the Meiji Era , (New York, 19 15).

Another brother, Mitsukuri Genpachi, was a professor of history al Tokyo Imperial Un iversity. Andrew Cobbing, The Japanese Discovery ofVictorian Britain: Early Travel Encounters in the Far West. Meiji Japan Series , vol. 5 (Richmond, 1998) a nd I oyama l oboru, Japanese Students at Cambridge University in the Meiji Era., 1868- 1912: Pioneers.for th e Modernization of Japan, trans.

Ian C. B.uxlon (Morrisville, N.C ..

2004), deta il the ca reers of Lhis remarkabl e family.

82. Smi th diary 1901, July 18.

83. Ibid. , April 5.

84. Se iho left I yoto in August 1900 and returned in February l 90 l. Tanaka Hisao and Tanaka Shoji, Um.i o wata ri seiki o /meta TakeiLchi Seiho to sono cleshiwchi !Ta keuchi Seiho a nd His Followers, who Crossed the Ocea n and the Centuries] (Hi roshima. 2002), trace hi s

S1r1si1cro1n

11~ 1-: 1nH1111

Lra ve ls and acLiviLi es 1rhile abroad. Based on SmiLh's refe re nce, in a le LLer Lo his pare nls daLed Feb. 18, 1901., Lo a large hoLe l in Pari s where Lhey 路'sLayed lasl Jul y," we know Lhal SmiLh was in Pari s and surely would have visiLed Lhe lnLernaLi onal ExposiLion.

85. Kyolo governme nl offic ials are known Lo have broughL Paul Claudel and olher promine nl foreigners Lo call on Seiho, buL Lhere musl have been many more suc h as SmiLh , whose visils have gone unnoled.

86. SmiLh's reque Lwas based on a reprod uction shown him of a screen painLing wiLh a Liger, Lcaent Po wer (Moko yoi), publi shed in Seiho gafu [Seiho Album], vol. l (Kyolo: nsoclo, 1900), n. p. I am indebLecl Lo a nni Deng, Fine Arl Library, Harvard Uni versily, for Lrac ing Lhi s image and numerous oLh er sources ciLecl in Lhi s essay.

Seiho's choice of a landscape may have been based on one Lhal miLh pa inLed nea r Lhe Yaarni Inn in oil on Lhe morning of April 24. See L. BoLolph Club, "ExhibiLi on of pi clure

by Joseph Lindon Smilh," 1901 [Smi Lh Papers, reel 51181, no.

I 8a: 路'Landscape." ILs p resenl whereabouls is unknown.

publisher. See miLh Papers, reel 5123.

88. Hugh Corlazzi, ed. , fl British Artist in Meiji Jap cm: Sir Alfred East, R .A. (BrighLon, 1991), reproduces and briefl y annolales Lh 1889 jou rnals of Sir Alfred EasL, which were clearl y inlended for publi ca li on.

EasL's insisLence LhaL Japan mighL ha ve a decorative a rl buL no fin e arls sounds even more blinkered now Lhan when ori ginally declared.

89. SL BoLolph Club.

"ExhibiLion of piclures by Joseph Lindon Smilh ," 1901. pp. l -3; Smith Papers, reel 5] 18.

87. r.Jeannelle Leonard Gilder], "The Lounger," The Critic 38, no. l (Ja nuary 1901), pp. 12- 14.

This review is ciLecl al lenglh in a fea lure arLicle on Smilh e nLiLlecl 路'A PawluckeLarlisl, his imporla nl work" Lhal appeared in Lhe Pro vidence Home Journal, Ja nuary 27, 1901, where Lhe a ulhor is erroneously idenLifiecl as Ric hard Walso n Gilder, who was her brolher and, like her, a nolecl c ritic and

165

Constructing Japan in America AME RI CAN W O MEN AN D J A PA

E S E GA RD EN S

K e ndall II. Brown

3. Isabella Gardner an the path ta the gardens at Green Hill, 1904 . Isabe ll a Stewart Gardner Museum

When Isabella Stewart Gardner built her museum, perhaps her most inspired act was to put a garden at its heart (:fi.g. 1). In an age when museums sought to educate the masses through the rigidly neo-classical facades and taxonomically ordered collections, Mrs. Gardner pursued the infinite through the arrangement of objects gathered and grown. Her reassertion of the muse in the museum centered, literally, on an understanding of gardens as transformative places that engage ideas of beauty, nature, virtue, transience, creativity, healing, and human interaction. Just as Gardner brought the garden inside, this essay moves the histories of gardens and women from periphery to center, suggesting their vital role in Japanism - the American appropriation of Japanese culture.

Jack and Isabella Gardner's trip through Asia in 1883 and 1884 introduced them to gardens in Tokyo, ikko and Kyoto. 1 These intimate gardens paled in comparison with the stately Buddhist temples of Japan, the ancient tombs of China, and such landmarks as Borobudur, Angkor Wat, Ellora, and the Taj Mahal. Ye t, on returning to Boston, Mrs. Gardner's first significant "response" to Asia was to construct a "Japanese garden" at Green Hill, the Brookline estate that the couple had just inherited. However humble compared to other gardens, the arrangement of rectangular pools with imported iris, a rusLic pavilion, and zigzag bridge (:fig. 2), with the lanternlined path and stone Buddha likely added around 1900 (:fig. 3), is the first documented, permanent Japanese garden in America and the first Japanese garden at an American es tate. Given the long, illustrious line of American women who later built Japanese gardens, Mrs. Gardner's garden open up the meaningful nexus of Japan, gardens, and American women.

167

H HDI\ \

Japanese gardens in America demonsLraLe the American construcLion - literally and symbolically - of Japan. As such, Lhey are a key part of American Japanism.

They can al so reveal hovv Japanese wanted Lheir country to be perceived abroad. Finally, they show how some Japanese residenL in America made gard ens as part of Lheir idenlity. Women played a 1 ey role in this phenomenon.

Broadly, in Lhe OrienLalisLWestern imagination, Japa n and Japanese culture were ofLen imagined as female - a refined and pa ive Ea tern bride who could be possessed by Lhe powerful and assertive West. In response, Japanese often presented their culture in part as feminine, a s traLegic counter to the threaLening image of a ma culine Japan: modern, mechanizing, and militaristic. Specifically, in America, public Japanese gardens were largely s Laffed (and visited) by women, and private ones were disproporLiona Lely builL by women, so LhaL Japanese gardens Lake on Lhe double aura of feminine pace. Moreover, Lhis space signals types of experience - including bodily engagement, artistic creation, and healing - that are frequently associated wi Lh female behavior or women's culture.

If we consider Japanis m as id eas and prac Lices, Lhe link be tween women and gardens is inescapable . Perhaps the mosl fundam e ntal aspect of Japanism is the constru cti on of a Japan that is feminine and pa toral. The photos, postcards, and paintings aimed at touris Ls link women and garde ns, and abjure men , machines, or other indices of urban moderniLy (figs. 4, 5) .2 In these images, women are as much a part of garden scenery as are Lhe flowers or lanlerns. Conversely, Lhe women seem to wear gard ens as easily as they wear kimono. These women are Japanese Eves in Japanese Edens, idealized women in idealized places. Japanese garden and Japanese woman provide parallel images of n atural beauty, unspoiled freshness, and artless artis try. In descriptions of the era, both are " dainLy," "charming," "bewitching."

The gardens are settings for women , and the women are personifications of gardens. Both are works of art.

4 . "Geis ha in Garden"

from Japanese at H ome, Raphae l Tuck & So ns postcard, ca . 1900

In part th ese images and idea are male creaLions for male delecLaLion. For instance, in the creaLive writing of America's premier Japanophile, ErnesLFenollosa, Lhere is a marked gendering of Japan. In Lhe preface Lo his book of poetry, East and West, he sLaLes that "Eas tern culture . . . has held Lo ideals whose refin ements seems markedly feminine." In the poem, "East and West," Fenollosa writes: 0 Land where the towns are like garden blooms!

0 land where the maids are likes peaches!

0 gardens fainl with their own perfumes!

0 maidens like waves on the beaches!3 Wha tever else Lhe poe m mi ght accomplish, it presenls Japan as feminine garden space ripe for pene lration by Weslern males, or a l leasLtheir fertile imagina tions. Fenollosa echoes sentimenls famili ar from Pierre Loti 's Madcune Chrysanthenie, Sir Edwin Arnold's verses in praise of enchanting musmees, and co untless other Lexts. 1

168

5 . "A Jap Be lle ." Postcard, ca . 1900

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6. Mary Pi ckford as Cio Cio and Marshall Neilan as Pinkerton in the film Madame Butterfly, in Phiroz Soklotavalo garden, Plainfield, N .J., 1915.

Still courtesy George Eastman H ouse

Western imagination extended beyond Lhe printed and painted page, exerting itself more directly in producing fantastic yet tangible Japans into which it could insert itself. On Lhe s tage, beginning with Gilbert and Sullivan's T he Mikado of 1885, Japanese houses and gard en were created as stage sets. Japanese clothing similarly became a costume in which Westerners, especially women, could play the role of a Japanese. Since Japan functioned as an idea and a s tyle, it was malleable, portable, wearable. The L11Limale example of Japanisl creation is s urely Maclanie Butte1jly, a novella written in 1895 by John Luther Long, Lhe .first of his :five novels seLin Japan.5 Turned into a play by David Belasco in 1900, productions featured pi cture drops of rice .fields, flower gardens, and snow-capped mountains. In 1904, Puccini wrote his opera based on the story; it was performed in English from 1906. The tal e 路was :filmed in 1915 in a Japanese garden in Plain.field , New Jersey (:fig. 6). 6 In any form , Madame Butterfly resonated with 路women. oL content Lo passively consume tales of Japanese heroines, American women Look ac tive roles in creating and performing Japanism. Elite and middle-class women - like Carol Kennicott in Sinclair Lewis' Mainstreet - dressed up in kimono. Photos show women posing with fans and parasols for amateur performances or Japan-themed garden parties. Putting on exotic raiment allowed women temporary transforma tion into a Butterfly-like charac ter in which they shed their mundane forms to e merge as new women - radiant, beautiful, refined, and safely erotic (because, in addition Lo her cultural distance, in the encl, Madame Butterfly is self-sacrificing). A Japanese space was useful to these ac tivities because iL literally grounded Lhe role-playing, connecting them to the values associated with Japan through iLs gardens.

Earl Miner underscores this paradigm when he writes of the Butte1fly era, "For many writers - and readers - Japan takes them to another, happier world where Lhey may for a Lime, forget their own troubles and moral conve ntions in an Ori ental Garden of Bliss." 7

It is tempting to follovv orthodox OrienLalis Lanalysis and dilate upon the West' imperialist dreams of Japan , gard ens, and women, but the picture is complex for Japan skillfully deployed aspec ts of those fantasies Lo deflect growing criticism of the nation's rapid material and military expansion. The "exotic utopia of h alcyon 'old Japan'," Lhe s taple of Western literature and art, was recreated in three dimensions by Japanese officials at World' Fairs, where it represented Lhe essence of Japan. In contrast Lo the neo-Baroque or later Modernist architecture of fairs , Lhe Japanese government built its pavilions in his toricist styles and sel Lhem in elaborate gardens, so that the landscape functioned as a pastoral, arti stic, feminine envelope enfolding and na turalizing the architecture and it message.8 This strategy wa utilized from the World' Columbian Exposi tion of 1893 through the San Francisco and ew York World's Fairs of 1939 and 1940. In these official Japanese spaces, Japanese women wearing kimono (:fig. 7) were employed Lo serve Lea, pose for photos, and guide visitors so that gardens, women, and Japan were .firmly linked in the public imagination. The goal of de-linking Japan from ideas of progress and aggression, and reattaching it to images of peace and beauty, is encapsula ted in one Japanese poster for the 1939 Tew York World's Fair. It begins, "Changeless, timele s Japan ... Its enduring charm tal es place naturally in

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'The World of Tomorrow'." This strategy was enormously succe sful , as pictures and verbal descriptions expand on the native charm of the picturesque buildings, cunning gardens, and dainty geisha.

7. "Geisha Girls" in the Japanese Village, Alaska Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909 8 . Japanese Tea Gorden and Sunken Gardens, Breckinridge Pork, San Antonio, co. 1920

The message of these World's Fair gardens extended beyond each exposition, as dozens of commercial " tea gardens" (fig. 8) sprang up across America. In them Japanese women were again deployed as personification s of th e gardens, just as the gardens - or even the name "garden" - stood for core Japanese values if not for Japan itself. Because these gardens were run by Japanese or American entrepreneurs, not the Japanese government, they sugges ted that J apanese gardens were adaptable materially and ideologically.9 Exposition and comm ercial gardens, together with a growing litera ture on Japanese gardens, in particular Josiah Conder's hugely s ucce sful book Landscape Gardening in ] apan of 1893, contributed to the growth of J apane e gardens for middleclass bungalows or great es tates. 10 In the latter case, data usually reveals who commissioned the garden and some of the ways in which it was meaningful. This evidence suggests that for the women were built them, Japanese gardens were intended socially as af拢rm ations of cultural autl1ority and personally as expressions of charac ter. Because Japanese gardens are not a uniquely female domain, the dominance of women in a field also valued by ome Western men and Japanese male "experts," situa ted women as collaborators in cultural creation. n With the exception of Florence Yoch's J apanesque garden at Mary Stewart's Il Brolino in Santa Barbara and Mary Jay's plan for George Wickersham's huge garden on Long Island, these gardens were designed and constructed by men, usually Japanese men, 路working under American women. For instance, after Goodyear Tire founder Frank Seiberling and his landscape architec t Warren Manning planned a "New England-style Japanese garden" as a gift for Gertrude Seiberling (1866- 1946) at their Ohio esta te, Stan Hywe t, Gertrude, without consulting her husband, came up with an alternative idea for a Japanese garden in an old quarry west of the house. In 1916 she hired Chicago garden builder Taro Ots uka to construct it, and the Japanese specialist from Chicago reportedly instructed Gertrude on the "symbolism and meaning of all the garden elements, and allowed her to spend hours medita ting in it. " 12 Through this garden, Gertrude Seiberling asserted both her refined tas te relative to American men and her superior position over a Japanese garden builder.

In sum, American wo men might transcend their subaltern status by commissioning work

170

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from Japanese male who do not merely serve passively a servants but actively create things of beauty and pecial value (fig. 9).

9. Mrs. Leonard, West Cheshire, Conn., 1907.

New Haven Historical Society

Like collecting, garden-making signaled status. In 1935, when Ellamae Storrier-Stearns (1880-1959) moved to snobbish Pasadena, where Japane e gardens had graced homes for decades, she hired Kinzuchi Fujii to create the largest garden in town. Its double pond and :fifteen-foot waterfall would impress the ladies at the local Garden Club and upstage the 1912 garden of Arabella and Henry Huntington. For Edith I ingdon Gould (1864-1921 ), a former chorus girl sensitive about her weight and her status after she married into one of New York's grande t families, her dainty tea garden by the famous Takeo Shiota provided a way to join the ranks of other women of taste. Hence in 1916 Gould had her garden published in House and Garden and Country Life in America. Yet the garden featured a dainty teahouse, stuffed with "silk cu hions like an old-fashioned cozy corner," 13 that surely offered psychological relief from the overbearing mansion and huge stable of polo ponies erected by her husband George.

For American women, a Japanese garden offered a place apart, an environment that could express female values and virtues in terms of beauty and fantasy, thus performing the core function of Japanism. For example, after Ethel Peeples (1883-1963) married oil baron J. Garfield Buell in 1908, and moved reluctantly to his 700-acre ranch, The Homestead, in eastern Oklahoma, she wintered in California and visited Japan :five times. In 1924, when her hu band informed her that they were not leaving Oklahoma, she began to build a ten-acre Japanese fairyland, carried out by "George Ho hi, a diminutive Japane e." 1'1 The impetu wa gardens seen in California and Japan, and described in "The island of leave taking" in Sir Frederick Treves' book of 1905, The Other Side of the Lantern. 15 According to an article on Mrs. Euell's garden in Country Life in America: The Japanese garden is a garden of suggestion - a scene from a land of make-believe - a little world of children. The garden is entirely an expression of an emotions - the spirit of a landscape or the memory of a well-beloved corner of the country, associated a t the same time with an express of some sentiment or fancy. 16 In her garden, Ethel Buell could create beauty out of wilderness, engage in flights of imagination , as ume the dual role of mas ter and student with a Japanese artis t, and safely challenge the values of her husband.

This escape to an ersatz Japan was not merely flight from Western culture to a romantic fantasy, but also a statement of values thal effectively countered the concepts of material and scientific progress a t the heart of American culture. This journey is exemplified by Isabel Langdon Stine (1880- 1959), 路who was so intrigued by the Japanese garden a t the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco that, after her husband's death, she devoted herself to opera and Japanese gardens. In 1917, after spending six months in Japan studying kabuki and visi ting gardens, Isabel hi red Japanese arti sans to build a hillside house

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and garden in Japanese style al her esLaLe, Hal one, in SaraLoga, California. Within a few years, Isabel and her children moved there permanently, sleeping on Latarni s urrounded by fusuma paintings brushed by Chiura Obata. Isabel Stine's dream worlds of Japan and opera merged in 1924 when she presented Maclama Butterfi'X in her gard en (fig. 10), performed by the San Franci co Opera Company, which she had helped found the previous year. Isabel herself played Lhe role of Cio-Cio's maid. Hakone's s tage-set design and its use for various performances and Japanese cultural ac tivities lead to the conclusion that "I-fakone was in a sense then, a theatrical world of makebelieve ... " 17 AnoLher garden likely inspired by Madame Butterfly was created by Mrs. Lynn Hecht (1887-1961) in 1927 at her estate, Middlegate, in Pass Chri tian, Mississippi. These theatrical worlds allowed for role-playing Lh at enhanced sociability and sugges ted the ability to transcend the past.

The role of Japanese gardens as producLively oppositional spaces is apparent in many popular essays on them. For instance, an article on the garden created around 1914 by Taro Otsuka for Nelle Fabyan (1872-1939) in Geneva, Illinois, idealizes Japanese gardens, as "a pic ture and a poe m," in the phrase of Lafcadio Hearn. In contrast to commercial and material American view of nature, th e Japanese find in gardens "a perfect harmony ... full of meaning and significance. The pic ture delights his eye; ministers to him in artisti c values. But the poem has a message for his soul." 18 At Riverbank, where entrepreneur Colonel George Fabyan devoted mos t of the property to prize caLLle farms, laboratories, and other functional ac tivities, Nelle Fabyan's Japanese garden was non-productive, a resonant realm of beauty and spirituality.

Japanese gard ens did not merely express values sought by genleel American women, they expressed the personality of th e woman responsible for their creation. These complex func tions are apparent in Lhe construction, func tion, and discourse on the Japanese garden built in 1906 for fary Clari Thomp on (1835-1923), a t her summer esla te, Sonnenberg, in Canandaigua, New York. The daughter of ew Yorl governor 1yron Clark and wife of Frederick F rri Thomp on, founder of the Fir t National Bank of the City of ew York (later Ci tibank), Mary became an important garden creator and philanthropist afLer her husband's death in 1899. Landscape architect Ernest Bowditch initially designed nine gardens on the fifty-acre es tate, but in 1906 Mary decided to turn the aqua tic planL greenhouse into a Japanese garden , hiring K. Wadamori to build it. In addition to a waterfall and s tream, it featured a two-room teahouse, with guest room and "sevving room." 19 In 1916, Mrs. Thompson hired Dr. William Hornaday, director of the New York Zoo, to wriLe on the gardens. His summary presents the Japanese garden as a foil to th e insinceriLy of Lhe late Gilded Age: A vale of paradise cannoL be to mortal eye and brain any more perfect, or one degree more beautiful, than Sonnenberg's Japanese garden in 1916. Like ge nuine humor which bubbles up spontaneously, this place seems to be as it is without any human effort. It is not fussed up. Its efforts do not impres yo u as having been striven for. It is

172

l 0. Bianca Soraya as Cia Cia San and Dimitri Onofrei as Pinkerton in a performance of Madama Butterfly at Isabel Stine's estate Hakone, Saratoga, California, 1923. Courtesy of the Hakone Foundation

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a story Lhal has gotlen iLself, oul of pure joyousness of soul, unmixed up wiLh worri ome Lhought and tiresome toil. 20 It is easy to imagine that these words about the Japanese were equally meant to describe Mary Thompson, called " Canandaigua's Beautiful Lady" for her philanthropy.

11 . St o n e Bu dd ha in t he ga r den ot Gree n H i ll, 190 4 . Ph o t ograp h .

Isabe l la St ewa rt Gard n er

Isabella Gardner's Japanese and other gardens a t Green Hill are discussed in Hildegarde I-fawthorne's article of 1910, "A garden of the imaginalion." Hawthorne's analysis parallels many of the ideas - "fan cy and poetry and memory" - discussed above, but also reveal more complex meanings . Most basically, Hawthorne suggests gardens as centers for a therapeutic aesthe tics that nurture the soul through bodily engagement with beautiful things.

Her descriptions focus on harmonious colors and enticing fragrances (gardens are "written in perfume and color") but also mention touch ("soft lawns") and sound ("almost in hearing of hurrying cars"). Hawthorne's language is sensual, even sexual, in evoking the gardens and their creator. Implicitly she argues that gard ens, as places where "heart and imagination are needed," challenge an intellectual understanding of the world. Although she analyzes the Della Robbia Madonna not the seated Buddha (fig. 11), Lhere is no question that Mrs. Gardner' gardens exude a romantic spirituality, whether Buddhist or Catholic.

M useum

Hawthorne first postulate the deep, abiding connection between gardens and women in physical and psychological terms . 路women and gardens have always understood each other, and from time immemorial they have been associated. The garden . . . [described here is] essentially the expression of femininity working with nature . . . they expre s a sisterly bond of union. They are gracious, they contain sweet and secret recesses, no one may understand them at a glance, and the happy visitor within their gates receives from them something more than mere fragrance and beauty. Beyond their appeal to the senses, the speak a language of the heart; the imagination wakens in them; something elusive but powerful remains afler the memory of their green bowers and bright flower beds has faded. 2 1 Hawthorne also describes the various gardens at Green Hill as" folded within another

13 11011 \

like Lhe pe tals of a rose," creating "effec ts of mystery and surprise," so that discovery of gardens suggests discovery of female bodies and minds.

These qualities result in gardens where " time itself stands till." In part, this stems from the historical artifacts. After describing the iris beds outside the Japanese garden, Hawthorne takes us insid e this timeless environment.

The Japanese garden, with its lotus-filled pond, its bronzes, and gray stone lanterns, its subdued tones of brow and green, create an impression of age and repose. Some thing of the mysterious Eas t abides here, and you linger in silence, with the half-conscious feeling that a magic wand has been or is about to be spoken. But nothing happens, unless it be the moving of a shadow across the quiet water, or the stirring of the heavyheaded lotus.22 The article concludes with three ideas. First, garden making, as a deeply personal form of expression, cannot be left to others, and thus Mrs. Gardner's gardens very much reflect their patroness, "the mistress of Green Hills [who] created every separate portion of hers .. . the visible form of the thought within her." Second, garden making is a work of art on "the bosom of Mother Earth herself." Thus it is less creation ex nihilo than it is the arrangement of existing things, and this is an inherently fe minine type of creation. And third, garden making is challenging because it must express ideas that are intricate and mysterious ye t producing an effect that is simple and harmonious. Hawthorne dilates upon the subtle ty, the working of the imagination, the sense of discovery, and the harmony of the gardens a t Green Hill so that they become not just the expression of Mrs. Gardner's personality and perhaps a j usti:fication of the mix of culture a t her home/museum, but the epitome of a properly feminine manner of creation in which Japanese culture is analogue and inspiration.

Hawthorne's article says nothing about the social function of the gardens, nothing about the summer of 1905 when Mrs. Gardner's intima te Okakura Kakuz6 and his artist fri ends Rokkaku Shis ui and Okabe Kakuya lived at a cottage in Green Hill and used the garden as social space and congenial environm ent for artistic creation (:fig. 12).23 Th e short shrift given social ac ti vity in most gardens in popular writing sugges ts that such private enjoyments were generally off limits for public discourse, either seen as too frivolous or Loo serious. Certainly many of the ac tivities held in Japanese gard ens served to uphold the social status quo by proj ecting the power of the matron through control of material and hum an resources. Ye t events in these gardens could also subvert social norms . In her Chinese pavilion a t The Breakers in Newport, Alma Belmont dressed in Chinese clothing as she held suffragette meetings . Although a means of demonstrating sta tus via appropriation of foreign culture, Japanese gardens were also rich enviro nm e nts for personal recreation and re-creation. In these gardens, American women could lose themselves and, in so doing, :find themselves .

174

12. Rokka ku Shi su i pa i nti ng fans a t th e co ttage at Gree n Hi ll, 1905.

Photograp h, proba b ly by Isabel la G ard n er. Isa b el la St ewart Ga rdner M useum

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l. For a disc ussion of Lhe ga rd en, ee Chong 2009. pp.

23-26. Gard e ns visited by Lhe

8 . For th e political implica ti on of ex pos ition gard ens, see Brown

2008, pp. 13-16.

Gard ners include, in Tokyo, Lhe Fukiage Imperi al Garden ,

9. For a Ludy of Lhe oldest

Hori kiri iris ga rd e n, Lhose a l

commerc ial tea gard e n, see

several teahouses, a nd, in Kyo lo,

Brown 1998.

those a l Nijo Castle, ho ga ku' in De tached Palace, I yolo Imperi a l

19. Doell a nd Doell, A Landscape Preservation Plan for Sonnenberg Gardens (New York, 1988), pp. 57-58.

20. Willi am Horn aday, " Mas terpieces or garde n maki ng" (unpu bli s hed ma nuscript, 1916),

] 0. Conder 1893.

p. 77.

11. For a de ta iled case Ludy of

21. H awthorne 1910, p. 447.

Palace, Joju' in, 1o fukuji , Higashi Honganji,

is hi

Honga nji , Kinkakuji , Gi nka kuji.

s uc h rela tions hips, see Murai

Toj i'in and th e Byodo'in.

2009.

22. I bid ., p. 448.

2. For a disc ussion of releva nl postcards, see Geary 1998. For

12. Doell a nd Doell , The Japanese Garden at Stan Ily wet Hall: A R estoration Feasibility Stiidy (Syrac use, 1993), p. 2. Kn owledge of th e

23. Chong 2009, pp. 32-33.

Meiji photographs, see Terry Benne ll, Photography in Japan , 1853-191 2 (Rutla nd, Vt. , 2006). For re pre e nla li ve pa intings linking women a nd

close rela ti ons hip be tween Gertrud e a nd Ots uka is based on

pa Loral scenery, see Lhe work of

interviews with Irene Seiberling

Theodore Wares; Pa aden a 1993.

in

overn ber 1992 by Doell a nd

Doell.

3. F enollosa 1893, p. 21. T he poem was deli ve red lo the Phi

13. La n a ter 1963, p. 200.

Be la Kappa Socie ty a l Harva rd in 1892.

14. "Ja pa nese garden on Buell esla le al Muskogee gain

4. A mong the ma ny s ludie tha l

na tional a llenli on," The Daily

disc uss masculinis l Ori enlalis m,

Oklahoman (May 19, 1935), p. 10.

see Miya Mizu la Lippi LL " Figures of beauty: Aes th e ti cs and Lhe bea utiful woman in Me iji Japa n" (PhD di sserla li on: Yale Uni ver ily, 2001). For 路w eslern wo men and Ja pa n, see Yos hihara 2003.

5. Long's s tories were rivaled by Lhe ro mances penned by O nolo Wa ta nna , whi ch often fea tured

15. Sir Frederi ck Treves, The Other Side of the Lantern: an fl ccowit of a Commonplace Tour Round the World (Lond on, 1905), pp. 318-25.

16. "Ja pa n in America," Country L~fe in Am erica (March 1935), pp. 31- 32.

illus lra lion of Japa nese damsels in gardens. For a s tud y of th e

17. Ta nso Is hi hara a nd Glori a

a uthor, see Dia na Birc hall,

Wick ha m, " Hakone Gardens,

Onota Watanna: The Story of Winn~fred Eaton (C hi cago, 2001).

6. The firs t film version of Bullerrl y is a nalyzed in Marchetti 1993, pp. 78- 89.

ara loga," California

Ilorticultural Journal (Oc tober 1974), p. 149.

18. Orin Crooker. "A pic tu re and a poem," The Garden Magazine 37, no. 5 (July 1923), pp. 301- 9.

7. Miner 1958, p. 13.

175

Ananda Coomaraswamy and the myth of India in early twentieth-century America Anne McCauley

Among the celebrity pa sengers arnvmg 111 ew York on Lhe Nieuw Amsterdam on February 24, 1916, were a mys terious, Lall, elegant man with a regal bearing and his attractive, brune tte wife, identified in Lhe socie ty column of Lhe New York Tinies as "Dr. and Mrs. A. K. Coomaraswamy." 1 How they managed to attrac t enough inLeresL to warrant a mention is unclear, since few people in the United States had read the books on medieval Ceylonese art and Indian drawings Lhat Coomaraswarny, a doctor in geology rather than a formally trained art historian, had published while living in London. 2 However, ~within two months, the couple's talents became known to eager concertgoers and lovers of the exotic . Mrs. Coomaraswamy, who had already wowed London audiences the previous November under the s tage name of RaLan Devi,3 pre miered a show of Indian ragas and folksongs accompanied by the Lamboura (fig. 1). Her husband, described by the press as an authority on "Indian art and the owner of Lhe mos l notable collection of Hindu pic tures in the world" 1 and "well known in India as well as in Europe as a critic and a member of learned socie ties,'"5 prefaced the act with a lec ture on Indian music . Echoing Lhe enthusias tic encomiums of Lhe Coomaraswamy ' famoL1s fri end RabindranaLh Tagore, who said Lhat Devi's singing trans ported his mind "in the magnificence of an Eastern night, with its darkness, transparent ye t unfathomable, like the eyes of an Indian maiclen ,"6 Ameri can music criti cs clubbed th e performance "one of the fow real purple patches of the season, unique in atmosphere, singularly compelling in eerie poetic effect." 7 Ananda Coomaras-vvamy and his second wife, Alice Richardson of Yorkshire, were Lhus swepL in Lo Lhe OrienLalisLfantasy of India, a country whose naLionalis Lic movements received scanL notice in the American press, buL whose traditions of mys ticism, sensuality, mons trous god , crippling poverty, and caste di isions continued to attrac t feature writers. Their decision to la un ch th emselves in the Iew World as an odd combina tion of Broadway entertainers and university lecturers played directly into the growing, turn-of-the-century cult for things Indian.

However, Ananda Coomaraswa my had to negotiate a delicate pa th Lo avoid th e taint of being labeled an entreprene ur, guru, or overL lefLisL activist for Indian independence while maintaining his repuLaLion as a serious scholar of Indian culture. Delicately balancing his public image agains t complicated personal relationships, Coomaraswamy embodies the contradictions inherent in all Westerners' attempts to speak for Asian cultures, or for a concept of Asian c ultures LhaLdenies the artificiality and his toricity of racial, national, or linguis tic categorizations. Coomaraswamy's position was even more complicated by his failure Lo identify as either Indian or British. This was compounded by his acceptance, in April 1917, of a three-year term as the first curator of Indian arL al the Museum of Fine Arls in Boston, an in titutional job that contra Led with Lhe bohemian lifes tyle and radical politics tha t he embraced .

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The son of a successful, thoroughly Westernized - and knighted - Tamil lawyer from Ceylon, whose premature death left the one-year-old child to be raised in England by his mother before being shipping off to boarding school and Cambridge University, Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) cho e to construc t a cultural identity in opposition to British upper-class values.8 Only returning to Ceylon at the age of eighteen in 1895, he discovered a sympathe tic extended family and a group of educated Indian elites rising against the British imposition of industrialization, Western dres , academic art schools, English language and laws, and even architecture. However, his interest in traditional Indian crafts derived from ideas he had found in England, specifically the writings of William Morri and the utopian ociali t workshop that Morri had founded at Merton Abbey in Surrey. Morris called for a return to a rather fantasized idea of medieval communal living, in which all members of society were enriched by doing satisfying handwork, craftsmen governed themselves in guilds, and spiritual development rather than excessive accumulation of tawdry, machine-made goods 路was the goal of life. The Arts and Crafts Movement informed Coomaraswamy's approach to Indian art during the stay that he and his first wife, Ethel Partridge, made in Ceylon be tween 1903 and 1906, ostensibly to direct a mineralogical survey.

The bool that grew out of this sojourn, Medieval Sinhalese A rt of 1908, contains the essence of Coomaraswamy's philosophy about the unity of folk and elite arts, the importance of protecting small craftsmen, the vital connection between art and religion, and the need to counter the capitalistic exploitation of workers. It is an odd work, as Coomaraswamy declared, "written not as scholarship but for the Sinhalese people." It was prefaced by a history of the Tamil people up to the end of independence in 1815, when commercialism and irreligion proved fatal for the arts.9 Based on anthropological method s of interviewing native craftsmen supplemented by over one thousand photograph taken by Ethel (fig. 2), 10 the book documents everything from the iconography of metalwork and woodcarving to the stitch patterns of embroiderers. "A socie ty th at sees wealth in things rather than in men, is ultimately doomed," Coomaraswamy concluded. Only when native peoples return to the "love of India" could the country be saved. 11 1 e.-.1. CERC Y QNV

Coomaraswamy's belief that politics, art, and life were integrally connected carried over into his own lifes tyle. Between 1907 and 1909, he and Ethel joined Charles Ashbee's financially struggling Guild of Handcrafts, founded in 1888 but relocated to Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, in 1902. Uniting silversmiths, woodworkers, weaver , printers, and ceramicists, the guild advocated a return to craft production, simple communal living, self-sustaining gardening, organized theatricals, and dress reform. 12 Th e Coomaraswamys hired Ashbee to renovate a medieval chapel (dubbed the "Norman Chapel") into whi ch they moved the textiles, me talwork, and furniture that they had brought from Ceylon. 13 Ethel, described by Ashbee's wife as a "strange little thin undeveloped figure by day . .. but at night coming out like a brilliant moth in Eastern plum cherry and orange colours, with strange Sinhalese jewels," 11 was a weaver

178

2 . Ananda Coomaraswamy, Mediaeval Sinha lese Art (Lo ndon: T he Essex Pre ss, 1908), pl. IV

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who brought back the technique and richly colored textiles he had sLudied in Ceylon and set up a loom in their Gothic home. Coomaraswamy took over Lhe printing establishmenL, using the press that had printed Morris's Kelmscott Chaucer to produce his monograph on Sinhalese art as well as books and pamphleLs that would not have found commercial publishers. These included his 1907 defen e of Indian nationalism and various essay arguing against mainstream opinions on the Greek origins on Gandhara art and the oppression of Indian women.

Coomaraswamy's brief experience as the manager of a printing press ended when he went alone to India in 1909 and then returned there with Ethel in 1910. During their stay, the marriage dissolved when Ethel refused to condone the presence of Alice Richardson, whom the Coomaraswamys had met in Chipping Campden and with whom Ananda wanLed to purs ue a relation hip. 15 Ethel returned to the Norman Chapel, which she dismantled, and put her husband 's collec tion in storage while he remained in India with Richardson until 1912. Coomaraswamy and Richardson, who married in 1913, seem to have moved often between London and Britford, near Salisbury, be tween 1912 and 1916, 16 when they left for the United States.

The couple, living off of Coomaraswamy's writings and lectures as vvell as what was left of his inheritance (after he had given Ethel a lump sum and the income from his inves tments in Ceylon), 17 was fleeing war conditions in London as much as seeking new audiences for Indian music and art in New York. Identified as a guild sociali t at a time when many socialists opposed World War I as a ba ttle among capitalists, Coomaraswamy was apparently already in a politically precarious position as a result of his connections with Indian nationalists. If the Zeppelin bombing of London that began on May 31, 1915, made life in the city even more nerve-wracking, the imposition of conscription on February 2, 1916, may have been the trigger for the Coomaraswamys' departure.18 Armed with a letter of introduction from Laurence Binyon - poe t, Orientalist, keeper of drawings at the British Museum, and founding member of the India Society - Coomaraswamy used Ra tan Devi's recitals to meet American s upporters of Indian culture and to orchestrate press interviews extolling his expertise and views on India's contributions to the West. ew Yorkers learned little about his political ac tivism and much more about the Hindu belief in the unity and interdependence of all life, 19 a theme continued in later publications such as The Dance of Siva of 1918. 20 This me sage for an American audience echoed the ideas of the TheosophisLs and the followers of the Ramakrishna movement, introduced to the United States

by Swami Vivekananda, whose popular lectures a t the 1893 World Congress of Religions ulLimately led Lo an increase in followers and Lhe importation of other swamis to taff Vedantic centers in ew York, Boston, and elsewhere.21 Although Coomaraswamy later denied or downplayed any connections with the Theosophists, while in India in 1907 he in fac Lhad known Annie Besant, who had assumed the leader hip of the Adyar branch after the death of Helena Blavatsky, the founder of Lhe movemenL. 22 Besant's involvement in founding a Hindu college for boys and her ac Li vism in the Indian ational Congress, which led Lo her arrest in 1917, made her an admirable figure in his eyes. He was even closer to Lhe followers of Vivekananda and, according Lo S. Durai

179

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, rMERICAN WOMEN VICTIMS

OF HINDU MYSTICISM

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Raja Ringam, became a me mber of Lhe Vivekananda Society. 23 Sister Nivedita (Elisabeth Margaret oble), an Irish convert who moved to Calcutta in 1898, even lectured in the orman Chapel in 1908; after her death in 1911, Coomaraswamy ediLed her book, Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists. 21 3 . "American women vicUnF«Cck.n!cd Ac1\Vlty In Prosdytbfng by Swam!.t Throughout the Un11ar Si.am Hu Ca.~ n1. Gcn-c-rnmrnt to lnvuti,.ait. Mla:r.a11iM of Converts to lndb-WOf?IC'ri Aic Forsillttg Foriuou, Homa.

H~ .and Oitldn:n ln Their Su.rch for ·"l"bt RufKt W]r...'.'

The success of Vedanlic leaders m converting Americans, however, had resulted in a backlash that confused legitimate disciples ·with a number of self-declared gurus.25 In 1898, an article in the Outlook objected to a pamphlet published by the Christian Literary Society claiming that Vivekananda was worshipped by thousands of Americans. Presidenl Eliot of Harvard, among others, declared, "I have never heard in this country of a single convert from Christianity to either Hinduism or Mohammedanism."26 However, a short story in Lhe Ladies Home Journal in 1900, titled "Her Boston Experiences," poked fun at the "Boston bees about a Hindu flower" - women who worshipped a guest swami who stood awkwardly while a "feminine Th eosophi st" explained his apparent boredom as the result of "his e ternal ego, his spiritual essence grasps and holds the higher life ever before our more backward being." 27 Undoubtedly inspired by Vivekananda's lectures at th e Cambridge home of Mrs. Ole Bull in December 1894, where Professor and Mrs. Fenollosa and Alice Longfellovv were among the invitees, 28 Lhe story anlicipaled Lhe outcry in 1911 when Mrs. Bull's daughter conlested her molher's will which had lefL several hundred thousand dollars Lo Lhe Vedantisl Society.29 Hys teria over the dangers of Hindu mys ticism for the weaker sex continued up to Coomaraswamy's arrival in Tew York in 1916. A Washing ton Post story in 1912 declared that an "unprecedented activi ty in proselytizing by Swamis throughout the United States has caused this government to inves tigate migration of converts to India" (fig. 3).30 Sarah Farnum (a follower of Vivekananda) was said to have "given h r entire fortune to found a t Green Acre [Eliot, Mai ne] a summer school of Hindu philosophy and ended this journey by being incarcerated by her fri ends in a lunatic asylum." The wife of the president of Purdue University "left her home, her husband, her children, to join the sun-worshippers." 31 In 1910, Oom the magnificent, also known as Pierre Bernard, was arrested in New York for brainwashing two young girls who were told he was a god and for engaging in Tantric ritual with screaming, emi-dressed men and women behind the facade of wha t he claimed was a Sanskrit and yoga school. 32 Such sen a tionalistic pres , which conflated Hinduism with Zoroastrianism and just plain hucksterism, was orchestrated by the Christian right, but succeeded in forcing authentic advocates for Indian religions to downplay their agendas .

Coomaraswamy thus sleered clear of direct advocacy for Hinduism, couching his message within his promotion of traditional Indian dance, music, and art.

Although he had a urned Indian dress as a political taternent when in India

180

1

tims of Hindu m yst ic i sm," Washington Post ( February

18, 1912), p . SMl 4 . Stan l e y Roberts Lo ndon,

Ananda Coomaraswamy, ca . 1914. Gelatin silver print (half of photograph) .

Princeton Un i versity Librar y

\ \ \ \ I l l CtlO\l\ll\S\\1111

(fig. 4), he wore Wes lern s uils in London and America, wilh only a cashmere scarf Lo signal his Asian lineage. lnLervi evvers in 1916 never made clear wheLher Coomaraswarny was English or Indian, noting his BriLish acce nl and Lh e Englishness of his wife bul suggesling a Louch of mys tery in hi s appearance: "The long blac k hair, brushed back from his forehead, a cerlain vibraling quie l in his brown eyes, the half Aryan, half Semilic modeling of his face, Lhe quick glint of an earring.":3:3 To s ucceed in his enlerprise as a scholarly lecturer, Coornaraswamy had Lo eschew Lhe dhoLi, kurta, and Lurban for Lhe s uil (unlike Lhe swamis and popular leclurers s uch as Prince Saralh Kumar Ghosh, who, like Lhe Coomaraswamys, was managed by the Pond Bureau),:31 bul none th eless could s lill be swepl inlo s tereotypes of hypnolic gurus by his telling earring and "vibrating" eyes.

The sense Lhal Lhere was someLhing a liLtl e mys lerious behind Dr. Coomaraswarny and Ratan Devi's sudden appearance in New York was borne out in Lhe summer of 1916 whe n the Indian scholar wrole a leller Lo Denman R oss - a collector, professor of fine arts al Harvard Universily, and Lrus tee of Lhe Museum of Fine Arts. According Lo his firsl wife ELhel, Coomaraswamy had as early as 1910 hoped Lo dona le his exlensive collec lion of Ceylonese and Indian sculplures, Lextiles, and miniatures amassed while li ving in India Lo help form a new national Indian museum , but encountered political hurdles.:35 Faced wi th declining funds and few possibilities in England, Ananda turned to a man whose enthusiasm for Asian art was well-known within Orientalist circles: The firs l inquiry is whelher you have ever considered Lhe developmenl of an Indian seclion in Lhe Museum and would conlemplale allowing me Lo worl for it very much as Okakura worked for yo u in conneclion wi lh Far Easlern arl. The second refers Lo my own Indian colleclions under certain conditions of which Lhe chief would be Lhe und ers tanding that Lhe mos t important works would be adequa lely exhibiLed. I have not at present any catalogue, and Lhe collec tion is in England, partly on loan in Oxford and London; but you will be familiar with the bronzes in Visvakarrna and the Rajput Paintings . Th e number of Rajput and Mughal paintings and drawings is very large, there are also some stone heads, unpublished bronzes, ivories, illustrated manuscripls, and works of handicrafts. The price would be in Lhe neighborhood of $55,000.:36 This was an enormous arnounl of money (aboul 1.1 million Lo $4.2 million in 2012 dollars), 37 and Lhe museum Lrus lees hesilaled while Ross and Coornaraswarny negotiated. In addition, Ross wondered whal else Coornaraswamy could do for Lhe museum , and proposed some leclure : "The people of Bos Lon 1now very little about Indi an Art. They have heard of the Taj Mahal perhaps. Then you might go Lo India to make purchases for us, Lhe interesl aroused

by Lhose lectures being fruiLful of money to spend. There would be books to be boughLand photographs.":33 Coomaraswamy responded by arguing for the imporlance of Indian art and his need for a Lhree-year appoinlmenl at $5000 per year, since his privale resources were limited because of "l ) expenditures of many years collecling and publishing and 2) circumslances due to Lhe war" in addition to his support of a wife and two children .:39

By September 1916, iL was agreed Lhal Coomaraswamy would be given a lelter of crediL from the Museum for 3550 to re lurn Lo London, feLch his collection, and purchase $ ] 000

181

McC1 Lu .1

worth of obj ects. The couple left for London in October and returned to New York in January 1917 for a second round of performances. Because of the probable outbreak of war with Germany, the Boston trustees balked at purchasing Coomaraswamy's collec tion, but vo ted to hire him on a conlrac l that demanded his presence a t the museum from October l Lo June l of each year (with the remainder spent traveling and buying, except for a three-week vacation). Ross then arranged to buy Coomarasvvamy's collection himself for the museum, at a lower price of 30 ,000 to $40,000. 10 By April 1917, Coomaraswamy was already publishing articles for the museum' bulletin, donating sculptures and textiles, and preparing to move to Bos ton . 11 The job as a museum curator gave Coomaraswarny great flexibility to travel and write on art, while also allowing him to continue to pur ue his other interests in dance and music. Consistent 路with his theory tha l Rajput drawings were public, popular, and mys tical (in contras t to Mughal drawings, which were secular, princely, and for connoisseurs), 12 Coomaraswamy argued tha t Indian music was "peculiarly free from commercial and other influences that tend to degrade it, for i t is an expression of ... a spirit of aloofnes from temporary things." 13 Since an artis t or singer was only a medium through which eternal truths were channeled, it did not matter that Ratan Devi was an English soprano who had learned her songs and techniques through study on the Indian s ubcontinent with Us tad Abdul Rahim; her performances were "authentic" expres-

5. Aura Hartwig, Ruth St. Denis in The Cobra Dance, 1906. Gelatin silver print . Denishown Collection, New York Publi c Library for the Performing Arts 6. Gobind Rom & Ood ey Rom , Jaipur, Postcard o f

Noutch Dan cers, co . 1895 - 1900. Gelatin silver print. Deportment of Art and Arc haeolog y, Prin c eton University

sions. 11 In fac t, indicative of the wides pread colonialis t belief LhaLThird World peoples were incapable of speaking for themselves, critics noted that Devi " has become so imbued with the music of India, her present home [which was not in fac t true], that she i as adepl in iL as a native; and on account of her Wes tern origin is perhaps more capabl e than a native wo uld be to interpre t th e music of India to Occidental hearers." 15

182

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H11111/J 011.I

Fut

111

Indian Art

==

!

7. Ananda Caomaraswamy, "Hands and feet in Ind ian art," Burlington Magazine (January 1914), pp. 206- 7 8 . Gelatin si l ve r print of actress with cropp ing indications on overlaid tracing paper by Ananda Coomaraswomy far Abhinayadarpana Nandikesva ra, Th e Mirror of Gesture, being the Abhinaya darpana of Nandikesva ra, tran slated

by Caomaraswomy and Gopalo Kristna yyo Duggira la (Camb r idge, Ma ss.,

1917), pl . X ll .E

The difference between Lhe concerts of Ratan Devi (who seems to have separated from Coomaraswarny by the time he got the Boston position and had reworked her act with an English-born dancer known as " Roshanara 16) and Lhe performances of RuLh St. Denis, an American dancer who rose through vaudeville to become a popularizer of exoLi c cos lumes and choreography, hinged on thi direct connection 路with a master teacher in India and the preservation of what Coomaraswamy emphasized as Lhe religious basis for Indian performance. St. Denis's inspirations for her Indian dance, Rahma, premiered m 1906, were so-called "nautch" dancers in Coney Island side shows and Hindu s tatuary. According to contemporary reviews, St. Denis opened her dance rou tine as a seated goddess in a temple, only to rise and work herself into a spinning, ecstatic frenzy, before returning to her shrine and renouncing the world of earthly experience. 17 For the Cobra dance, which she performed as a charity benefit a t Isabella Stewart Gardner's museum in BosLon, St. Denis stained her body brown and transformed her bejeweled hands and arms into snakes that snapped at the audience (fig. 5) . Even though St. Denis became a follower of Swami Paramananda in London (an apostle of the Rarn akri hna movernenL) and s tudied yoga, 18 her dances were spectacular s tage produ cti ons with dramaLic lighting and pala nquins borne by " Hindu" servants.

Coornaraswamy, in contrast, sought to purify nautch dancing of the sexualized sensationali sm that St. Denis had exploited; he observed na ti ve performances in India and collected postcards of dancers (.fi.g. 6). Sadir, traditional South Indian dance by a single fe male performer, was performed by devidasis , women herediLarily atlached to Lemples. However, Lhese dancers had been attacked in 1892 by British missionaries and urban rn odernis Ls as prostitutes and evidence of the debased s tatus of women . Members of the swadeshi (or "selfsuf:ficiency") mo vement, including Coomaraswamy, in turn defended Lhese dancers as part of the culture tha t the British were trying to eradicate. 19 In his 1914 article, " Hands and fee t in Indian art" (fig. 7),50 his 19 17 book The Mirror of Gesture (fig. 8), and his 1922 feature on "Oriental dances in America" (pLtblished in the avan t-gard e literary magazine The Dial),

1 83

\1 1 (II II\

Coomaraswamy exposed Lhe conLinuiLies beLween Lhe mudras of Indian

9. Ananda Coomaraswamy or Mortimer Offner, Coomaroswamy and Stella Bloch in his

sculpture and Lhe living ges Lures and

Boston apartment, c a . 1919.

moLions of nautch dancers: "auLhentic Indian acting does survive in the nautch, where instrumenLal music,

Gelatin silver print. Prince ton University Lib ra r y

song, and panLomime are inseparably connecLed."51 A L one of the rehearsals for RaLan Devi's performances with Roshanara in 1917, Coomaraswamy met the woman with whom he was able to puL into practice his Pygmalion-like creation of a perfect Indian dancer and lover. SLella Bloch was an eighteen-year-old "Isadorable" - a s Ludent of the Greek-inspired Isadora Duncan and an aspiring artist trying Lo eke out a living teaching dance in New York. Working during the week in Boston wri Ling an endless flow of arLicles on his new acquisi Lions, Coomaraswamy on Lhe weekends commuLed to ew York and developed a social circle that included photographer Alfred StiegliLz, MorLimer Offner (Bloch's cousin and brother of art his Lorian Richard Offner), and a group of socialisLs and Greenwich Village bohemians who shared his anLimodernis L poliLical beliefs and contempt for war, materialism, and puritanical morality.52 Although he had not obtained a divorce from RaLan Devi, he made Bloch the Georgia O'Keeffe Lo his StiegliLz: he inviLed her up Lo his MassachuseLts Avenue aparLmenL in Bos Lon, filled -vviLh Indian textiles (:fig. 9), and phoLographed her endlessly in emulation of Lhe close-ups of O'Keeffe's body thaL SLieglitz had begun to Lake after 19 18. Rather than looking to the Renaissance arL th at inspired Stieglitz's fashioning of O'Keeffe as a modest embodiment of Charity or fertility, Coomaraswamy transform ed the Polish-born, Jewish Bloch into a contemplative, timeless Indi an woman (whose linked thumb and middle fin ger in one shot evoke th e mudras of Buddhis t sculpLure, fig. 10). 5:3 In 1920 he snuck her off on a separate boat to meeL him in Japan, and Lraveled wiLh her Lo Java, Indonesia, and India (fig. 11), where he claimed 10. Ananda Coomaraswamy,

Stella Bloch, ca . 192 1.

Gelatin silver print. Princ e ton University Library 11. Ananda Coomaraswamy,

Stella Bloch at Borobudur, c a . 1920 . G e latin si l ver print .

Pri n c eton University Li brary

184

A\ .1~111 Coo1111u s \\111\

they could be married.s4 Before they left, their drawings were shown together at the Weyhe Gallery in ew York, an exhibition that subsequently traveled to the Museum of ew Mexico, thanks to the efforts of Alice Corbin Henderson, who in 1917 had introduced Coomaraswamy into the Santa Fe community of painters and writers, whose pa tronage of contemporary ative American artisans paralleled his own enthusiasm for Indian folk art.ss Perhaps inspired by the legitimization that Alice Richardson's training in India gave to her singing, Bloch later stated. in newspaper interviews that she had lived in the harem of the court of the " Prince of Solo" and studied Javanese dance. However, her letters reveal that her training was more through observation than practice, and that her insights into harem life and the free sexuality of Javanese women were heavily flavored by Coomaraswamy's theories.s6 The couple went to Java in December 1920 and met Mangkunegoro VII, who had assumed the throne of Surakarta (or Solo) in 1916. The well-educated, young ruler, inspired by Rabindrana th Tagore, devoted himself to the preservation of Javanese language, architecture, and culture (including dance). He was probably known to Coomaraswamy through Tagore or other Asian nationalist friends. Stella also met the prince's young wife and noted that "all spoke Dutch and understand Gennan."s7 As Stella wrote to her mother, "Coom managed to get such :fine introductions that we were invited to the palace of a prince and witnessed the most wonderful dancing there .. . The king was most charming to us and seeing that I was interested in drawing his dancers, he gave me permission to choose which one I liked best, and made an appointment for them to pose for me the following day."s8 While Coomaraswamy photographed and collected commercial postcards and prints of the dancers, Stella filled her sketchbook with loose, swirling drawings that were later published in a short book, Dancing ancl th e Drama East ancl West (1922).s9 By pring 1922, Bloch was back in New York, even more exotic, and touring her "dances of a mys terious beauty and balance of line which cause the art of the ballet to seem almost childish and reveal the spectacles of Miss Ruth St. Denis ... as mere fake imitations" (:fig. 12). 60 The degree to which she had absorbed Coomaraswamy's political philosophy is revealed in an interview that she gave to the Boston Post in April 1922, in which she praised the beautiful women in Bali and pooh-poohed the idea of them as oppressed masses: Modern industrialism, stepping into the East, has oppressed and enslaved millions of orientals, but left to themselves these same orientals resolve into a society of castes, of occupa tions, which re emble a ystem of guild socialism more than any other form of society .... Which makes every man and woman cognizant of his lot, his rank, his business in life, e, tremely efficient in the work which has come down to him through generations, conscientious and happy in that work, certain of the oneness of the universe and of the beneficence of eternity.6 1 Although Roger Lipsey, Coomaraswamy's biographer, claims that Stella and Ananda were married between 1922 and 1930 ,62 Stella continued to perform under her own name and live in New York. In 1922, Coomaraswamy brought Stella to Boston to perform for another lecture/dance combo entitled "Dances of the Orient," and had her assume private poses for his camera.63 Her Javanese dances relied on ac tual costumes brought back from her tay there

185

\1 cC1L 1.11

(fig 12), but, as a comparison with photographs of native dancers in the Coomaraswamy collection indicate (fig 13), they differed in th e ways the jewelry was worn, the fabrics were draped on the body, and the gestures were articulated. The taste for Javanese costumes had spread even Lo Adolph Bolrn, a former Ballets Russes dancer who ran a troupe out of Chicago, had already worked with Ratan Devi, and commissioned Stella in 1924 to buy extensively for him during a second trip to Asia.

Always trying to make money by selling the batiks and jewelry that she amassed during her travels, Stella was given 100 by Bolm to pick up Chinese costumes, Javanese headdre ses, as well as photographs and films of gestures and costumes to inspire his choreography.61 Like Ruth St. Denis, who moved seamlessly from Indian lo Japanese routines, Stella after 1925 became increasingly involved with the Harlem jazz scene, sketching musician and befriending the black dancers she met there. Her own dances began to expose more flesh and less sober costuming (fig. 14), until she bobbed her hair and emulated Josephine Baker rather than Javanese princesses.65 Coomaraswamy, in contrast, never veered from his message during the course of a thirty-year residence in Boston. His founding belief, published in his 1909 book T he Message of the East, was that the "Western na tions, after a period of unparalleled success in the investigation of the concrete 路world, the 'conquest of nature,' and the adaptation of mechanical contrivances to the material ends of life, are approaching in every department a certain critical period."66 In contrast to this Western spiritual decay, the "East has indeed revealed a new world to the West, which will be th e in piration of a 'Renaissance', more profound and far-reaching than tha t which resulted from the re-discovery of the classic world of the WesL." 67 This doctrine, like Okakura's sweeping pronouncements about the essential differences between East and West, said more abou t fin-de-siecle dissatisfaction with the pace of indus trialization and urban alienation in the crowded me tropolises of London and New York than

12. Underwood an d Unde r wood, N ew York,

Stella Blo ch in Javanese dance costume, ca. 19 24.

Gelatin si lve r pr int. Bl oc h pa p e rs Har va r d 13. A tt ributed to Ananda Coomaraswamy, Javanese

dancer, co. 1920. Gelatin sil ver pri nt. Depa rt men t o f Art ond A r chaeo logy, Princeton University 14 . Mortim e r Offne r,

Stella Blo ch in Javanese dance, N ew York, ca.

19 26. Ge latin si lver print .

Bloch papers H arvard

186

A\

I \ ll I

c()()II I H ""I I II\

about conditions in modernizing Incba. 68 By emphasizing the spiritual beauty and timeless symbolism of Indian art and dance, Coomaraswamy unwittingly promoted what contemporary theorist Partha Chatterjee has defined as the strategy of "anti-colonial na tionalisls" who "inverted the Orientalist problematic - arguing for Indian independence ralher Lhan for it conlinued subjugation - while re taining its Lhematics, including the contention Lhat India's value lay in the great traditions of antiquity" and that its present condition was one of decline. 69 ever comfortable within British or American bourgeois society nor content with returning to an India that no longer preserved the cultural purity that he found in its ancie nt sculptures, Coomaraswamy wa an unu ual mu eum curator who believed that the common people had a right to both appreciate and produce beautiful objects. By acknowledging that "art is the making well, or properl arranged, of anything whatever tha t needs to be made or arranged, wheLher a statuette, or automobile, or garden," 70 he anticipated the melding of art and life that became the goal of artists from Duchamp to Rauschenberg while echoing the creed of the Arts and Crafts Move ment that had inspired his youth. This respect for all aspects of human creativity and beauty governed his ovvn fascination with dance, textiles, sculpture, Rajput painting, and attrac tive women during his tenure as Boston's most enigmatic and influential Brahmin.

187

M cCAU LEY

l would like lo Lhank Lhe follow-

lnclia, Coomaraswamy publi s hed

Dr. Coomaraswamy." " R a tan

ing people and inslilutions for

few books in Great Britain prior

Devi's Indian Songs," Times

p. 693: "Sealed cross-legged

their he lp in Lhe research for this

lo 1916. His most subs tantive

(December 2, 1915), p. 11; see

upon Lhe floor, dressed mod estly

projecl: Don Skemer, Firestone

writings Lha l could have been

also F. A. Hadland, " India n

but ri chly in Ori ental fashion for

Library, Princeton University;

known Lo Americans particularly

Music: Ratan Devi's Recital,"

one of her recitals, R ata n Devi

ha ri Ke nfield, De parlme nl of

inleresled in Indian c ulture

The Musical Times (January 1,

seems to be a n Orie nta l herself.

Arl a nd Archa ology, Princeton

were Mediaeval Sinhalese

1916), pp. 27-28, for a review.

As she emerges from behind

Universi ty;

Art (1908), ha nd-printed in

Devi and Coomaraswamy's

deep purple curtains lo si ng her

a n edition of 425 copies by

songs, Lhe lights ar e dimmed;

ew York Public

Library for Lhe P erforming Arls,

sage," Fonun (December 1916),

Dance Division; Houghton

Lhe Essex House Pres thal

New York performance opened at the Princess Theatre on

Library, Harvard University;

Coomaraswamy managed; The

April 13, 1916. As in London ,

through th e room; Lhere is a hush in Lhe aud ience. eemingly

the smell of incense flullers

Ewa Ba in ka, MIT Libraries;

Indian Craftsman (1909), an

Coomaraswamy lectured first

and my edi Lars . Ala n Chong

a nthology with an introduc tion

about Lhe cere monial imporlance

unconscious of her hearers, she

and 1 oriko Murai. Thi s projecl

by Charles R. Ashbee, printed

of Indian music and its different

s trikes a c hord on a tamboura

was also supported in parl by

by th e London press specializing in Asian topics run by Arthur

scale slruc ture. See " Music

which she holds in one hand,

of Hindus tan," The Outlook

le tting Lhe base rest on her lap.

th e Spears Fu nd, De partme nl of Arl a nd Arc haeology, Princelon University.

(April 26, 1916), p. 941.

T he c hord is repeated again and

4. "To India Lhe Greal War is

so und like a low buzzing drone.

a c ivil conflic t," New York Tribune (March 5, 1916), p. C2.

She closes her eyes and softly

Bloch papers H arva rd

Probsthain; Essays on National Idealism (1909), also publis hed

by Probs thain; and The firts and Crafts of The India and Ceylon (1913), published by

Stella Bloch papers. Harvard

the Edinburgh arls and crafts

Thi le ngthy inlerview with the

H er body sways and Lhe free

Thealre Colleclion, Houghton

press T. N. Foulis . Other piclure

Coomaraswamys, focusi ng on

arm with gracefully curling

Library, Harvard University [M Thr 460]

books, Indian Drawings (1910)

Ananda Coomaraswamy's assess-

fingers follows Lhe complicated

a nd Indian Drawings, econd

menl of Lhe political situa lion in

rhythm. Prayers, he sings, a nd

series (1912), were publi s hed in

India and his implicil critique

love songs. From a short verse

editions of 400 and 405 copies

of Western imperialis m, s hows

of Lhree or four lines a whole

A RC HI VAL SOU RCES

Bloc h papers

ew York

again, incessantly, producing a

the music comes from her lips.

Lella Bloch paper . New

res pectively for distribution to

an unus ual degree of familiarily

song is woven. T he more she

York Publi c Library for Lhe

me mbers of the India Socie ty,

between th e unide ntified author

P erforming Arls [( ) *MGZMD 173]

whi ch had been found ed in 1910.

(who clearly sympathi zes

becomes immersed in the music, the less atten tion she gives to

Coomaraswamy's important,

with India n na ti onali sm) and Coomaraswa my.

lwo-volume study of Rajput

words. he seems lo lo e herself in her singing, to forgel the

Bloc h papers Princeton

Painting was only released by

Stella Bloch papers rela ting

Oxford Uni versity Press la ler,

5 . " Music of Hindustan," The

wherever the songs lead ... The

lo Ananda K. Cooma:raswamy.

The Outlook (April 26, 1916),

effecl is gripping, mysterious,

Manuscripls Division,

in 1916. Ra ther Lha n reflecting aclual celebrity within Lhe lew

p. 941.

enchanting. IL is like a Hindu

De pa rtme nl of Rare Books and

York readership, Lhe press allen-

pecial Colleclions. Princeton

tion given Lhe Coomaraswamys

6. R abindra na th Tagore, in Lhe

le mple lransplanted in a New York theatre."

from Lhe Lime of their arrival

foreword to Thirty Songs from

Uni versity Library [C0822]

audie nce, yel lo carry il with her

in 19 16 seems lo have been

the Pcmjab and Kashmir

8. The besl biograph y of

Coomaraswa my papers Princeton Ananda K. Coomaraswamy

orcheslraled by Lhe organizer of

(Lo ndon, 1913), a collection of

Coomaraswa my, although

Lheir lecture/performa nce circ uit,

lacking critical perspecti ve, is

pa pers. Ma nuscripts Divis ion,

]. B. Pond Lyce um Bureau.

songs transcribed by R ata n Devi, wilh an introduction and lranslaLions by Coomaraswamy. Tagore

hagiographical s ludy Lhat

Department of Rare Books and

Lipsey 1977, vol. 3. A more

Special Collecti ons. Princeton

3 . According to the London

is also c ited in "Our first aclual

nonetheless con la.ins some

University Library [C0038]

Times, on the evening of

contac t wilh the a uthe ntic music

additional factual doc umenta lion is Raj a inga m 1977.

1. "Arrivals on Nieuw

Aeolian Hall , Ra tan Devi sang

Amslercla m," New York Times

" India n songs and folksongs

ovember 26, 1915, at the

(Fe bruary 25, 1916), p. 11.

of India," Current Opinion (July 1916), p. 29.

9 . Coomaraswamy 1908, pp. V- JX.

of Kashmir" acco mpani ed

7. Ibid ., ciling H .F. Peyser in

by the ta mboura, while her

Musical America . The fullest

2. Aparl from short articles.

performance was "introduced

description of Ralan Devi's per-

10. Coomaraswamy credits

lecture . and cata logue Lha L

by a clear a nd simple

formance was published by Pa ul

E thel as the photographer in

had been published in Ceylon or

expla na tion of Lhe s ubjecl by

Morris, "Tago re and Indi a's mes-

this book (1908, p. x), but in

188

;\\\\Ill COOll\ll\ S\11~1\

The Arts and Crafts of India and Ceylon (1913), p. vii, wrote

decorated the house (pp. 294, 296).

among the photo c redit that "the great majority of the remaining photographs have been

14. Janet Ash bee journal entry, January 25, 1908, cited in

take n by or expressly for myself."

Although there is no evidence that Ethel was in any sense a

Crawford 1985, p. 147.

15. Mary Greensted reports

commercial photographer, their home in Chipping Campden , where they Lived be tween 1907

that Philippe Mairet introduced Alice, who wa a roommate of one of his fellow s tude nts at the

a nd 1910, had a darkroom.

Margot Coatts, A Weaver'.s Life:

Hornsey School of Art, to the

Ethel Mairet , 1872-1952 (Bath ,

Ashbee community. Greenstecl 1993, p. 125.

1983). p. 31.

11. Coomaraswamy 1908, p. vii.

16. A letter to Coomaraswamy from the anskrit and Buddhi st

12. On Ashbee's life and th e

scholar Caroline Rhys Davids shows his address as 39

guild' his tory, see Crawford 1985; Felicity A hbee, Janet

Ashbee: Love, Marriage , and the Arts and Crafts Movement (Syrac use, 2002); and Mary Greenstecl , The Arts and Crafts Movement in the Cotswolds ( hroud, Glo ., 1993). Coomaraswamy had married Ethel Partridge in 1902, the year that E thel's brother Fred , a jeweler, joined the guild . At what point prior lo 1902 he me t Ashbee cannot be determined. Coomaraswamy gradua ted with a bachelor of scie nce degree in geology a nd botany from the Universi ty of London in 1900 and may ha ve known Ashbee through socialist or artis tic circles.

13. As hbee published his designs, re ndered through drawings by Philip Ma irel (who would go on to marry Ethel Coomaraswamy in 1913) in "The 'Norman Chapel' building al Broad Campden in Gloucestershire," The Studio 41 (September 1907), pp. 289-96.

Ashbee described the Sin halese art tha t Coomaraswamy had brought from Ceylon that

Wide Waters: Ramakrishna and Western Culture (Port

27. Margare t Allston, " Her Boston experie nces - number

Washington, N.Y., 1974).

six," Ladies' Home Journal (Marc h 1900), p. 11.

22. Coomaraswamy's writi ngs on India n c ulture naturally found a readership within periodicals levoted to occultis m a nd Eastern religiou prac tices, including G. R. S. Mead's The Quest (which reviewed hi s books in 1911, 1913, a nd 1914 and published hi essay "The Hindu view of art" in April 1915). Mead had split with the Theosophists in London and fou nded the Quest Socie ty in 1909. He published the writings of a number of notable

28. "Life in Bos ton: The American Buddhis t a figure of today," InterOcean (December 22, 1894), p. 14.

29. The prolonged legal effort

by Mr . Olea Bull Vaughan, Mrs. Bull's daughter. lo break her mother's will revealed Mrs. Ole Bull's involvemen t with spiritualism and Vivekananda, whom s he visited in lndia in 1902. "Swami's spirit came ofte n lo Mrs. Bull," New York Times (May 2, 1911), p. 3 .

Brookfield , West Hill, Highgate, London ; a nother le tter from 1915 lists him at Ma nor

Indologis ts, including Tagore, Caroline Rh y Davids, and Ezra Pound. Clare Goodrick-Clarke

House, Britford, near Salisbury.

Coomaraswamy papers Pri ncelon C0038, Box 46, f. 4.

a nd Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke,

30. "American women vic tims of Hindu mys ti cis m," Washington

eels., G. R. S. Mead and the Gnostic Quest ( ew York,

Post (February 18, 1912), p.

SMl.

2005), pp. 22ff.

17. Coatts 1983, p. 107.

18. Lipsey was told by family members that Coomaraswamy became a conscientious objector in order to avoid the draft cl uring World War I. Lipsey 1977, vol.

3, p. 122.

19. One intervi ewer noted tha t he "comes under the usual pledge not to discuss politics and not to criticize in a ny way the Engli s h government." "To Indi a the Great War i a civil conflic t," New York Tribune (March 5, 1916), p. C2.

20. Anancla Coomaraswamy, "What has India contrib-

23. Raja Singam 1977, p. 52.

31. Ibid . Another major i nspiration for the idea that women were particularly vulnerable lo

24. Crawford 1985, p. 146.

Niveclita lectured on "Women's ideals in India." Ethel

Eastern mys tics was Eliza beth A. Reed's Hinduism in Europe and fimerica (New York, 1914),

Coomaraswamy reports visiting Nivedita in India in 1910. Coatls 1983, p. 35.

which warned: " Le t the white woman beware of the hypnoti c influence of the East - let her reme mber that when her Guru ,

25. J. Gordon Merton claims tha t the wave of a ttacks on Buddhism

or god-ma n, has once whispered

and swamis accelerated during World War I and was fu eled in 1917 by the Oriental Exclusion Act. The spiritualist climate of the 1890s was conducive lo their initial success. "The

and s he has sworn allegiance lo him, she is forever helpless in hi hands" (p. 13 1). See also "The heathe n invasion of America," Current Literature

a ttitude of Americans toward

repeats the a necdotes cited in the Washing ton Post s tory and

his mys ti c sylla bles into her ear

(November 1911), p. 538, which

Hinduism from 1883 to 1983, with special reference lo the Interna tional Society of Krishna Consciousness" in Bromley and

use a report by Ma bel Potter Daggett as its source.

21. On the spread of the Ra ma krishna moveme nt in the

Shinn 1989, pp. 81- 85.

32. See: '"Nautc h' girl tells of

United Stales, see Jackson 1994;

26. "American Buddhis ts," The

Oom's philosophy," New York Times (May 8, 1910), p. 20;

Bromley and Shinn 1989; and

Outlook (February 3, 1898), p.

Harold W. French, The Swan '.s

3 13 .

uted to human welfare?" in Coomaraswamy 1918, pp. 7ff.

"Nigh t revels held in Sanskrit college," New York Times

189

McC1t1.n

(December 15, 191 l ), p. 22. On

c ited in Coalls 1983, p. 36. See

corres ponde nce, Museum of

lo Dr. Ananda Coomara wam y,

Pierre Be rnard's promotion of

al so Coomaraswamy 1916, vol.

Fine Arts: Archi ves of Ameri can

became the pupil of Abdul

yoga a nd Tan lric Buddhism, see

1, p. 82. The besl source on

Arl, reel 244-7 .

Rahim, J alan l ofKapurlhala,

l~Iugh B. Urba n, "Magia sexualis:

Lhe developme nt of colonial arl

Sex, secrecy, and liberation in mode rn Western esolericis m."

schools a nd museums in Indi a is

39. Coomara wamy lo Ross,

has thus had the adva ntages

Miller 1994.

Augus t 9, 19 ]6; ibid.

of study under a n experi e nced

for a Lime in Ind ia, and she

E uropea n arti st. and also wilh a

] oiirnal of the fl merican Academy of Religion 72, no. 3

36. Ananda Coomaraswamy lo

40 . Ross lo Coomaraswamy,

native music i.a n of re markable

(Septe mber 2004), pp. 695-731.

Denma n Ross, lew York, July

Marc h 2, 19 ] 7; ibi d.

Coomaraswamy came to Boston

allain me nls, comple tely versed

28, 1916; directors' corres pon-

in the traditions of his arl."

d ence, 1useum of Fine Arls,

in April for the a nnual meeting

is a civil conflic t," New York

Bos Lon: Archi ves of Ameri ca n

of the Ameri ca n Ori ental Society

45. " M usic of Hindus ta n,"

Tribime (March 5, 1916), p. C2.

A rl, reel 2447. 路'Visva karma"

a nd me t with Arthur F a irbanks,

The Outlook (April 26,

refers lo Coomaraswa my's publi-

a class ic ist who was the director

1916), p. 941.

34. Saralh Kumar Ghos h, the

cation, Visv akarma: Excunples

of the museum and wi th whom

au thor of a series of roman ces

he had been corresponding since

Ve relict of the Gods , 1905; T he Prince of Destiny: The New Krishna, 1909; and 1001 Indian Nights , 1904) was

of Indian A rchitectiire, Sculpture, Painting, ancl Flanclicrafts Chosen by Anancla r . Coomaraswamy, with an fntrocliiction by Eric Gill (London, 1914). IL is nol

marketed as an Oxford -ed ucated

33. "To Indi a Lhe Creal War

abo ul India (suc h as The

the previous Septe mber.

46. Coomaraswamy wenl bac k lo London in Oc tober 1916 and returned in Ja nuary 19 17 for

4 1. Fairbanks th a nked

a nother seri es of engageme nts

Coomaraswa my for his

wilh R ala n Devi a l the Princess

article in a le uer elated April

Th ea tre. By Ma rch 1917, Alice

known whe n Coomaraswamy me l

20, 19 17, and noted his gift

Ri c hardson, no longer in the

noble man, "a n Orie ntal

Ro s . Ross had been collecting

of a pai nted wooden panel

compan y of Coomaraswamy,

interpre ting lo Occide ntals the

Asia n arl for many years and

and a stone head of a woman

had begun playing wi th Olive

ideals of his people ." H e gave

would have known ma ny of

with hand allac hecl. On May 4.

Craddock, who like Ali ce had

lectures enli Lled "The marvel

Coomaraswamy's fri e nds, suc h as

Fairbanks sel out the le rms of

ta ke n an Indian na me. Arnold

o[ India,"

William R othe ns lei n (who came

Coomaraswamy's appointme nt.

Gen lhe Look photographs of

lo th e U.S. in September 1911);

23, 1917. Acco rd ing lo Aleisler Crowley's a utobiogra ph y (whic h

"The roma nce of

the two wome n elated Marc h

India" (on the caste syste m and "extraordi nar y e pisodes in

Rabindranath Tagore (who was

The materials given by Ross [rom Coomaraswamy's collec tio n

real life"), " Hindu occultism,"

in Cambridge in February 1913

a re ide ntified in the Museum

"Hindu women from Lhe ins ide,"

and again in 1916, when he me t

of Fine Arts as the " Ross-

is no toriously exaggerated),

Coomaraswamy Collecti on ."

a nd is doc ume nted in New York

Isa bella Slewarl Gard ner, who inscribed in a copy of his book,

Coomaraswamy had sought

in April 19 17.

Fruit Gathering, " December

42. Coomaraswamy 19 16, vol. l ,

a nd " H indu ideals of happiness,"

6, 1916, The clay Tagore ca me

Crowley oul in New York pp. 5-7.

in 19] 6, knowing Crowley's 路\ep ulation on Asia tic religions a nd Magick," a nd Crowley was

35. Coomaraswa my had for ma ny

lo see me"); Charl es As hbee,

yea rs advocated Lhe formation

who made many Lrips lo the U.S.

43 . " Mu ic of Hindusta n," The

of a national museum oflndi a n

including a visi l lo Cambridge in

Oilllook (April 26. 1916),

art, in contrast lo the i ns tilulions

April 1896 where he me l Charle

p. 941.

was publis hed in Vanity Fair.

fo unded by the British in imita-

Eli ot

tion of the South Kensington

tors of A ian arl a nd members of

44. F. A. Hadla nd, " I ndia n

Clai 111 i ng Lhal Coomaraswa my (who m he calls Lhe "half-breed")

Museum a nd associa ted with

the India Society. Ross had al o

mus ic: R ata n Devi's recital,"

asked him to find hi m a mistress

schools o[ arts and crafts. A

ofte n visited London a nd had

Jiil iisical Times (Ja nuar y

a nd only decided lo slay with

na tional museum would be the

been to India in 1902.

l , 19 16), p. 28, noled : "The

Alice once it became clear thal

i nterpre lalion of Indian songs by

her act was ea rn ing money,

orlon; a nd oth er collec-

expression of a newly conceived

c harmed by Alice and wrole a poem aboul her s inging Lhal

national consciou ness in which

37. Based on the Consumer

a n E nglis h lady is inves ted with

Crowley had a passionate affair

na ti ve peoples expressed their

Pri ce Index, Lhe a mount would

unusual inleresl, a nd the acco m-

wi th Alice Lha l la Led in lo Lhe

own ideas of their c ultural heri-

plishme nt may be regarded as

summe r of 19 16 a nd resulted in

tage. Coomaraswamy's ftrsl wife,

be $1,112,938; based on comparisons of unskilled wages,

re mar kable. After a co urse of

her pregnancy. Alice the n had

Ethel , wrole lo Charles Ashbee

it would be $4,20J ,116 . See:

s tud y in London with Madame

lo c ul short her performances

on September 14, 1910, during

www.meas urin gworth.com.

Alexia Hassian, Mi ss Ethel

lo re lurn lo Engla nd , and had

Ri chardso n [a confusion with

a mi scarriage on the boal.

their s lay in India, Lha l her husband " had a big sche me of a

38. Ross lo Coomaraswa my,

Coomara wamy's fi rst wife, Ethel

John Symonds and Ke nne th

national museum afoot." Le tter

Augus l 25, ] 916; directors'

Mary Partridge], on her marriage

C rave, eels., The Co nfessions

190

>\ \ \ \

ll \

C0 0\1

\ H \ S\\ \\I \

of 1-l leister Crowley: An 1-l utohagiog raphy (London, 1969), pp. 773-74.

Ralan Devi's future ca reer as an e nlerlainer seem rather sporadic. By Lhe summer of 1917, she was Louring wilh Lhe Adolf Bolm dance Lroupe, and in 1918 performed in "The Light of Asia," a musica l drama organized by Rulh SL Denis and the Denishawn dancers, slaged in Lhe Krolona Stadium of Lhe Krolona Theosophical colony in Lo Angele wilh \\faller Hampden playing Lhe Buddha.

See Catherine Parsons Smith , Making Music in Los Angeles: Tran~fonning the Popular (Berkeley, 2007), pp. 135-36.

A press notice in August 1918 reported Lha l "Miss Ra lan Devi, who is a l presenl appearing wilh Rulh SL De nis in a n outdoor production of 'The Lighl of Asia,' will take up picture work upon Lhe conclusion of her curre nl engagement." "Film fli cke rs," The Oregonian (Augusl 18, 1918), p. 3. According Lo Mortimer Offner, Stella Bloch's cousin , Ri chardson appea red in 1918 in several scenes of a silenl film enlilled Naulakha. Bloch papers New York, box 12, f. 9.

Alice Ri chardson and Coomaraswamy had Lwo c hildren, a son. aracla (b. ] 9 ] 2, wh ile Ananda was still marri ed Lo Ethel), and a daughter, Rohini (b. 1914), both of whom remained in Engla nd during this period. Alice relurned Lo New York in 1921, and is recorded performing Lhere Lhal year and in lermillenLly inlo Lhe 1930s. See "Ra lan Devi back from E urope," New York Times ( lovernber 27. 192 1), p. 14; " Others Lo be heard ," New York Times (February 25, 1923). p. X6; " Hindu dance program: Roshanara, Rala n Devi.

Gavrilos and Mrs. Robinson

appea r," New York Tim es (May I 0, ] 924), p. 16. After her divorce from Coomaraswamy, on fay 31, 1928, Alice married Francis Biller. an engineer who had ju Lreceived hi Ph .D. from Columbia Universi ty. Biller had resea rch ap poinlmenls al Princelon Un ivers ity a nd Lhe Calirornia lnslilule or Technology before receiving a Guggenheim fellowshi p Lo go Lo Cambridge, England , in 1933. While Lhere, Biller reported Lhal his wife had had "few engagemenls for a year or more," and bought her a harp from Arnold Dolmelsc h. Francis Biller papers, MJ.T lnslilule Archi ves and pecial Collecti ons, MC 77, box ] , leller dated October 26, 1933 from Biller Lo Dolmelsch; leller da ted October 27, ] 933 from Biller Lo Dav id Man nes Music Sc hool. Tn 1934 Biller was hired by MIT a nd was evenlually made a clean; Lhe couple sub equenLly lived in the Boslon area until Alice Coomara (as she call ed herseli) died in ] 958. 路' Ralan Devi is dead! ," New Yo rk Times (July 15, 1958), p. 25.

47. On SL. Denis's developme nl of India n dances, see Joseph H. Mazo, Prime Movers: The Makers of Modern Dan ce in America (New York, 1977), pp. 71-76.

48. SL Denis in her autobiography said Lha l composer Cyril Scoll suggested in London Lhal he me l Swami Paramananda, wilh whom she beca me friends.

Ruth St. Denis: fin Unfinish ed Life (Brooklyn. 1969: original edition , 1939), p. 133.

49. On Lhe political bases or Lhe anli -naulch movemenl a nd Lh e history of l ndi an dance by

f"ema!e performers, see O' hea 2007. pp. 29-35, 173-74.

50. "Hands a nd feel in Indi an arl," Biirling ton Magazine (January 19 14), pp. 204-11.

I\alher Lhan form a lexicon for geslures in India n dance, Coomaraswamy claimed Lhal his goal in thi s arti c le was lo compare paintings and scuJ plu res Lo dance geslu res and draw allenli on Lo Lhe imporlance of Lhe hands a nd [eel in Lhe expressive mea ning of Lhe figure.

51. Anancla Coomaraswamy. " Oriental dances in America," The Dial (Jan uary 1922), pp. 17.

52. One of Lhe foc i of his New York crowd wa Lhe Su nwise Turn bookstore, found ed in 1915

by Madge Jenison a nd Mary Mowbray-Cla rke and ori ginal ly located al 2 East 3 l sl Streel near Alfred Sti eglitz's 291 Gallery.

The bookstore published his Dance of Siva (Coomaraswamy 1918) and carried modernisl Ji Lera lure as well a Asian Li Lles. IL also fu nclioned as an a rl gallery a nd sold batiks and olher objecls (some depo iLed

by Coomaraswamy and Stella Bloch). Arthur Davies designed Lhe original inlerior, Carl Zigrosser suggested Lhe na me, and Harold Loeb beca me a parlowner after iL moved in 1919 Lo a larger loca ti on opposite Grand Cenlral Station a l 51 Easl 44Lh Lreel. Coomaraswamy became parli cular (i路iends wilh Clarke's hu band , culplor John Mowbray-Clarke, and wrole a ca talogue es ay for a show of hi work al Lhe l evorki an Gallery in 1919. Sc ulptiires by John Mowbray-Clarke ( ew York, 1919). Hagop Kevorkian, a dealer in Persian arl wilh a gallery on 57Lh Lreel, a long with Coomaraswa my, visited

191

Lhe Mowbray-Clarkes al Lhe ir sludio in Bracken, ew York .

Coomaraswamy knew MowbrayClarke by 1917, beca use the sculptor made a medal or him Lhal year Lhal is reproduced in Allan An lli ff, Anarchist Modernism : Art, Politics , and t;he Pirst American AvantGa rde (Chicago, 2001). AnLl ifT provides Lhe rnosl detailed disc ussion of thi s circle and identi fies Lh em, as weU as Coomaraswamy, as ana rchists.

Thi s may be somewhat Loo categorical, ince a diver ily of politi cal positions a nd lillle di reel action marked Lhe group, al leasl whil e living in 1ew York.

Je nison wrole iron ically Lhal: 路'We oflen heard Lhat we were Lhe mosl dangerous headquarlers of sociali sl ideas in Lhe country a nd a cenler of dangerous Bri tish propaganda." Madge Jenison, Sunwise Turn: A Human Com edy ofBookselling (New York, 1923), p. 128.

53. Thi s geslure does nol exactly f1L Lhe compl ex and overl apping descripti ons ou tlined in Coomaraswarny's lranslalion of The Mirror of Gesture (Lhe Abhinaya Darpana). The Lexl mentions Lhal both ha nds held Lo Lhe shoulder indicale rnodesly (similar Lo Lhe ir mea ning in Lhe Christian LradiLion).

The bending of Lhe middle finger wilh Lhe forefinger and pinky oulslrelched seems lo be closesl Lo Lhe Bhra mara geslure. bul in general iL seems Lhal Lella a um cl an "Tndian-like" rather Lhan a spec ific and meaningful dance ge Lure. Coomaraswamy 1917, p. 35.

54. On August 18, 1920, Coomaraswamy wrole Stella fro m Yokohama Lo advise her how Lo get lo Japa n, where he would rneel her. He Lolcl he r Lo Lake a

M cCAULEY

train Lo Va nco uve r and Lo Lell Lhe

He nderson, one of the editors

into Dutch. Tago re vis ited th e

American passport a uthorities

of Poetry Magazine who had

e lherland in 1920, bu l only

though h e had taken up wi th Stella Bloch as early a 1917.

th at she would be married in

jus l moved from Chicago to the

met Lhe prince in Java in 1927.

Japan. Bloc h pa pers Princeton,

Sunmount Sanitarium in Sanle

On the similarities between

box 2. E n roule, Stella stayed in Chicago with Mrs. Va ughn

Fe in 1916 a nd had settled

Tagore's projects for India and

wit h her husband in the city in

Mangkun egoro' agenda in Java,

Moody, a noted literary hostess

1917. According to H enderson's

who had become a close fri e nd

me moirs, Coomaraswamy Loured

and up porter of Tagore si nee his first American visi l in

Bandeli er

ational Park with her

VII and Ra bindrana th Tagore:

box 12, f. 12: le tter to Mortimer

a nd Mrs . A.

J. Abbott (another

A brief meeting of like minds,"

Offner, July 9, 1922). Alice

Indonesia and the Malay World 34 (March 2006), pp.

99-108.

Ri chardson c ha nged her name

1912-13 and who undoubtedly

s upporter of alive American

had mel Coomaraswamy through

c ulture who lived on a ranch

Tagore. See the leller from

nearby) a nd purc hased two

In Boston in 1922, the press normally referred to Stella as " Mrs. Coomaraswamy." Stella wrote, however, in July 1922

ee Madelon Djajadiningra t-

thal s he was still nol legally

ie uwenhuis, " Mangkun egoro

married (Bloch paper New York,

to Alice Coomara, until she maTried Fra ncis Bitter in 1928.

Coomaraswamy Lo Stella, l yolo,

watercolors by the Pueblo India n

Augusl 2S, 1920; ibid. On

artis t Awa Tsire h (Alfonso

S8. Stella Bloc h lo Charlotte

Coomaraswamy married in 1922

Moody and Tagore, see Stephen

Roybal). Coomaraswamy would have known H ender on through

Bloch ("Binney"), December 30, 1920, from Djokja, Java; Bloc h

a nd divorced in November 1930,

N. H ay, " Rabindra nath Tagore in America," fimerican Quarterly

his involvement with Poetry

papers New York, box 1, f. 11.

but lived apart (Lip ey 1977, vol.

3, pp. 147, 161). Coomaraswamy

14, no. 3 (1962), pp. 443-44.

Mag azine (where Ezra P ound had jus t reviewed hi s arti cle on

S9. Stella Bloch, with an

Luisa Runstein , a p hotographer

"Art and Swadeshi" in May 1917)

introduction by Ananda

SS. A le tter from Sheldon

Lipsey s tates tha t Bloch and

remarried Lhe same month to

Parsons, a painter who was the

a nd through Mrs. Vaugh n Moody

Coomaraswamy, Dancing and

using the pseudonym Xlala Lla mas.

first director of the Art Gallery of th e Museum of lew Mexico, to

(see note S4), who had been H enderson 's high school English

the Drama East and West (New York, 1922). Orientalia

63. T he leafle t for this

Stella Bloc h documents th e show

teacher and re mained a fri end.

was a bookstore in New York

performance, marketed out of

in which Coomaraswamy had a

Boston by Anita Davis Chase, is

of drawings by Coomaraswamy,

S6. " The Prince of olo a nd Lhe pretty American girl," New York Herald (April 9, 1922);

financial interest; it s ponsored

preser ved in Bloch's clipping

lectures on Asian culture and

scrapbook (Bloch papers

Buddhism and sold books on

H arvard, box 14). Stella Bloch

papers H arvard, box S, le tter

Bloc h papers H arvard, box

Asian topics.

dated May 19, 1920. Doroth y

14, clipping album . In this

sketchbook is in Bloch papers

Bloc h, and Dorothy M. Larcher th at had been shi pped from th e Weyhe Gallery; Bloch

tella's Javanese

performed " Dances of the Orie nt" and Coomaraswamy preceded

Larcher had been a Ba trna le

interview, Bloch, when asked

Princeton, box 6, f. 2; more

her acl with a p ublic lecture.

of Alice Ric hardson's a nd a

aboul her opi nion of Indian women, clai med th at she

finished drawings are in Bloch

T he l eaflet was illus trated by

papers Harvard, box 3.

Coomaraswamy's portrait of U nderwood and Unde1wood

s tudent a l the H om sey chool of Art with Philippe Maire l

did n' t di sapprove of polygamy.

(see note l S); Larche r we nt to

This embrace of free love was

India in 1914 to assist Lady

consistent with her relationship

Stella on the cover, a nd an

H erringharn in her proj ect to

with Coomaraswamy, with whom

copy the Ajan la murals and

she had been living since 1919.

60. Olin Downes, "Beauty in da nces of J avanese," Boston Post (March 28, 1922); Bloc h papers Harvard, box 14, clip-

stayed there during World War

Coomaraswamy shared a n ope n

pings alb um .

head dres ."

I, before returni ng Lo Engla nd

view of sexuali ty that he justified

a nd producing block-printed

in hi wTilings about "sahaja,"

61. Olin Downes, "There is

64. R oshanara a nd R atan Devi

textiles using India n dyes and

Lhe ideal ble nding of spirit a nd

no mys tery in the Orie nt",

had performed wilh Bolm in

techniques. On Herringha m's

ma tter in sexual love. " ahaja"

life, including her contacts with

in Coomaraswamy 1918, p. 103.

Boston Post (April 2, 1922); Bloch papers Harvard , box 14,

1917, and Stella herselfwenl to Ch icago in 192S for several

clippings album.

performances with the Bolm

Coomaraswamy, see Mary Lago,

commercial portrait (fig. 12) of Stella in a "costume of real ba ti k a nd exquisitely fretted gilded

Christiana Herringham and the Edwardian firt Scene (Columbia, Mo. , 1991).

S7. While a tudent in Lhe Neth erlands be tween 1913 a nd 1916, Lhe young man (not

62. Without legal documents,

Coomaraswamy apparen tly

yet destined for Lhe thro ne,

exacl dates of Coomaraswamy's

Bolm wanted her to buy for him

because he was Lhe third

marriages and divorces.

(Bloc h papers New York, box 1,

visited

1ew

Mexico during the

troupe. Beata Bolm, Adolp h's it is difficult lo determine the

wife, wrote Stella on Augusl 10, 1924, to define th e ma terials thal

s ummer of 1917 (while his

son of Mangkunegoro V) had

According lo different acco unts,

f. 9). Coomaraswa my in Colombo

wife was with Crowley), at

a bsorbed th e ideas of Tagore,

Alice Ri chardson refu sed for

wrote on January 2S, 192S to

th e invitation of Alice Corbin

whose poems were transla ted

ma ny years lo divorce him, even

complain tha t " Bolm was a

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beasl" and lhat he refu sed Lo bu) Cor him anymore (Bloch pape rs ew York, box 3, L 8).

In dustrial Revival in In dia (Madras, 1912), p. 196.

67. Ibid.

65. 1t i beyond lhe scope or lh is paper lo di scuss Slella Bloc h' role in lhe Ha rlem Renaissance, her ex hibili ons of drawings of black da ncers and enlertai ne rs she met in Harl em, and her ma rriage lo Edward Eli scu, \\-ho was a Broadway songwriter with whom she moved lo Ca lifornia in the early 1930s. Bloch's lellers lo Edna Offne r suggest that she was initially enthralled

by Coomaraswamy as a thinker more than a lover, and she bragged in 1919 that he had bought he r a $400 fur coal and was re nting an aparlmenl for her.

By 1922, her mood had changed a nd she complained lo Morlimer Offner th al Mrs. Moody and her fri ends in Chi cago (whom she vi ilecl 11 ilh Coomaraswa my) were "schla mpy and insufferable - a pac k of dopey foreigners talking arl and constantly sc hl eming for a good meal" and thal she " would will and di e in Boslon路' and needed . '200 per month for her new 57th lreel apartment; however, she added, "Coom i dead broke." Eliscu. wilh whom she was corresponding already in 1919, was address ing her as " my mrn s,1-eel darling" by 1924. She a lso in 1923 wro te cheeky. fli rlalious lellers Lo George Cukor (a lhea lre direclor prior Lo hi s beller-known ca reer in Hollywood and a boyhood fri end of Morlime r Offner), a nd desc ribed her drunken parties a nd madcap acl venlures in ew York. By Febru ary L930, she confessed lo Eddie El isc u lha l he was " depressed" by Coomaras wamy's visit.

68. Coo111a ras1rnmy has often been calegori zed as an " antimocle rni st," lhanks lo his earl y fri endship with Arthur Pe nLy and his inlellec lual exc ha nges in lhe 1920s and ] 930s wilh lhe French philosopher, Re ne Cuenon. Penly, an architect and proponenl or Guild ociali sm, cla imed in his ] 922 book, Post-Industrialism, that he owed the term Lo Coomaraswamy. with whom in 1914 he had edited a book , Essays on Post-I ndustrialism.

Post-industrialism was the belief thal excessive mac hini sm could only be countered by a return lo mal l- cale agri cultural production and ha nd manufacture based on the ideals of lhe medi eval guild.

Penty, like Coomaraswamy, be lieved thal the arti st should be dedi calecl lo spirilual goals and should subordinate himself lo lhe good of the community (rather than the expression of personal te mpera me nt). A1thur Penty, Post-Tndu trialism (New York, 1922). pp. 45, 47, 153. On Cuenon and Coomaraswamy, see Lipsey 1977, vol. 3, pp. 169- 72, 270- 74.

69. O'Shea 2007, p. 72.

70. Ananda Coomaraswamy, \Vhat Use is Art Any way?: Six Broadcasts Sponsored by the Boston MLLseLLm of Pine Arts , JanLtary and F'ebriwry 1937 (Newport, R. 1., 1937). p. l.

66. Coomaraswamy 1909, ciled in Erne t Binfie ld HavelJ , Th e Basis for Artistic and

193

The cinema and the sword I NVEN TI NG P AT T E R NS O F J A P ANE S E CUL T U R E

Dais uke Miy ao

On a page of Isabella Gardner's travel album of 1883, a miniature Japanese sword is attached (fig. 1).

The label reads, "Sword amule t from the Tsuruoka Hachiman Shrine." 1 Also glued to the page is a woodcut titled, "Image of the Deity Hachiman in Tsuruoka," which shows Hachiman with a black bow and two arrows in his hands, a long sword on his waist.

Gardner visited Kamakura on July 2, 1883. Even though she valued the amulet and the image of the bowman/swordsman highly enough to place them in her album, she scribed no further significance to the objects: Gardner does not refer to the sword or the samurai anywhere else in her album. Nor is there a special mention of the sword in her letter of July 15 to her brother-in-law, in which she briefly described her visit to Kama kura and Enoshima. 2 As such, the sword did not have any specific and special meaning to the American traveler to Japan in 1883. Yet, the image of the Japanese sword achieved inconceivable iconic meanings in the United Sta tes as well as in Japan in the following decades.

By the 1940s, for both the American and the Japanese peoples, the Japanese sword came to embody the Japanese spirit. American cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict juxtaposes the Japanese sword and the Japanese soul in her classic work, The Chrysanthemum and th e Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture of 1946: Though every soul originally shines with virtue like a new sword, neverthele s, if it is not kept polished, it gets tarnished. This "rust of my 2. Front, 1943

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body," as they [Japanese people] phrase it, is as bad as it is on a sword. A man must give bis character Lhe same care that he would give a sword. But his bright and gleaning oul is still there under the rust and all that is necessary is to poli sh it up again. 3 Similarly, Front, a nationalist propaganda magazine aimed at a foreign audience, published by the Toho company, used a photograph of a Japanese military pilot climbing out of bis aircraft on the cover of its 1943 issue (fig. 2). He holds a Japanese sword. As ethnologi t Kinoshita aoyuki argues, "Given that this is the cover of a magazine intended for overseas propaganda, there is little doubt tha t this photograph was chosen as a suitable image for introducing Japanese culture . "~ Together with the pilot's gallant face, the Japanese sword in his hand, in the center of the photograph, quite poss ibly embodies the Japanese national spirit under the militarist condition of 1943.

Cinema played a significant role for the birth of such an iconic image of the Japanese sword as the symbol of the Japanese spirit, both in the United States and in Japan. Japan was a popular subj ect in early American cinema. In 1910, the Moving Picture World, a film trade journal, remarked on the popularity of Japanese subj ects for Wes tern :film audiences: "Japanese art, Japanese life and Japanese costumes appeal to the occidental mind for many reasons . The grace, the charm , the poetry of Japan never fails to please us of the West." 5 The American Film, Institute Catalog, 1893-1910 li ts 94 :films that were released in the United States under the category of "Japan and Japanese," while the catalogue for 1911 to 1920 lists 43 :films under similar categories. 6 These include the 1914 :film Katana , Oath of the Sword, produced by the Japanese-American Film Company, which the Moving Picture World described as being the :first motion picture company in America to be "managed entirely by Japane e business men." 7 Katana , Oath of the Sword, according to a review by the Rev. E. Boudinot Stockton, S.T.B., is "a typical Japanese story hinging on the sacred sword that in every Japanese household descends to the eldest daughter who on receiving it, takes the oath known as 'f atana' or 'The Oath of th e Sword,' that she will avenge any unfaithfulness on her part by making the sword the instrument of her death." In the film, the Japanese heroine, who e :fiance is studying in California, falls in love with an American ship captain. The fiance returns to Japan, discloses that the American has a wife in the 路路 .S., and kills him. Meanwhile, the girl pays for her unfaithfulness by committing hara-kiri with the sword. 8 Stockton claimed, " the story i o well developed and the national viewpoint is so well and attractively delineated that we lose sight of tragedy in our interest in a foreign people and their ideals and accept the end when it come as the only logical and natural thing for them." 9 Despite its obvious dependence on the stereotypical Madame Butterfly narrati ve, which was widely popular when the :film was released, the :film was produced by a Japanese-operated company and even validated by an American religious au thority. Katana , the Oath of the Sword thus turned the Japane e sword into a easily understood object that represented the exotic culture of Japan as well as the honor of the race.

Across the Pacific, samurai, or sword-fighting warriors, were also popular subj ects in early cinema in Japan . The most popular :film genre in Japan in the 1910s wa k yiigeki (old drama), mo tly set in the pre-modern period and emphasizing kabuki -style th eatri cal swordfighting dances. Makino Shozo, " the father of Japanese cinema," produced numerous s uch

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films with the fir t Japanese movie s tar, Onoe Mals unos uke. At firsL, Japan and Lhe Japanese s-v1rord were extraordinary s ubj ecls in themselves, as exotic objects of a LLraction in Lhe new visual medium both in the United States and in Japan. Then, before reaching the ame resulL of signi.ficaLion of the Japanese spirit, the American and the Japanese cinemas took different paths in their representations of the Japa nese sword.

TIIE JAPr\KhSE S\YORD I~ Al\IERICA: FHOl\I M A DAME B UTTERFLY TO SESSlTE I-L\YAKA\YA

In the United States, even though Japanese swords had been exhibited in the World's Fairs of the late nineteenth century, most Americans :first became aware of the objects through the popularity of Madanie Butte1fly. The novel of this name was written by a Philadelphia law;rer and Japanophile, John Luther Long, and :first appeared in the Century Magazine in January 1898. Long's s tory had been inspired by French writer Pierre Loti's 1888 novella Madame Chrysantheme and the 1893 opera version of Andre Messager to a libretto by G. Hartmann and A. Alexandre. Long's s tory was well received and the acclaimed dramatist David Belasco adapted it as a single-set one-act play, which opened at the Herald Square Theater in New Yorl in March 1900. This American version of Japani m was then re-imported to Europe. Giacomo Puccini 路wrote his celebrated opera, Madama Butte1fly, in 1904. It 路was :first performed in the United States in 1906 in Washington. The Metropolitan Opera perform ed Madama Butte1fly with Geraldine Farrar as Cio-Cio-San 106 times in sixteen seasons. The Savage English Grand Opera Company took Madanw Butterfly on a national tour from 1907 to 1908. 10 Thus, Madame ButterHy became one of the most popular images of Japanese people in America in the :firsL decade of the twentieth century.

The most memorable image of Madame Buttediy is her self-sacrificial suicide with a Japanese sword in the end. Discovering Pinkerton's betrayal, Cio-Cio-San sings of her son, the "piccolo idio" (small god) who has come dovrn from "alto paradiso" (high heaven). According to opera critic Masui Keiji, Cio-Cio-San's :final aria indicates that she is abandoned not only by Pinkerton but also by his Christian God. Despite her conversion to Christianity in the mid t of the narrative, Cio-Cio-San is not allowed to climb to heaven.'1 Instead, she chooses to commit suicide in compensation for her disgrace of her family and tradition, and, at the same time, to cut her child's tie with Japan and help him live in an American family. The sword becomes a symbol of loyalty, even though such an image of loyalty was formulated within the colonial s tate of mind of American patriarchy. Fortunately enough for Pinkerton, Cio-Cio-San' suicide elimina tes his obligation to his Japanese "wife" and saves him from hi immoral bigamy.

Nitobe Inazo's Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1900) helped legitimize this image of the Japanese sword in American minds and Lhen in Japanese minds, although in a twisted manner. Referring to the romantic - not necessarily his torically candid - notion that Japanese people had a particular philosophical and moral code called bushido, or the code of samurai, hand ed down through generations, Nitobe s trategically constructed "an essential of Japanese charac ter." 12 Iitobe writes, "What [the samurai] carries in his belt is a symbol of what he carries in his mind and heart, - loyalty and honour." 13 Confronting We tern imperialism and

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rapid Westernization of Japan, itobe strategically used the somewhat ahistorical idea of bushido for his foreign readership. He a ttempted to connect the purposefully chosen pas t and the modern Japanese nationalism by emphasizing bushido - codes of loyalty and fili al piety - as " the form ative force of the new era." 14 itobe claimed, "The samurai grew to be the beau ideal of the whole race ... Bushido was and still is the animating spirit, the motor force of our country." 15 Nitobe's tactics worked. Henry Dyer wrote in 1904 tha t the Japanese drive to modernize was motivated by bushido - the way of the samurai, " the sense of honour which cannot bear being looked down upon as an inferior power." 16 The first edition of Bushido had modest sales in the U.S. , but when revised version was released by Putnam in July 1905, the book received much favorable publicity "at the high tide of interest" in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and 1905. 17

Bushido was translated into Polish, German, Hungarian, Norwegian, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Chinese, and then in 1908 into Japanese. 18 In this sense, the symbolism of the sword was :first approved by foreign readers before being accepted back in Japan and naturalized as the essence of the Japanese spirit. No ma tter how imaginary it was, the Wes tern recognition of the exotic beauty of Japanese art had an important impac t on the form a tion of Japanese national identity. 19 Nitobe symbolically presented a copy of Bushido to the Meiji Emperor in 1905. 20 Therefore, Japan chose to display the modernized Japan in the form of the traditional, classical artifac ts from Japan's past because it was "well aware of the Western gaze which valorized the 'authentic' artifacts from the Oriental past." 2 1 The sword was a perfect vehicle for this purpose, even though it also became the basis of the popular discourse of the yellow peril, which help spread a negative image of Japanese immigrants through the Pacific region as ruthless agents of Tokyo out for economic domination, especially when the rising military power of Japan became obvious to Americans after the Russo-Japanese War. Cinema enhanced this image of the Japanese sword as the embodiment of the Japanese spirit on a massive scale. No ma tter how popular the opera Madcuna Butte1jly and th e book Bushido had been, they were manifestations of high and intellectual art. Movies were different. In the very beginning, cinema was regarded as an entertainment for immigrants and the working class. However, by the mid 1910s, Hollywood's film industry began to refine motion pictures in order Lo increase its appeal to broader middle-class audiences. The 1914 :film Katana , Oath of the Sword was an example of this bourgeoisization of cinema: it was a filmic version of Madame Butterfly. According to film historian Gregory Waller, fully half of the thirty-five :films that were made from 1909 to 1915 portraying cross-cultural relations (American and Japanese) took the form of ill-fated romance, and "a good number of them rework Madanie Butterfly's narrative of doomed Japanese female/Ameri can male romance."??

-Japanese ac tor Sessue Hayakawa (1886-1973), who became a Hollywood star in the late 1910 , played a significant role in the popularization of the image of the Japanese sword. 23 Hayakawa, with his real-life wife Tsuru Aoki, appeared in many short :films based on the Madame Butte1jly narrative. The Moving Picture World claims tha t in The Oath of O 'Tsuru San (1913), O'Tsuru San (Aoki), who falls in love with a young American on whom she was ordered to spy, is as "dainty and attractive as Madame Butterf-ly." 2' 1 The Geisha (1914)

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similarly follows Lhe Madame Butte1fly narralive, even though the one who corn mi ts suicide is nol the Japanese girl (again played by Aoki) but the American man when he realizes his mistake in marrying "outside of his race." 25

3. Sessue H ayakawa as N a ro - N o ra and Fl o rence Vi d o r as Kitty i n T h e Secr et Game (19 17) 4 . St i ll from T he Secret Game ( 19 17)

order to protect Kitty and

Hayakawa's slar vehicle The Secret Game (William C. DeMille, 1917), a propaganda film celebraLing Lh e Japanese-American alliance during World War I, has memorable scenes regarding the Japanese sword wilh loose references to Madame Buttmfly. Hayakawa plays Nara-Nara, a Japanese secre t agent stationed in the S. He is sent to Los Angeles to see that no information about th e sailing of Japanese transports, which carry American soldiers across the Pacific to urprise the Russian front, leaks out of the quartermasler's office. Major North.field is in charge of the office and Ki tl y Little (Florence Vidor), a stenographer there, is hi love interest. Killy is ac tually a me mber of Lhe German secret service who takes orders from Dr. Ebell Smith. Nara- ara, disguising himself as an art dealer, takes the office next to the quartermaster's. He learns of Kitty's mission to get ship information into the hands of the Germans. North.field also discovers her taking orders from Dr. Smi th. He gives her a blank paper in teacl of the sailing orders. ara-Nara pursues Kitty, who bring the paper to Dr. Smith . Nara-Nara kills Dr. Smi th and attacks Kitty. Kitty's plea awakens his honor and loyalty to his country. He is stabbed by one of Dr. Smith's aides in orthfielcl. orthfielcl forgives Kitty in the encl.

In a scene at his office, Nara-Nara tells Kitty about his Japanese swords (fig. 3). Afler ara- ara's poken title, "When I left Japan, my father, like a Samurai of old, sent me forth sworn to the service of my Emperor," Lhe following shot, a flashback, shows a room of a Japane e hou e with numerous paper lanterns and hoji screens. In front of the room, araTara in a Weslern suil bids his father farewell. The elderly father, dressed in a kimono, takes a sword from his servant. Nara- ara receives the sword from his father and bov1rs to him with profound filial respect. ara- ara's spoken title concludes the flashbac k, "And he bade me re turn, at the end of my service, and lay my sword - unstain ed - at his fee t." At the encl of the film , another flashback reunites ara-Nara to his pas t in Japan. ara- ara's soul, in a doubleexposure, goes back home to return the untainted word to his fath er (fig. 4).

Nara- ara represents the Japanese spirit and the honorable carrier of the Japanese sword. In an earlier scene at the Japanese l:'. . mbassy in Washington, ara- ara and the Japanese ambassador openly cliscL1ss the honor of Japan. The ambassador says, "I have sent for you because Japan has offered to convoy the American transports" but " ew German raiders are known to be in Lhe Paci.fie. This means there has been a 'leak' ... Find the traitor behind

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that 'leak' before he divulges the trans ports' sailing dale and route. Japan's honor is slaked upon their safety." 26 Nara-Nara bov1'S to the ambassador in a dignified manner. The words of the ambassador and the final bow of Nara-Nara emphasize Japa nese nationalism and loyalty.

Hi s self-sacrificial death in the end for the good of I itty, an immigrant woman, and the formation of a white American family (between orth.field and Killy) is a variation of Cio-CioSan's s uicide in Madame Butterfly. ara- ara's ultimate bond Lo Japan is emphasized in the finale that stereotypically depicts ara-Nara's self-sacrificial death for honor. Ye t, under the Japanese-American alliance, Hayakawa's Japanese charac ter becomes heroic because of his loyalty lo Japan.

Since the trade press, fan periodicals, has filmic sites were

emergence of the s tar system, publicity about actors' private lives in the magazines, ma s-circulated magazines and new paper , and other general been Hollywood's typical means of cons tructing star images. 27 These extraas important as the actual film s in creating personal images.

In an article tha t appeared in the January 1919 issue of Motion Picture Classic , "Sessue of the samurai: Hayakawa is the proud old Japanese caste with the manners of modern America," H arry C. Carr wrote:

In all [HayakmNa's] cus toms and manners and conversation he i American to the :finger-tips, but one always feels that in Hayakawa there is the soul of some stern old Samurai, who has returned to earth and go t into the body of a very up-lo-date young man of fashion by mis take. One always feels that this handsome, a llrac live young clubman is reaching back into dim mys terious of an old philosophy tha t we 路wot [sic] not of.

I see him in spiffy neckties and ves t-chains, with golf-sticks poking out of the tonneau of his car, but beyond I see old Samurai temples and queer Samurai swords, strange aromas of Oriental pe1fomes. Hayakawa is modern Japan. H e is the proud old Samurai caste in patent leather shoes and spats. The spirit of the old Japan which me t death with a conte mptuous smile and killed any one who touched its sword. But the manner and thoughts of modern America. We think we have taught them a lot, but they call upon life forces of which we know nothing. 28 Carr thus regarded Hayakawa a descendent of the samurai class, no matter how Americanized his surface was. H ayakawa himself participated in this tendency toward essentializing his s tar image of a Japanese Samurai.

When Hayakawa first spoke about hi performance s tyle, it was in relation to his family hi tory: "'When I act,' he said , 'I don't Lry to show my e motions with my face. In fact, I try to keep my face absolutely impassive. Thal was my training as a boy of the Samurai class in Japan. In tha t caste it is considered disgraceful to show your emotions."'29 Even though Hayakawa was not really a son of a samurai, but of a fisherma n in Chiba prefecture, H ayakawa's "confession" Lo the press served to enhance the image of the honorable image of the samurai class. Attached to fan magazine articles were photos of Hayakawa with Japanese swords (fi g. 5). One of the captions notes, "now and then he gels

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5 . Sessue Hayakawa in

Motion Picture Classic, Nove mber 1918

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clown the tragic mas1 and the centuries-old Samurai sword of the Japanese player. Then he forgets all aboul the Cooper-J-I ewilts and the fleeting fame of celluloid success . '"~ 0 And Hayakawa explained the solemn and meticulous ritual of the Japanese-s tyle sui cide with the sword: Under no circumstances mus l yo u lo e your absolute self-control. For instance, uicide is very common in Japan. The riles of the hari-kari are very elaborate. The knife is thrust into the left side of the abdomen, drawn across the stomach for exactly six inches, then upward for one inch. IL is considered shameful if the suicide, in his pain and agony, shows that he was too agitated Lo make the cuts with exactitude. The dread of every Japanese boy is that, killing himself, his body may show that in his death agony he has thrashed and kicked his legs around, thus bringing lasting shame to hi family.

In these id ea I was raised. I was taught that death was a mere incident, that honor and poise were everylhing. 31 As I have discussed elsewhere, even if Hayakawa's films and his words for publicil y were s tereotypical forms of representing Japanese culture and people, it was also true that the success of his films in America was highly valued by Japanese spectators.:32 Film critic Kondo Iyokichi claimed Lhal Hayakawa acco mplished a double-bound duty: "to show Japanese charac teristics vividly as a Japanese ac tor," and at the same time, "he must be based on a 路worldly common, cosmopolitan acting s tyle" that was "understandable to any foreign audience." Kondo insis ted that Hayakawa "extremely emphasized the local color, geisha, Japanese swords, and lack of facial expression that were known as Japanese characteristics at the same time as he was based on naturalistic ac ting that was the worldly common standard for motion piclures.":3:3 In this way, Hayakawa was considered to be " the pride and honor of Japan because of his international fame as a great motion picture actor."路31 Via the international success of Nitobe Inazo's Bushido - tha t is, through recognition from abroad - the symbolis m of the sword was naturalized in Japan as an essence of the Japanese charac ter.

Similarly, because of Hayakawa's huge success in Hollywood, the iconic image of the word was reinforced a mong Japanese audience. Seki Misao, a Japanese ac tor, praised Hayakawa for his "spirit of bushido as a Japanese man ... and his practice of purely Japanese sword figh ting [even in AmericaJ.":35 Thus, the image of the Japanese sword as the symbol of the Japanese samurai spirit was legitimized in both America and Japan via the words of the Hollywood s tar in the 1910s, who was regarded as the representative of Japan.

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Sessue Hayakawa's Hollywood film s were favorably received in Japan in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, when a overall transformation of cinema was under way in Japanese filmmaking. K yi""igeki, which had basically reproduced kabuki's stage performance in cinema tic form was transformed or modernized in s tyle and technique. ew :films with premodern settings corresponded to a cha nge in audience Lasle in the rapid modernization,

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produced under the influence of Western art and popular culture, during the reconstruction of social and media landscape of Tokyo after the earthquake, and the simultaneous rearticulation of time and space in everyday life. These new films were called j idaigeki (period drama).

]idaigeki emerged as a new genre that overcame the theatricality of kyugeki. Although kyÂŁigeki included such cinematic styles as camera movements and Georges Melies-style trick editing, it used, for the most part, long takes and long shots, and did not employ female actors.

Young, intellectual film critic of the time often criticized kyi/,geki as "uncinematic."36 On the contrary, j idaigeki overtly used such cinematic techniques as inter-titles, shot/reverse-shot decoupage, cross-cutting, and fast cutting. To these were added violent thrusts of action to the camera, accelerated motion (achieved through undercranking) and swift (often handheld) camera movements, usually during chambara (sword fights) but sometimes during conversations or even across scenes, such a transitions. 37 In this sense, even though jidaigeki is set in premodern period Japan (that is, before 1868, as kyi/,geki had been), it embodies Japanese modernity in the form of a mass entertainment, heavily influenced by :film from America and Europe, including the swashbuckler films of Douglas Fairbanks, the most popular foreign actor in Japan in the 1920s.

The significance of the sword in popular entertainment drastically changed as jidaigeki emerged. As chanibara acquired more a realistic look in jidaigeki than it had in kyi/,geki, the sword began to occupy the central spot of action . In particular, lighting technology that was also heavily influenced by American and European cinema enhanced the role of the Japanese sword in jidaigeki. Cinema is a medium of light. While jidaigeki deviated from the theatricality of kabuki, lighting came Lo play a more significant role, especially to enhance the value of the sword. Kabuki did not often use such special lighting techniques as lowkey lighting, backlighting, or spotlight, but employed mostly diffused frontal lighting that illumina tes the entire set flatly and excludes shadow as much as possible in order to make onstage acts visible to the spectator.38 In jidaigeki, by contrast, charac ters often walk into dark nights, which are perfect settings for the spectacle of sword fighting. Under the dim light of the moon or treet lamps, which are achi eved by specific arrangements of lamp in studio sets or on location, the swords of samurai warriors momentarily shine as if they cannot wait for slaughtering. At the same time, jidaigeki fully utilizes lighting effects in order to enhance the complex psychological states of samurai warriors. Filmmaker Uratani Toshiro claims, '"Chambara' is Lhe boiling point where 'psychological climax' and 'visual climax' in a drama meet." 39 Samurai warriors need to resort to their swords, which embodies their spirits, in order to prove themselves, but often suffer from the act of killing: existentialis t crisis. Some even decide to dump their swords - their identity - in order to deviate from their past.

After a climactic duel in Bamba no Chi/,taro: Mabuta no haha (1931), in which the swords shine spec tacularly in the specific lighting scheme, ChUtaro, played by jidaigeki star Kataoka Chiezo, literally throws away his sword. His sword sticks to the bottom of a tree and gleam conspicuously (:fig. 6). The camera then slowly pans to the right until it captures Chu taro and his mother, for ~whom he has long been searching time, embracing each other and sobbing. While had been separated, Chutaro needed to become a hired swordsman. This finale was certainly inspired by the ending of The Mark of Zorro (1920), a Douglas Fairbanks star

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vehicle, which was very popular in Japan. When Don Diego/Zorro (Fairbanks) throws away his sword after the climactic batLle, it sticks to the wall (fig. 7). In the following long shot, Diego jumps up to the second floor. And in the following medium long shot, Diego and his sweetheart embrace each other.

However, no matter how heavily jidaigeki was influenced by Hollywood-style lighting and other :filmmaking techniques, the genre came to have its own di tinctive charac ter - in particular through the significance of the sword. Zorro's sword does not conspicuously shine on the wall at all. For Zorro, the sword does not have much significance in terms of his identity, but for Chu taro the s-word embodies his soul. Thus, jidaigeki, a new genre in Japanese cinema that emerged under the influence of Hollywood cin ema, among others, enhanced the igni:ficance of the sword in Japanese popular minds through the use of di tinctive lighting. 40 The significance of the sword as the symbol of the Japanese spirit has thus been formulated and rearticulated in the cinema since the early twentieth century.

6. Sword scene from Bom -

ba no Chutar6: Mobuta no hoha ( 193 1) 7. Sword in the wall : still

from Mork of Zorro ( 1920)

When the sword officially became the embodiment of the Japanese spirit, as seen in the cover of Front magazine in 1943, one jidaigeki depicted sword :fights in a sarcastic vein.

In Kurama Tengu Yokohama ni arawaru , or " Kurama Tengu appears in Yokohama," a 1942 film directed by It0 Daisuke, an acclaimed director of jidaigeki, chambara scenes are hyperbolically depic ted with such techniques as double exposure, as :film hi torian Kato Mikiro suggests. 11 It is said tha t the original print of the :film included a scene in which the hero sprinted 300 meters while :fighting against enemy swordsmen. 12 The cene is no longer extant, but as a result of these techniques, chambara in this :film ceased to be realistic and turned into nothing more than a sword-fighting dance, as it had been in ky拢igeki. Whether consciously or not, this reveals the artificiality of the essentialist signification of the sword.

It is unlikely that this :film was seen as subversive to the militarist government because the story had previously been made as one of the popular superhero movies of the 1920s, starring Arashi Kanjuro as Kurama Tengu. Yet, the sarcasm ofthe :film itself captured how seriously the iconic image of the sword 路was inlegrated in the 路wartime government policy.

203

\1 1\ \()

1. Bos ton 2009, p. 128.

2. lbicl ., p. 125.

3 . Be nedi ct 1989, p. 198.

ll. I eiji Masui, Opera o shitteimasuka lDo yo u know ope ra?] (Tokyo, 1995), p. 365.

12. George M. Oshi ro, " Forward" in ' iLobe 2002, p. 8.

The Sec ret Game, see Miyao

1916). p. 139. The caption in

2007.

Kingsley's a rticle reads, "This son of the Samurai can wield the

24. Moving Picture ·w orld

traditi onal weapon or his clan in

18, no. 6 (November 3, 1913), p. 613.

Lhe traditional man ner."

4. Kinos hita Naoyuki. ·'From wea pon to work or art: 'Sword

3 1. Carr 1919, p. 68.

13.

itobe 2002, p. 118.

hunls· in mod ern Japan." Senri

Ethnological tlld ies 54

25. Motion Pict:ure News 9, no.

14 (A pril 11, 1914), p. 50.

32. Mi yao 2007, pp. 246-47.

14. lbicl., p. 14].

(Marc h 9, 2001), pp. ] 20- 2 1.

26. The underlining is that of the

33. Kondo Iyo kichi , "Sessho

15. Ibi d., pp. 135, 141.

ori ginal inlerlilles.

Haya kawa no engi" [Sessue

Moving Picture ·w orld 6, no.

16. l-lenry Dyer. Dai Nippon:

27. Ri chard DeCordova, Picture

21 (May 28, 1910), p. 873.

The Britain of the Far East

Personalities: The Emergence of the Star System in America (Urbana. Tll., 1990), p. 12;

5. "The J apa nese inva ion ,"

Haya kawa's acti ng] in Sessho,

(London , ] 904), p. 32.

6 . Elias Savada, eel ., The

American Film lnstitllte Catalog o./ Motion Pictllres Prodllcecl in the United States: Film Beginnings, 1893- 1910: fl Work in Prog ress (Me tuc he n, 1.J..

1995). p. 350; Pa tri cia E ing Hanson and Alan Gevinson, eel ., The American Film lnstitute Catalog of Motion Pictllres Produced in the United States: Fealllre Films , 1911- 1920 (Berkeley, 1989),

17. George M. Oshiro in Nilobe 2002, pp. 11- 12.

18. Ibid. , p. 13.

19. Iida Yumiko, Rethinking Identity in Modern Japan: Nationalism as Aesthetics (London, 2002). p. 14.

Gaylyn tudlar, ·'The perils of

edited by Koda Honami (Tokyo, 1922), pp. 6-14.

34. Katsuda Caho 6. no. 7 (July 1922). p. 100.

plea ure?: Fan magazine discourse as wome n's commoclified

35. Seki Misao, "Sh iLashiki

c ulture in Lhe 1920s" in Silent

Film , edited by Ri chard Abel

Haya kawa essho shi yori eta watashi no kange ki " [J

(New Brunswi c k, N.J. , 1996). p.

wa impressed by Mr. Sessue

264·;

~ yro n

Os born Lounsbury,

Orig ins ofAm erican Film Criticism, 1909- 1939 (New

Haya kawa, my good fri e nd],

T ats iido Kurabu 5, no. 6 (June 1922), pp. 33-34.

York, 1973), p. xv.i.

2 0. George M. 0 hiro in Nitobe 2002, p. 13.

28. Harry C. Carr, "Sessue of the

2 1. Mari Yoshihara, "Women's

old Japa nese casle wilh the

Asia: American wome n a nd

ma nners of modern America,"

lo jidaigeki: The hegemonic

Lhe genderin g of American

Motion Picture Classic 7

struggle between film producers

Moving Picture World 22, no.

Ori enla li sm, 1870 lo WWfJ''

(January 1919), p. 68.

a nd film exhibitors] .in Jidaigeki

2 (Oc tober 10, 1914), p. 199.

(PhD di sserlali on: Brown 29. Harry Carr. "Son of the

densetsu: Chamba.ra eiga no ka.g ayaki [Legend of jidaigeki: The flas h of chcunbara film s],

p. 338.

7. "Ja p films by Jap actors,"

sa murai : Hayakawa is the proud

Uni vers ily, 1997), p. 63.

8. Gregory A. Waller, ·'Hi sloricizing, a lesl case: Japan on American screens, 1909- 1915" (ma nuscr ipt), p. 13.

36. lla kura Fumiaki, "'} yugeki'

samurai ," Motion Picture 22. Gregory A. Waller, " 1-lis lori cizing, a lesl case:

Classic 14, no. 7 (J uly 1922), pp. 3 1- 33.

kara 'jidaigeki' e: Eiga eisakusha lo eiga kogyos ha no hegemonT Loso" [From Jryiigeki

edited by Twa moto Ke nji (To kyo, 2005), pp. 89- 114.

Japa n on Ame rican screens, 1909- 1915" (ma nuscript), p. 11.

30. " From oul the flowery

9. Rev. E. Boudinot Stockton,

Example of films of the l 910s

kingdom ," Motion Picture

37. David Bordwell, Poetics of Cinema (London, 2007), pp.

S.T.B., "Kala na, th e Oath of the

to earl y 1920s wi th the Madame

Classic ( ove mber 1918), n.p. ,

356-57.

Sword: An unus ually refreshing

Bu.tte1jly narra li ve include: A Japanese Courtship (19 13), Banzai (1913), Tiara-Kiri (1914), The Dea.th ofa Geish a.

(1914), Madame Butte1jly (1915), Harakiri (1919), a nd Toll o./ t:he Sea (1922).

in Sessue Hayakawa: crapbook

story of Japanese life porlrayecl by real Japanese - Sawyer Release," Moving Picture

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10. John Dizikes. Opera. in

(New York Public Library for

38. Kawacla Takako and

the Performing Arts, Robinson

Asahara 'I: uneo, " Bulai shomei"

Locke Colleclion, no. 168). See

[Thea trical lighting] in Kabuki

also Crace Kingsley, "Thal splas h of saffron : Sess ue

no butai gijutsu to g ijiltSLl sha tachi [Theatr ical lechniq ues in

Haya kawa, a cosmopolita n aclor who, fo r reasons or nalivi ly,

kabuki a nd technicia ns], edited

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America.: A Cidtural History

23. For compre he nsive examina-

happens lo peer from our wh iLe

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ti on of essue Hayakawa's

screens wi th tilled eyes,"

s tard om a nd de ta iled a naly is of

Photopla.y 9, no. 4 (Marc h

204

T111

Cl\1路: 11 I

\\ll Ti ii路 Sl\Ollll

39. Ura la ni Tos hir6, "C ha mbara s ula re ls uclen"' [Biogra phi s of c hambara s lars] in K)'oto kara

sekai e: Cha111bara eiga [From Kyolo lo Lhe words : Chambara film s], edited by Ya ma ne adao a nd Tanaka

ori ko (Kyo lo,

2004), p. 24.

40. For de tai led exa mina tion of lighting in jidaigeki. see Miyao 2013.

41. Kal6 Mikiro, "Tate no koz6 lo rekis hi"' [The s lruc lure and hislory of Lhe choreography of sword figh tin g] in ]iclaigeki eigci t:owa

nanika: N)'iifirumil siltacl"iz u [\~Thal is jidaige ki film ?:

ew

film s tudies], edited by Tsuls ui } iyo lada a nd Kala Mikir6 (Kyo lo,

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42. Takenaka Osamu , f< urama

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Cot\'TR I BlTTOHS

LA\~ RENO: M. B ER~IA N,

orrna

c ulture specialis m in th e Royal

flowers and birds of the four

of Ame ri ca n Art al th e Norton

J ea n Calderwood Senior Curator

College of Art a nd Vi c toria a nd

seasons and th e digital world ,"

Museum of Art, Wes t Palm

of An cie nt Egyptian, lubi a n,

Albert Muse um's pos tgraduate

in Crossing the Sea: Essays

Beach, has published on

a nd

design his tory programme .

on East Asian Art in Honor of Yo 路hiaki Shimizu (2012).

Ja pa nis m a nd aesth e ti cis m in

ear Eas tern Art a l the

Muse um of Fine Arts, Bos ton,

She was wrille n Art, Tea, and

is th e author of The Cleveland

Museum of Art: Catalogue of Egyptian Art (Cleveland , 1999) and co-author of Secrets of Tomb JOA: Egypt 2000 BC (Bos ton ,

lndusl.ry: Masuda Takashi and the Mitsui Circle (1993) and Longfellow's Tattoos: Tourism, Collecting, and Japan (2004),

McAlpin Professor of th e His tory

(2006) a nd an essay on Japani m

of Photography and Modern Art

a nd the Arts an d Crafts

a nd is comple ting a Lud y of

a l Princeton Uni versity, has pub-

2009). H e has jus t co mple ted

Hokusai's Great Wave as global

li s hed exte nsi vely o n the social

a manuscript on th e "Green

JCO n.

his tory of photograph y, including

Moveme nt in Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago (2009).

H ead" in Bos ton, a n iconic Lale Egyptian sc ulpture of a pries t.

K E 'DALL BROW!\, Professor

Chinese Art Hi s tory a l Colum bia

of Asia n Art His tory in th e

Un iversity, has publis hed

Sc hool of Art at California Sta le

numerous books a nd articles on

Uni versity Long Beach, is th e

Chinese arl, including Painting

a uthor of Japanese-Style Gardens of the Pacific West Coast (1999) a nd Quiel Beauty: Japanese Gardens in North America

and Private Life in EleventhCentury China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin (1998) and landscape of Words (2008). H e

(2013). He works on J apa nese

was th e Slade Professo r of Fine

a rt of th e early 20th century and

Art a l Cambridge

1orth

ni versity in

2006-7.

in the Decorative Arts 13, no. 2

de Visite Portrait Photograph (1985); Industrial Madness: Commercial Photography in Paris, 1848-1871 (1994); a nd The Steerage and Alfred tieglitz (co-authored wi th

Mc eill Whis tler, including

Jaso n Francisco, 2012). She is

"The phantasm of aes th e tic

AGA HI RO KINOSHITA, re tired ALAI\ CHONG, director of the

professor al Yokoha ma National

Asian Civi lisatio ns Muse um Si ngapore, was formerly c urator

Univer ity, has writte n Okakura Tenshin: mono ni kanzureba tsui ni warenashi [O kakura Te nshin :

of th e Isa bella Stewart Gardner

In Medita tin g on th e Object,

Museum, wh ere he co-c urated

Journeys East: Isabella tewart Gardner and Asia (2009).

AILEEN Tsui, Associate Professor of a rt his tory al Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, has publi heel exte nsively on th e arl of Ja mes

c urre ntly pre paring a book on

a utonomy in Whis tler's work:

Ameri can moderni l photogra-

Ti Llin g The White Girl,"

phy during World War I.

Art History 29 (2006) a nd "Whis tler's l a princesse du pays de la porcelaine: Painting

DAISUKE MI YAO, Associate Professor of Japa nese Film and

America.

a nd the P era nakan Museum in

th e Bella Apartme nts. in Studies A\' 'E McCAULEY, David I-I.

A. A. E. Disderi and the Carte ROBERT E. H ARR IST J R., Jane a nd Leopold Swergold Professor of

on J apa nese garde ns in

Louis Comfort Tiffa ny's room in

Cinema Studi es a t the Un iversity

re-orie n Led," Nineteenth-Centwy Art Worldwide 9, no. 2 (Autumn

of Oregon , is the au thor of The

2010).

Finally The re is No I] (2005)

Aesthetics of Shadow: lighting and Japanese Cinema (2013), Cinema ls a Cat: Introduction to Cinema Studies (2011), a nd Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom

wi th a conc urre nt appointme nt

a nd Bi o ikiru lame no 26 sho:

(2007). He is also the editor of

i n the his tory departm e nt,

geijutsu shisoshi no kokoromi

Oxford Handbook of Japcmese Cinema (forth comi ng).

has writte n exte nsively on religio n in Ameri ca, including

NOR IKO MURAI, Assis tant

The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian

[26 Chap ters for Living Beauty:

THOMAS A. T WEED, W H arold a nd Marth Welch E ndowed C hair in American Stu dies, University of

1olre

Da me,

ELLE!\ P. CONANT has writte n

Toward a n Intellectu al Hi s tory

exte nsively on Eas t-Wes t

of Art] (2009). Hi publications

artis ti c excha nge in th e mode rn

in E nglis h include " Okak ura

Professor of modern Japanese

Culture and the Limits of Dissent

period. She c urated Nilwnga,

f a ku zo as a his toria n of art," Review of Japanese Culture and Society 24. (2013).

arl his tory a nd vis ual culture

(1992), Crossing and Dwelling:

a t Sophia U ni versity in Tokyo

edited Challenging Past and

GREGOR\ P. A. LI~\ INE,

Present: The Metam01plwsis of Nineteenth-Centwy Japanese rl

a nd arc hitecture of Ja pan a nd

(2006), a nd recen tly contrib-

Buddhis t vis ual c ultures al

uted a n essay in Since Meiji: Perspectives on the Japanese Vi ual Arts, 1868- 2000 (2012).

the University of Californi a,

Asia (2009) an d co-edited , with Yukio Lippit, Beyond Tenshin: Okakura Kakuz6's Multiple legacies (Review of Japanese Culture and Society 24 [2013]).

A Theory of Religion (2006), a nd America's Church: The National Shrine and Catholic Presence in the Nation's Capital (2011).

Berkeley, has rece ntly publis hed

She is c urre ntly working on a

" Buddha ru s h: A s tory of a rl

book on Oka kura.

Transcending the Past: Japanese Style Painting 1868-1968 (Saint Loui s Art Museum, 1995),

co-a uthored Journeys East:

Isabella tewarl Gardner and Associate Profe sor of th e art

a nd its consequ e nces," BOOM: C11 R1STl1\E GUTll leads th e Asia n

A Journal of California (2012)

ELLEN E. R OBERTS, Harold a nd

design his tory a nd ma teria l

a nd " On re turn : Kano Ei tok u's

A nn e Berkley milh Curator

212

I NDEX

Adams, H enry, 93, 149

chambara (sword fights), 202, 203

Alcock, Ruth erford, 103

Cha mberlain, Basil H all, 104~5

Alma-Tadema, Lawrence,

Clarke, James Freeman, 54

121- 22 Anderson, Willia m, 19, 20 Ane aki Masaharu , 109 Angkor Wa t, 11, 167 Aoki, Ts uru , 198, 199 Appia h, I wame Anthony, 12

Aras hi l anjOr5, 203 Arnold, Edwin, 54, 168 Asano Akira, 41, 42 Ashbee, Charles, 178 Ashikaga, 106, 107, 108- 10

Hakuin Ekaku, 108

177-87; photographs by, 183, 184, 186 Courbet, Gustave, 124 Crawford , Marion , 53 Crivelli, Carlo, 1 7, 21

H artwig, Aura, 182

Dailokuji , 22, 23, 26, 31, 33, 110

H enderson, Alice Corbin, 185

Kitagawa Utamaro, 23

Degas, Edgar, 19, 20 Di.irer, Albrecht, 22, 24, 29

Hiffernan, Joanna, 122

H asegawa Takejiro, 149 H awthorn e, Hildegard e, ] 73-74 H aya kawa, Sessue, 11, 13,

198-201

f ogaku Soen , 106 Kondo l yokichi , 201 I orin (Ogata), 23 Kubota Ka nai, 156, 157 I uki Ryoic hi , 107. 151, 156 k)'iigeki (old drama), 196. 201-3

H ears t, Phoebe Ai I erson. 147

Edwards, Amelia Bla ndford, 64,

66,67, 71, 73,82 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 52,

Bakst, Leon, 97

King, Dav id an d Ella, ] 33-34 Kobayas hi Buns hi chi, 157

Coomaraswamy, Ananda, 10, 13.

Apple ton, T homas Gold, 65, 73,

74, 76

Guggen heim Museum, 10 Gu I aizhi , 27

58,64

148, 149

l-Iiragus hi De ncho , 40

Leonardo da Vinci, 17, 27

Hiros hige (Ando Hiroshige),

Leyland, Frederi ck, 118

23. 118

Li Gonglin, 17, 25, 26

Hiller Youth, 47

Lin Tinggui , 22

Hokusai (Ka tsushi ka), 17, 20,

Lodge, H enry Cabot, 58

25,26, 103, 123

Ba udrillard , Jean, 127

La Farge, John, 10, 39, 93, 135,

H orn aday, William, 172

London, Japan-British Exhibiti on of 1910, 106

Bealo, Antonio, 65, 70, 72- 73, 75 Belasco, David , 197

Fabyan, Nelle and George, 172

H oshi, George, 171

Long, John Luther, 169, 197

Fairbanks, Douglas, 202-3

Holei, 104

Lore nzelli, 22, 23

Bellini, Gentile, 22, 24

Fanli n-Lalour, He nri, 122,

Hunlinglon. Arabella and

Loti. Pierre, 168, 197

Benson, Frank, 148 Bere nson, Bernard , 12, l 7-34; formalism , 18-19 Berenson, Mary, 20, 29, 33 Besant, Annie, l 79

123-24

H enry, 171

] 9,20,21-24,29,52,88, 110- 12, 148, 150, 152, 156, 168, 180

\~li lli a m Sturgis, 10, 11, 12,39,50,51-59,88,90,93, 148, 151. 154 Bing, Samuel, 20 Binyon, La urence, 110, 179

Fry, Roger, 19

Blava tsky, H ele n (Mada me

Fukui Rikic hiro, 112

Bigelow,

Fenway Courl, see Isabella Stewarl Gardn er Museum

Bodhidharma (Daruma), 102, 104 Bolm, Adolp h, 186, 191 Borobudur, 167, 184 B os~ n ,

12, 19, 21,39,45,59 Bos ton Athaeneum, 69 Boston, Museum of Fine Arls,

13, 21, 39, 43, 45, 64, 69, 94, 109, 110- 11, 112, 150, 154, 177, 181 Boston, Museum of Fine Arts School , 148, 149 Botticelli, 17, 20, 24~26, 30, 94 Brinkley, Frank, 150, 151, 153,

156, 158

Ichikawa Da njOr5 IX, 154

MacVeagh, Mrs. Franklin , ] 52,

Iida Shin hi c hi, 157 ikeba na, 14

Mada me Bu tlerfly, 9, 13. 169,

Isabella Slewarl Gardner Museum, 13, 39, 183; Chinese

Frith, Francis, 65

Room (1903), 8, 14, 96;

Froi , Luis, 102- 3

Chinese Room (1914), 10,

Blavats ky), 52, l 79 Bloc h, Stella, 13, 184. 185-86

Gardner, Isabella Stewart, 9, 10,

17, 19,39,46,51-59,87-97, 101, 112, 126, 147, 150, 195; in Egypt, 63-82; garden , 89, 167, 173-74; see also Isabella Slewarl Gard ner Museum Gard ner, John L., Jr. , 10, 63, 65,

73,

74~75,

77,80, 167

Genlhe, Arnold , 176

53, 55, 58, 95, 96; as Fenway Courl 13, 94-95, 97; Go thi c R oom 55, 58 Is mail Pas ha, 63, 67 Ilo Daisuke, 203 Japanis m, 19, 20, 103, 107,

133-41, 167, 168, 169, 171, 197 japonisme, 9, 10, 124 J ar ves, Ja mes Jackson,

103-4, 134

Giollo, 17, 24, 31-33

Jeckyll, Thomas, 118

Godwin , Edward William, 136

jidaigeki (peri od drama), 202- 3 Josels u, 104, 107

Go nse, Louis, 19, 20 Gordon , Luc ie Duff, 64, 68,

73- 74,82

kab uki, 171, 196,201,202

Go uld , Edith Kin gdo n, 171

I ama kura, 151, 154, 195

Brooks, P hillips, 56, 58

Grau ma n's Chinese Theatre, 13

Kaneko J e ntaro, 152, 156, 157

Bull, Sara (Mrs. Ole), 11, 180

Grea ter Easl Asia Co-Prosperi Ly

Kan o H idenobu , 153

Bunsai (Io ki Bunsai), 155, 156 Bunsei, 112

Lowell, P erc ival, 10, 88

Fenollosa, Ernest, l 0 , 11,

Sphere, 40, 41, 42, 44 Greey, Edward , ] 04

Kataoka Ch iezo, 202-3 l awabala Gyok usho, 106 I ellogg, Samuel H e nry, 54

213

154 172. 196, 197, 198-201 Makino Shozo, 196 Ma ngkunegoro VII, 185 Mari e-Snell, Merwi n, 54 Mariette, Auguste, 63- 64, 65, 69,73, 75,80 Marks, Murray, 118 Masa, Uc hida (Dogura), 152, 158 Matisse, He nri , 19 Mats uki Bunkio, 151 Maurier, George du, 11 8 McKim, Mead , a nd White, 133, 134. 136, 140, 141 Meier-Graefe, Julius, 117 Messager, Andre, 197 Mille t, Josia h Byra m, 150, 151, 152, 153, 157 Mincho, 103, 104, 106 Milsukuri Kaki c hi , 157 Moore, Albert, 123-24 Morelli, Giovann i, 21 Morris, Willia m, 178-79 Morse, E dward Sylvester. 10, 53, 136, 148, 151, 157 Muqi Fac ha ng, 107, 108. 110, 111 Mu solini, Be nilo, 47

atsume Soseki, 108 Newman, Henry Roderi ck, 149, 150 ihonga, 42, 45, 47, 108 Nikko, 53. 152, 153, 155-56.

167 ippon Bijutsuin (Japan Art Institute), 40, 42, 46 Ni hida Kitaro, 101, 108 NiLobe lnazo, 197-98, 201 1oble, E lisabe th 1argaret ( ' i vedita), 180 Norton, Charles Eli ot, 149 Oba ta, Chiura, 172 Offner, Mortimer, 184 Oka kura I akuzo. 10, 13, 39-46.

57,95, 102, 106, 109-12, 147, 151, 157, 174, 181, 186; as "Te nshin", 12, 39-40, 43, 45; Ideals of the East, 40, 4 1-42, 43. 108; Book of Tea, 11,42, 101, 108, 112 O'Keeffe. Georgia, 13, 184 Onoe Matsunosuke, 197 Otsuka, Taro, 170, 172 Partridge, Ethel. 178-79. 181 Pater, Waller, 18, 23, 24, 27 Pavlova, nna, 96 Peacoc k Room, 118 Peeples, E thel, 171 Pennell, Eli zabeth Rob ins a nd Joseph. 118 Perry, Thomas Sergeant and Lilla Cabot, 152, 154 Phoenix Pavilion (Chicago), 106 Pickford, Mary, 169 Pier, Ga rrell Chatfield , 112 Poirel. Paul, 96 Pucci ni , Giacomo, 169, 197 Pumpelly. Rap hael, 149 Pure La nd Buddhism, 54 Ra ta Dev i. see Richardson, Alice Reisner, George Andrew, 147 Renaissance and Asia, 21, 31, 34, 107 Ri chardson, Alice (Ra ta n Devi), 177, 179, 181, 182- 83. 184, 185 Richardson, Henry Hobson. 134 Rodrigues, Joao, 103

Ross, Denman, 21-23, 147--48, 149, 151, 159, 181 Ross, Nancy Wilson, 101 Rosselli, Dante Gabriel, 118, 121 Royal Academy, London, 120-21 Ruskin, John, 18, 148, 149 Sa int-Ga ude ns, Augustus, 93 ano di Pietro, 17 Sargent, John Singer, 12. 13, 53-54. 92-93 Sassetta, 17, 18, 19, 23, 28, 29, 31-34 Schuyler, Mr. and Mrs. Phillip, 152, 155 Sears, Sarah Choate, 16 Sebah, J. Pascal, 65 Seiberling, Frank and Gertrude.

170 Sengai Cibon, 108 Sessho Toyo, 103, 104-5, 106, 109. 111- 12 Sesson Shokei, 109 Shaw, Quincy Adams, 148, 152 himomura I anza n, 40, 45 hobun, 104~5, 106 mith. Corinna Putnam, 149-50, 151, 153, 154 Smith , Edwin, 73-74 Smith , Henry Fra ncis, 148, 150-51 Smith, Joseph Li ndon, 12, 13, 147- 159 Smithsonian American Art Museum , 10 Spoleto, 20 St. Denis, Ruth , 93, 96. 183, 185, 186 Sta nford , Jane, 10 Stieglitz, AJrred, 13, 184 Stine, Isabel Langdon, 171- 72 Storri er-Stearns, Ellamae, 171 sumi-e (i nk pai nting), 103-5, 107 Suzu ki Harunobu , 17, 25 Suzuki Teitaro (D. T. Suzu ki), 101, l02, 105, 112 Tagore, Rabindra nath , 11 , 177, 185 Taikan (Yokoyama Taikan), 12, 40,41,42,44,45 Takeo Shiota, 171 Takeuchi Seiho, 158

214

Ta keuchi Yoshimi, 43-44 Ta ki I atei, 157 Theosophy, 52, 110, 179, 180 Thompson, Sir Henry, 118- 19 Thompson, Mary Clark, 172-73 Tokyo School of Fine Arts, 39, 41, 151, 157 Torres, Cosme de, 102 Treves, Sir Frederi ck, 171 Tsuruzawa Tanshin. 106 Twain, Mark, 63, 64, 67 ukiyo-e, 20, 105, 128, 135, 138.

140, 157 Upjohn , Ri chard , 133, 137, 139 Varnedoe, Kirk, 101 Velazq uez, Diego, 117, 123, 124, 127-28 Vidor. Fl orence, 199 Villa I Ta tti . 12, 17, 19, 33 Vive kananda, 11, 179, 180 Waley, Arthu r, 112 \Veir, Robert, 54 Weld, Charles Goddard, 22 Whistler, James Mc 1eill, 5, 12, 13,23,96, 107. 111, 117-28, 136 White, Lanford, 13, 133-41 Whitti er, John Greenleaf, 148, 149 Wilde, Oscar, l05, 107 World' Fairs 1862, London, 119 1876, Philadelphia, l05, 133, 134. 135, 149 1889, Pari s, 105 1893, Chicago, ] 02, 106, 150, 169 1900. Paris, 107, 158 1904, Saint Louis, 45 1915, Sa n Fra ncisco, 171 1939, an Francisco, 169 1940, New York, 169 Worth, Charles Frederick, 92, 94,95 Yamashiro Esta te, 13 Yas uda Yoj uro, 41, 42 Zen,9,54,56, 101- 12 Zen pa inting, 13. 107, 108, 110- 12

Zhang Yany uan, 27 Zhou Jichang, 22, 29, 110