| 1 | 1990 -- A pair of postage stamps was issued by the Republic of Indonesia under the title of "Flora." One was of a cactus; the other was of a bonsai Wareng. The Gmelina elliptica is S-shaped with a massive whitened trunk bearing deadwood and growing up through moss in a shallow elliptical tray. SEE ALSO: Jan 29, Feb 3, Feb 16, Mar 27, Mar 31, Apr 3, Apr 6, Apr 18, May 6, May 29, Jun 16, Jul 20, Aug 20, Aug 22, Sep 22, Oct 1, Oct 4, Dec 9. |
| 2 | 1985 -- The $25 million Kanuma Nature and Bonsai Park, designed by Japanese publisher and Satsuki azalea enthusiast Kenko Rokkaku, opened. Visitors there can enjoy almost 250 masterpiece bonsai of a variety of species on display in five traditional Japanese style exhibition houses located on part of approximately 30 acres of scenic forest and wildflowers surrounded by mountains. One hundred minutes by train from Tokyo, the complex is operated by Rokkaku's Satsuki Kenyusha publishing company, includes four miles of wooden paths, and has parking spaces for 400 cars and thirty buses. ("Something New Under the Sun" by Russell Coker, Bonsai, BCI, May/June 1986, pg. 25, datelined Kanuma City, Japan, gives the grand opening date as March 2nd; "Biography of Mr. Kenko Rokkaku" by Bill Spencer, same issue, pg. 17, gives opening of Feb. 26. Other sources, including International Bonsai, 1985/No. 2, pg. 27, give March 2.) SEE ALSO: Feb 23 |
| 3 | 1951 -- Beginning today and running through the 11th, the California International Flower Show was held at Hollywood Park in Inglewood. At this show, the fledging Southern California Bonsai Club won another first prize for its entry. This group had been officially formed the previous November by John Naka and four friends, Fumiko ("Frank") B. Nagata, Morihei Furuya, Mrs. Ai Okumura, and Joseph Yamashiro, to bring bonsai within the reach of everyone. Mssrs. Nagata, Furuya and Naka, along with their teacher Sam (Tameichi) Doi, one of the early knowledgeable bonsai men in Southern California, had arrived at the 1950 Gabriel Valley Fall Flower and Garden Show at the Fannie E. Morrison Horticulture Center in Pasadena to exhibit their trees. Informed that individuals could not display unless they were sponsored by a club, the quick thinking Frank Nagata spoke up and said they were a club. Without hesitation or benefit of conference he then gave the group's name. These artists were now allowed to enter their trees, which did win a trophy and a blue ribbon at the Show the next day. [And the following month (April 1951) the club would win a special award in the Southern California Spring Flower and Garden Show, again in Pasadena. The group would go on to become one of the most influential in the state and be the training ground of many national and international teachers.] ( Bonsai Techniques (BT) by JYN, pg. 257; "My Husband, the Bonsai Man" by Alice Naka, Bonsai, BCI, Vol. XXV, No. 3, May/June 1986, pg. 22; even monkeys fall out of trees by Nina Shire Ragle (Laguna Beach, CA: Nippon Art Forms; 1987), pp. 7-8; "John Naka at the Atlanta Bonsai Congress '73," by Ann Getman, Bonsai, BCI, Vol. XIII, No. 6, July/August 1974, pg. 28; Bonsai in California, No. 1 (1967), pg. 1; "History of Bonsai West" by Dorothy S. Young, International Bonsai Digest presents Bonsai Gems, Fall 1974, pp. 93-94, also pg. 82; International Bonsai, IBA, 1986/No. 2, pg. 12; "History of California Bonsai Society" by Khan Komai, Bonsai in California, Vol. 3, 1969, pg. 38.) SEE ALSO: Apr 20 |
| 4 | 2001 -- The first 30 minute episode of the 13-part "Lindsay Farr's The Way of Bonsai" aired in Australia on Foxtel Lifestyle TV. This was the first English language series entirely about bonsai. A companion web site was also established. [Viewers would tell the presenter and co-producer Farr that they "have found a greater strength of resolve towards their individual expression through Bonsai. An insight into the origins and philosophy seems to better enable this." A long-time bonsai nurseryman, Farr has had experience producing varied topic cable programs for both Western and Asian audiences. NOTE: A second 13-part series which will include quite a bit of footage in China currently is in pre-production and negotiations are underway for international release of series one.] (Linsay Farr in personal e-mails to RJB on October 15, 2000 through January 26, 2002, and March 20, 2005 to change URL.) SEE ALSO: May 20, Jun 1 |
| 5 |
1908 -- Architect Frank Lloyd Wright and others opened a second and more ambitious
exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints at the Art Institute of Chicago. This show,
which would run through March 25, was displayed in six rooms designed by Wright. The 649 prints,
from several local collectors, were hung against gray walls on green cords and simply framed in wood.
Potted bonsai trees were placed on specially constructed platforms to give the exhibition space a
more relaxed and intimate audience. (The first display had been for 3 weeks in the spring of 1906
at the same venue, but with over 200 Hiroshige prints consisting of purchases made by Wright in Japan
one year earlier, and apparently without bonsai.)
(Mirviss, Joan B. The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono (New York: Weatherhill Inc.
and Phoenix (AZ) Art Museum; 1995), pp. 25-26, whose Fig. 1 is a photograph of the exhibit showing what
appear to be 2 small conifers in sunken containers on top of half-height pillars/tables by the doorway.
No particular style is identifiable, other than "foot-tall one-gallon nursery specimens with a cut-off apex"
(per RJB); "Exhibition History of The Art Institute, 1905-1909", http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/musarchives/archhist1905-1909.html)
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| 8 |
1915 -- Leo Cunningham was born in Gold Creek, MT. [He would graduate from high
school in Wallace, ID and attend Cheney College where he would major in music playing
the violin. In 1940 he would obtain a BA in Business Administration from the
University of Washington and start a career in Industrial Engineering. The Boeing
Company would then hire him as one of the first three Industrial Engineers at that
business. Leo would marry his wife also in 1940, and after four years in
Wichita, KS, they would come to Seattle where their only daughter Jeri Lee would
be born. Leo's interests would range from music, painting, winemaking, and gourmet
cooking to golf and ice skating, but his one true passion after his family would be
bonsai. He would found the Puget Sound Bonsai Association and be its third
president. He would later be president of the American Bonsai Society (1987-90). He would
travel the Far East and Europe many times for his interests, as well as numerous U.S. cities
for seminars and bonsai conventions. In 1988 he would lead the team that would
put together the original Weyerhaeuser Pacific Rim Bonsai collection. In 1992 he
would retire from Boeing.]
("In Memorium...Leo Cunningham," Bonsai Journal, ABS, Vol. 38, No. 4,
Winter 2004, pg. 17.) SEE ALSO: Jan 26, Oct 7, Oct 31.
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| 9 |
1981 -- The Indian Bonsai Association was formed by Dr. Leila Dhanda (Vice-President) and
Dr. Hussain Tayebbhoy (President). The purpose of the association is to propagate
this artform. Twenty-six years later, the group has more than hundred active members.
("Indian Bonsai Association -- Association,"
http://www.bonsai-in-asia.com/.)
SEE ALSO: Nov Also
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| 10 |
1967 -- Seventeen persons, from all over the U.S. and sponsored by the Bonsai Society of Greater New York,
arrived in Tokyo via Honolulu for the start of a three-week tour of
Japan. [During the first week, the group would attend a
traditional Japanese style dinner hosted by Mr. and Mrs.
Kyuzo Murata,
and participate in a series of lectures, demonstrations, and classes
relating to bonsai. The second week would involve sight-seeing
around Tokyo, visits to the private bonsai collections of Chūzō Ōnuki and
Saburō Katō, and viewing of auction items at the Ueno Bonsai Club. The final week would take
the group to the various celebrated temples of Kyoto, cruising the
inland Sea to Takamatsu and the Kinashi Bonsai village, and via super
express train to the famous "Yamaaki" bonsai container kiln in Tokoname
in Nagoya. One high point of the trip would be seeing the
Imperial Bonsai Collection on the Imperial Palace grounds. There
the group would see a matched pair of ren pine bonsai that were over
180 years old. One of those pines would nine years later be
gifted to the U.S. for its Bicenntennial. Upon returning to the
states, several members of the tour began a dialogue with others
regarding a national bonsai society so that information could be
distributed from coast to coast. From these discussions, the
American Bonsai Society would be born.]
("The 30th Anniversary of ABS" by Jerald Stowell, Journal, ABS, Vol. 31, No. 1,
Spring 1997, pp. 4-7, with 4 b&w photos) SEE ALSO: Feb 28, Mar 20, Jun 9, Jun 15
2003 -- California bonsai nurseryman and teacher Ken Sugawara died. ( "In Memoriam," Kusamura Bonsai Club, http://www.gsbf-bonsai.org/kusamura/april2003/memoriam.html ) SEE ALSO: Aug 1, Nov 6 |
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1917 -- Harry Hirao was born in Lafayette, Colorado. [At age
6, he and his parents would move to Japan to take care of his grandparents.
A decade later Harry would return to live with relatives on the farm.
At age 24 he would marry Chiyoko Alyce Yamamoto. They would live
a simple life as vegetable farmers and also raise two boys and two girls.
In March of 1957 they would move to California and start a landscape business
with the help of relatives. Harry would hear of an old friend, John
Naka, teaching bonsai, and join the class in the early 1960s. After
15 years as a devoted student Harry would become a bonsai teacher himself.
In 1977 he would form Kofu Bonsai Kai in Orange County with a longtime
friend, Larry Ragle. In 1981 he would be honored by Prince Takamatsu
of Japan with an award of the "Ryoku Hakiju Yukosho" medal and by the Japanese
Agricultural Society with a plaque for his contributions to the art of
bonsai in the United States. He would be a nationally known and sought-after
teacher and demonstrator. His particular field of expertise would
earn him the name of "Mr. California Juniper," but he would be versatile
with all species and also be known for his suiseki. He would lead
several trips annually to local rivers, mountains and desert areas to search
for stones and junipers with his students. Friends would fund the
Harry Hirao Reception Room at the John Naka Pavilion for Bonsai at the
National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. Kofu Bonsai Kai would list
over 200 active members by the start of the new century and be one of the
top ranking bonsai clubs in California. "How to be Happy," the first
episode of the PBS series
EGG, the arts show, would include a segment
on Harry in 2001 "who has found happiness in remote places, capturing and
training bonsai trees (an artform if there ever was one)."]
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| 13 | 2001 -- Frederic L. Ballard, the first president of the National Bonsai Foundation, died. A lawyer from Philadelphia, he had been introduced to the art before 1960 by his wife, Ernesta, who had recently participated in an all-day seminar and workshop given by Yuji Yoshimura. Together they built a collection which included tropical plants suitable for indoor bonsai. He and his wife were founding members of the American Bonsai Society in 1967, which Ernesta and Jerry Stowell had set in motion the previous year. A Ginkgo biloba bonsai owned by the couple had its photograph on the cover of the third issue of the ABS Journal. A noted bonsai teacher and writer whose trees are regularly exhibited in the shows of the Pennsylvania Bonsai Society and Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Frederic demonstrated different techniques for rock plantings at the 1969 ABS Symposium in Philadelphia. With Ernesta he was on that convention's Arrangement Committee and they conducted a tour of their home and collection for the participants. Frederic later became president of the National Bonsai Foundation in 1987 and helped to elevate its fundraising and programmatic sights. He served in that office until early 1996, and became President Emeritus afterwards. (E-mail from Betty Yeapanis to RJB April 18, 2001; "American Bonsai Society Second Annual Symposium," ABS Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1969, p. 11; "ABS News: Meet the Directors," ABS Journal, Vol. 4, No. 3, Fall 1970, p. 16, which gives 1955 as the date for Yoshimura's seminar. The sensei did arrive at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on a fellowship grant in 1959, but we have not found reference to an earlier visit elsewhere in our researches. ) |
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1909 -- Xu Xiaobai was born in China. [He would become a professor
of horticulture at the Nanjing Agricultural Institute, and be one of the
very first persons in modern China to engage in penjing research.
He would become mentor to Qingquan Zhao, and co-author several books and
articles with his student who himself would become one of the greatest
masters of the art in China.]
(Karin Albert personal e-mail to RJB, July 15, 2002; "A Chinese Penjing Artist
Visits America" by Karin Albert,
Bonsai, BCI, Vol. XXXI, No. 4, July/August 1992, pp. 12-13.)
SEE ALSO: Apr 20, May 25.
1970 -- Beginning today and running through Sept. 13, a large-scale bonsai and suiseki show was held in conjunction with the Osaka World Exposition in Senri. Sponsored by the Nippon Bonsai Association, the Japan Suiseki Society, and the Japan Satsuki Club, the display was impressively staged on outdoor benches in one portion of the sixty-four acre Japanese garden area. New replacements would be brought in so that during the run approximately two thousand of the most famous and honored trees in the land would be displayed, nearly every one in a 200 to 300-year old Chinese pot. The pots were collectors' items and many were as well known and named as the trees they supported. Morihiko Tomita was the manager in residence of the exhibit, having sold half of his 50-year collection of 600 small bonsai to come to the Expo for six months. (Mr. Tomita was also the discoverer of the mountain where "Kikukaseki" or chrysanthemum stones are found.) ("Bonsai's Top Show" by Dorothy S. Young, Bonsai Journal, ABS, Spring 1970, pp. 3-4) 2006 -- Potter Don Gould was killed in a car accident while trying to go to the aid of another motorist. He was born in 1951 and went to Duquesne University in the late 1960s and early 70s. He was described as a "lovable hippie" who managed the arts and crafts center in the student union. After graduation he was able to continue producing art while making a living out of his creative enterprises. Over the years he did graphic design and communications work for various Pittsburgh groups, including WQED and Carnegie Libraries. He was a ceramicist, product designer, printmaker and social entrepreneur. Working with potters and ceramic engineers, he started an organization PURE WATER 4 ALL dedicated to improving water quality in Third World countries with the use of relatively simple ceramic filter pots. He was probably one of the top three American potters who made bonsai and suiseki containers. His pots were known nationally and internationally, and he had been one of the lecturers in May 2005 at the WBFF Convention in Washington, D.C. Shortly after leaving a morning meeting of the Rotary Club in mid-March 2006, Don stopped to check on one of the other drivers involved in a small traffic accident. Another driver came up around the bend of the ramp where this was at and lost control of his car on the icy roadway, pinning and killing Don at the scene. [He leaves behind his wife, Sally; son, Ian; and daughter, Abby. In honor of Don, a deep water well in a natural reserve in Nicaragua will be drilled, underwritten by the Rotary Club of Forest Hills and assisted by the Tulsa chapter.] (e-mail by Peter Aradi to the Internet Bonsai Club, April 25, 2006, http://internetbonsaiclub.org/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=133&topic=18810.0; Sostek, Anya "Obituary: Donald J. Gould / Artist in ceramic, glass and bonsai," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 17, 2006; "In Memorium: Don Gould," http://pghaccelerator.org/blog/globeshakers/, March 20, 2006.) |
| 16 |
1961 -- Pedro J. Morales Orellana was born in Chicago, IL. [His
family would move back to Puerto Rico when he was only three months
old. Starting with his family in the ornamental plant field, he
would later work part-time in Jardin Selecto during his studies of
computer programming at the University of P.R. A teacher during
Pedro's first year in university in 1980 would assign the latter the
subject of bonsai for a research project. From this Pedro would
meet Hugo Storer, the first person of bonsai in Puerto Rico.
Pedro would go on to become prominent in Central American bonsai.
He would demonstrate at the 1993 WBFF Convention in Florida.]
("Biography - Pedro J. Morales,"
http://www.pedrojmorales.com/bio.htm
) SEE ALSO June 28
1968 -- Third generation penjing master Yee-Sun Wu entered the First Urban Council Flower Show in Hong Kong and won the Kadoorie Championship Cup for Bonsai. [Over the next six years he would enter or put on a few other exhibitions of his masterpieces to large crowds, publish two editions of his book Man Lung Garden Artistic Pot Plants, deliver public lectures, and contribute articles on dwarf tree culture to various magazines and newspapers. This would all stir up the interest of the Chinese people to revive this traditional art which had become synonymous with Japan.] ( Man Lung Artistic Pot Plants by Yee-Sun Wu, pp. 24, 27-28) SEE ALSO: Mar 27, May 2, May 11, Jul 7, Dec 14 |
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1916 -- Shigeru Nagatoshi was born. {He would study bonsai under his teacher, Mr. Iura, and in 1965
be encouraged to open Fuji Bonsai Nursery in Sylmar, CA with his son, Roy.]
(Per personal e-mail from Max Miller to RJB, Apr. 30, 2006; Banting, Donna
"Roy Nagatoshi and Pomegranate," Bonsai, BCI, Vol. XXX, No. 1, January/February 1991, pg. 3.) SEE ALSO: Feb 19
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| 19 |
1951 -- Nobuyuki Kajiwara was born in Fukuoka, Japan. [He would
study Middle Eastern Languages and literature at the Osaka University
of Foreign Studies, then at the Rijks Universiteit at Leiden,
Netherlands. Travelling widely in Europe for both business and
pleasure, in 1983 he would then return to Tokyo. At the office of
the City and Port of Rotterdam there he would be given the task of
organizing a Japan Festival in Rotterdam in 1984. One of the
events for that would be a bonsai exhibition. While there he
would have his first introduction to bonsai and make an acquaintance of
Terukichi Katō, the younger brother of Saburō and Hideo Katō.
Kajiwara would be Terukichi Katō's apprentice at the family's Masei-en
Shiten nursery from 1986 through 1991, when he would then obtain a
diploma from the Japanese Cooperative of Professional Bonsai Nurseries
(Nihon Bonsai Kyodo Kumiai). Returning to Europe that year, the
next he would be appointed chief instructor at the "Universita del
Bonsai" at Parabiago near Milan for their 3-year bonsai courses.
In 1993, Kajiwara would be awarded Gold medals at the International
Garden Show held in Stuttgart for the bonsai exhibition jointly
produced with the client, Helmut Rueger. Two years later he would
also jointly produce a bonsai exhibition at the castle in Buedigen,
Germany, and then another in 1998 at the "Palmen Garten," the municipal
botanical garden of the city of Frankfort. The next year would
see him producing a successful bonsai exhibition for the auction house
Sotherby's in London. He would then hold annual workshops with
several groups in the U.K. as well as attending private bonsai
collections on a regular basis for clients in the U.K., Germany, Italy,
and Spain.]
("Noboyuki [sic] Kajiwara - A Portrait,"
http://www.bonsai-corner.ch/nobu_portrait1.htm
; "Nobuyuki Kajiwara,"
http://www.dai-ichibonsai.com/nobu.htm
) SEE ALSO: Oct 8
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| 20 | 1975 -- Fifty trees that would become the permanent National Arboretum Bonsai Collection were accepted by Arboretum Director Dr. John Creech in ceremonies in Tokyo, Japan. Presented by the Nippon Bonsai Association in honor of the upcoming U.S. Bicentennial, half of the miniature trees were donations from private sources, including some from members of the Royal Japanese family. The remaining trees were purchased with funds from the Japan Foundation, a semi-official agency which also covered expenses for expert artists to come to the U.S. to instruct American personnel in proper care of these irreplaceable treasures. ( Bonsai, BCI, June 1975, pg. 139) SEE ALSO: Feb 19, Apr 1, May 2, Jun 9, Jul 9, Jul 21, Aug 6, Aug 26, Sep 30, Oct 1, Oct 15 |
| 21 | 2003 -- Mary E. Mrose, multi-talented grand-dame of the Northern Virginia Bonsai Society of the Potomac Bonsai Society, died. She was a major benefactor of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. (Personal e-mail from Betty V. Yeapanis to RJB, March 24, 2003) SEE ALSO: May 2, May 17 |
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| 24 | 2002 -- Stanley Chinn, a little known penjing master in Wheaton, MD, died from pneumonia. Born some 60 years earlier in China, at a young age he trained for six years at his uncle's penjing nursery before they both came to the U.S. around 1950. Stanley never achieved more than a limited command of the English language and was detached from the modern world around him. He earned his living as a chef. Chinese clubs and churches up and down the East coast were where he taught penjing. In 2001 he invited the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum staff to visit his collection and select trees from his hundreds of penzai. Ten of the creations were chosen for accessioning into the Museum's collection. These included a Sichuan School dancing dragon style root-over-rock Trident maple, another Trident composition of five trees planted on the rock and all grafted together at different locations, and a naturalistic forest of Chinese elm. They now allow the representation at the Museum of all of the Chinese schools of dwarf potted trees instead of just the Lingnan. Twelve other trees became part of the Montreal Botanical Garden's collection and another -- also a root-over-rock Trident maple -- went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. [Fifty three more creations would be sold in a silent auction at the National Arboretum in autumn, raising approximately $8,000 for the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. As James Rieden, a friend of Chinn's, would say after the auction, "This is probably the last time anyone will have the opportunity to see this many trees styled in the Chinese penjing method assembled in one spot."] ("Recognizing the Work of a Master" by Adrian Higgins, Washington Post, Nov. 14, 2002, pg. H-6; "A Word from the Curator" by Jack Susic, NBF Bulletin, Winter 2002, Vol. XIII, No. 2, pg. 4; "My Memories of Stanley Chinn" by Janet Lanman, same source, pg. 4, and "Stanley Chinn: Master of Penjing" by Tony Meyer, same source, pg. 5.) |
| 25 |
1995 -- An olive bonsai, originally collected from an olive ranch
in Fontana, CA on July 4, 1958 and then also designed by him, was
donated this day by John Naka to the Golden State Bonsai Federation
Collection at the Huntington Botanic Garden.
("GSBF Collection at the Huntington,"
http://www.gsbf-bonsai.org/huntington/GSBFHuntGalleryBonsai.html, accessed 03/17/03)
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| 26 | 1921 -- Doris Froning was born. [She would become a nationally known shohin bonsai artist, specializing in trees six inches or shorter in height. She would be president of the America Bonsai Society and editor of its ABStracts newsletter. In 1975 she would found, edit and publish (for twenty years) The Mame Growers of America newsletter and club. She would be a frequent contributor to various bonsai magazines, conduct numerous lecture/demonstrations, and be active in the Pennsylvania Bonsai Society. At least one of her tiny trees would be in the North American Collection of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.] ("IBC Stars," Bonsai, BCI, Vol. XXVII, No. 2, March/April 1988; conversation with RJB during the International Scholarly Symposium on Bonsai and Viewing Stones, May 18, 2002, Washington, D.C.) |
| 27 |
1985 -- A collection of thirty prized penjing donated by third-generation
artist Yee-Sun Wu of Hong Kong to the Montreal Botanic Garden was unveiled.
[Within four months almost a quarter million people would visit the collection
which was receiving excellent care. So much major local and national
radio, television, and print coverage was given to the trees that Mr. Wu
would donate another seventeen of his outstanding treasures to the City
of Montreal before the year ended.]
(
International Bonsai, 1985/No. 4, pg. 20) SEE ALSO: Mar 16, May
2, May 11, July 7, Dec 14
1999 -- A set of four postage stamps commemorating the Bonsai Exhibition there was issued by the Republic of San Marino. SEE ALSO: Jan 29, Feb 3, Feb 16, Mar 1, Mar 31, Apr 3, Apr 6, Apr 18, May 6, May 29, Jun 16, Jul 20, Aug 20, Aug 22, Sep 22, Oct 1, Oct 4, Dec 9. |
| 28 |
1940 -- Noboru Kaneko was born in Japan. [After studying the
technique of bonsai art in Saburō Katō's Mansei-en Nursery, Noboru would
establish his own nursery, Isei-en. His fine work would be recognized
with at least three prizes in the Sakufu-Ten exposition for bonsai professionals
and by his appointment as a board member of the Nippon Bonsai Association.]
(
Bonsai Today, No. 24, pg. 12)
1983 -- A Japanese White Pine and a persimmon bonsai were presented
to President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan by His Majesty Hassan II, king of
Morocco. The trees came from his personal collection.
("Spring Festival Celebrates Asian Horticultural Arts - Bonsai, Ikebana, Suiseki
in Spotlight," Friends of the National Arboretum,
http://www.fona.org/members/spring01/festival.html
;
The National Arboretum Book of Outstanding Garden Plants
by Jacqueline Hériteau, NY: Simon & Schuster; 1990, pp. xx)
1996 -- Beginning today and running through Aug. 18, the Asia Society Galleries in New York presented "Worlds within Worlds: The Richard Rosenblum Collection of Chinese Scholars' Rocks." More than 70 examples of this art assembled by an American sculptor over the past 25 years provided a strangely provocative exhibition, full of beautiful and sometimes haunting objects that make us question where we are standing when we look at nature and see art. Although most of the rocks were but a few inches high and sitting on carved wooden bases, the outstanding example was nearly six feet tall and just nine inches wide. Honorable Old Man (16th - 17th century) was craggy and rough as a tree branch, the stripped down image of a Chinese sage. Its inscription was effaced and its pedestal removed in the 1960s to disguise it as a mere rock, and thus save it from the iconoclasts of the Cultural Revolution. ("chinese scholars' rocks, simultaneously original and simulacrum" by John Mendelsohn, http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/mendelsohn/mendelsohn8-26-96.asp ) |
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1940 -- Masahiko Kimura was born in Omiya, Japan. [Beginning
in his teens, he would apprentice under a bonsai master for eleven years
before working in the horticulture field on his own. He would then
go on to become known as the Magical Technician of Kindai Shuppan: his
breathtaking sculpting and styling of trees on behalf of that bonsai magazine
publisher done using hand and power tools of his own design. The
sometimes controversial author and videotape producer first demonstrated
and conducted a workshop outside of Japan at the 1987 Golden State Federation
Bonsai Convention in Anaheim.]
("The World of Masahiko Kimura" by Kay Urbanski,
Journal, ABS, Winter 1991, pp. 12-14)
1981 -- " Miniature landscapes," a set of six postage stamps, was issued by the Peoples' Republic of China (Mainland China). SEE ALSO: Jan 29, Feb 3, Feb 16, Mar 1, Mar 27, Apr 3, Apr 6, Apr 18, May 6, May 29, Jun 16, Jul 20, Aug 20, Aug 22, Sep 22, Oct 1, Oct 4, Dec 9. |
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Also this month,
1934 -- The first Kokufu kai bonsai exhibition was held at Ueno Park, Tokyo, in the grounds of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Since the gallery has always been extremely sensitive in the types of shows that it allows there, this gave bonsai a new status. It was now unquestionable that bonsai was an accepted and respected art form. [A second Kokufu-ten show would be held in the autumn, and after that the shows would become annual events -- being suspended only during the Pacific War and then being resumed in 1947. These oldest continuous shows would quickly become also the most important and famous bonsai displays in both Japan and the world.] (Koreshoff, Deborah R. Bonsai; Its Art, Science, History and Philosophy (Portland, OR: Timber Press, 1997), pg. 10, footnote 31 derived from Kobayashi, Norio, "History of Bonsai" -- excerpted and translated from a series of articles appearing in "Bonsai-Tsu," in Western Suburbs Bonsai Journal, Oct. 1972, pg. 10; ) SEE ALSO: Feb 11 1965 -- Bonsai, Culture and Care of Miniature Trees was published, the first edition of Sunset 's book The illustrated 80-page 8.3 x 10.7" paperback had a list price of $1.95. [The first printing of 17,500 copies would be sold out in a month, and 6,000 more would be sold in the next few months. It would be the most successful of the 18 low-priced gardening books that Lane Books Co. of Menlo Park, CA had published at that time. It would be in its tenth printing by April 1970, with a revised 80-page second edition published in 1976 for $2.95, a revised 96-page third edition in May 1994 for $9.95, and a revised 128-page fourth edition by Susan Lang in January 2003 with a list price of $14.95. Each edition would be a reasonable introduction to this wonder-filled art/hobby.] (Willse, James P. "Bonsai, or Miniature Trees, Become a Fad: Fans Grow Their Own or Pay Up to $3,000," Wall Street Journal, January 4, 1966, pg. 9.) 2001 -- Early this month Dorothy S. Young died. (In the late 1950’s Dorothy became actively interested in bonsai as she had a supply of rejected poorly-shaped culls from the Keith Valley Nursery, a wholesale organization operated by her and her husband, Luther, in Spring House, PA. Keith Valley was also one of the first bonsai nurseries on the east coast. A handful of bonsai fanciers met in the mid-1960s at her home in Spring House and gave substance to several years of wishing: the establishment of a group that would serve the interests of all bonsai enthusiasts throughout North America. Dorothy was thus one of the founders of The American Bonsai Society, and served as its president from 1973 through 1976. She was the first editor for the ABS Journal (1967 to 1972), consulting editor (1977 to 1978), editorial advisor (1979 to 1985), and supplied over thirty articles to that periodical. A charter member and founder of the Pennsylvania Bonsai Society, she was also the first editor of that club's newsletter. She was one of the assistants for Yuji Yoshimura as Master in Residence for his "Practical Applications -- Creation of the Five Basic Styles" presentation during the 1978 ABS Symposium in Ithaca, NY. She also participated in the 1971 BCI Convention in Cleveland, OH as well as the1975 ABS Symposium in Kansas City, MO. A true pioneering spirit in American bonsai, she authored an excellent textbook on the subject Bonsai, The Art and Technique (1985). Dorothy and her husband, along with the Rosades, conducted a bonsai tour of Japan in 1970. While in Japan, she was able to study another of her interests, that of Japanese brush painting. She and Luther would conduct several tours to Japan. ("Comment," Journal, ABS, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1967 Spring, pg. 2; Stowell, Jerald P. "Dorothy White," http://www.bonsai-wbff.org/nabf/newsletter3/young.htm ; "Falling Leaves, March 2001," http://www.pabonsai.org/pbsnewarchive01.html ) SEE ALSO: Feb 19, Jun 15. 2009 -- Seven hundred years ago this month, the series of twenty scrolls comprising Kasuga-gongen-genki ( Picture Scroll of the Incarnations and Miracles at the Kasuga Temple ) was presented to the Kasuga Shrine in Nara, Japan for dedication. This was the patron shrine of the Fujiwara family. The series depict some 56 miraculous accounts which occurred between 937 and 1304. In particular, the fifth scroll contains images of the residence of a Fujiwara governor named Toshimori (1120-c.1180). A birdcage and tray landscapes add to the revelation of the owner's wealth along with the spaciousness and rich decoration of the architecture. The miniature landscapes are probably exotics imported from China. This scroll is the third oldest and most widely known of the oldest authenticated Japanese depictions of dwarfed potted trees. (Okudaira, Hideo Narrative Picture Scrolls, Arts of Japan 5 (New York: Weatherhill Inc. & Tokyo: Shibundo; 1963, 1973), pg. 121; plus others from note 4 of Japanese Portrayals up to 1600.) |