| 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.) |
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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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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.]
Doris W. Froning
("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.)
(Bonsai Journal, ABS, Winter 1985, pg. 1) |
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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 23, 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.
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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) 2010 -- Omiya Bonsai Art Museum opened in Saitama, Japan, with the commemoration running through May 5. This is the world's first publicly-run museum of its kind. The collection of the former Takagi Bonsai Museum of Art formed the nucleus, as well as bonsai pots, stones of appreciation (Suiseki), and paintings such as ukiyo-e wood block paintings depicting bonsai. Four TV channels, four radio broadcasts, and twenty newspapers covered the openeing. The museum will pursue three pillars of activities: Firstly, it will conduct investigations and research into the history and significance of various bonsai and bonsai-related traditional arts from multiple perspectives including art history, craft history and the history of horticulture. The high-level results would then be made public in an easily understandable way through exhibitions, courses, lectures and publications. Secondly, as a new attraction on par with the Railway Museum, the Bonsai Museum seeks to become a sightseeing hub where not only local citizens, but also visitors from throughout Japan and abroad can readily experience how magnificent and interesting bonsai is. Thirdly, visitors to the museum may also visit the city's bonsai gardens in and around the Bonsai Village, becoming strong supporters of the bonsai industry as a traditional industry. At any one time the new museum will be displaying 60 of their 104 top quality bonsai, cared for by the three gardeners on the dozen-person staff. [The rest, stored in another garden, would be rotated into display as the seasons change. Fifty thousand visitors per year were originally to be attracted -- but sixteen thousand would have already visited during the first two months!]
Floorplan, ©2010 The Omiya Bonsai Art Museum
("Opening of Omiya Bonsai Art Museum," posting by hokkoku to Internet Bonsai Club Forum, 27 Mar 2010,
http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/announcements-f5/opening-of-omiya-bonsai-art-museum-t2631.htm;
"Greeting," http://www.bonsai-art-museum.jp/english/sisetsu/greeting.php;
Bourdeau, Louis-Victor "New bonsai museum in Omiya," Bonsai Focus, 130/107, 6/2010, Nov/Dec, pg. 22)
SEE ALSO: Jan 4, Apr 27
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1940 -- Masahiko Kimura was born in Omiya, Japan. [His prolific inventor father would die when Masahiko was 11.
The comforts of early years changed to harder times at their home, the "Peacock Garden" (named for the many peacocks on
the grounds). Land was sold off to help in survival, and young Masahiko went to work delivering papers to help
with the family finances. By the wishes of his mother, at age 15 he would start spending his time as an apprentice
under the bonsai master Motosuke Hamano of Toju-en Bonsai Garden where Masahiko was a part-time worker. This
would be for eleven years until about 1966. (Kimura would later say that during
his teens he really wanted to be a rock and roll musician. A usual apprenticeship is five years, but, as he would
later say, he had no money to start his own nursery so he would remain and continue his training with Hamano-san.)
A silent benefactor would finally help him open a greenery shop in Tokyo, and through long days of hard work Kimura made it a
success. Later he would manufacture potting soil and then expande into indoor plant rentals to hotels, restaurants and
offices. This would also be successful, enabling him to devote more time to his bonsai. He would go on to become
known as the "Magical Technician of Kindai Shuppan," though he would say that he personally didn't really care for
the title of "Magician." His breathtaking sculpting and styling of trees on behalf of that Kyoto bonsai magazine
publisher would be done using hand and power tools of his own design beginning in 1980.
His skill with carving deadwood would quickly make him well-known in the bonsai community. While his work would at
first be highly controversial, his energy and vision would soon became as respected as his art. A characteristic of
his trees would be a defined interplay of artistically sculptured deadwood with a smaller amount of more traditionally
appearing live wood snaking up from the soil to foliage apex. Many of his trees would have a more elaborate
starkness than is ordinarily found in the wild, innovatively creative without historic model. Because of Kimura's
willingness to break with convention, many in Japan would refuse to take him seriously, at least in the early years. Some
would claim that these bonsai would not live after such drastic treatment. But his first thought would be that the trees
he works on must live and he knew his critics were wrong. No one later would dispute Kimura's genius or his pioneering
position in the bonsai world.] [The sometimes controversial author and videotape producer would travel in many countries, doing presentations and demonstrations. He would first demonstrate and conduct a workshop outside of Japan at the 1987 Golden State Federation Bonsai Convention in Anaheim, California. Kimura would demonstrate at these major conventions, among others: Golden State Bonsai Federation (1987 Anaheim, 1990 Burlingame and 2006 Sacramento); World Bonsai Friendship Federation (1989 Omiya, Japan and 1997 Seoul, Korea); European Bonsai Association (1990 Turin, Italy and 1992 Luxembourg); Bonsai Clubs International (1992 Memphis, Tennessee, 1996 Washington, D.C. and 2006 Foshan City, China); American Bonsai Society Symposium (2000 Detroit, Michigan); Asia-Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki Exhibition and Convention (2003 Manila, Philippines); Federatión Latino Americana de Bonsai (2003 Caracas, Venezuela); and Association of Australian Clubs (2005 Sydney). His work as documented in the form of articles and photographs would grace the pages of many major specialty publications around the world. Trees designed by him (mostly Juniperus chinensis var. shimpaku) would win the prestigious Prime Minister's Award for the years 1988, 1995, 2000, and 2001, and the Minister of Education Award in 1999. He would have a number of students and apprentices from Japan, Europe, and America, several of which would go on to become masters in their own right. These would include Marco Invernizzi, Salvatore Liporace, and Ernie Kuo. Katsuhito Onishi would edit the Japanese texts The Magical Technician of Kindai Shuppan in 1982, Part II in 1984, and Part III in 1989. The English version, made up of Part II with some of Part I, would be published as The Bonsai Art of Kimura by Stone Lantern Publishing Co. in 1992. The Magician: the Bonsai Art of Kimura 2 would be released in 2007 by Stone Lantern. A Spanish translation, Masahiko Kimura: el técnico mágico del bonsai actual would be published in 1988 by Ediciones Tyris, S.A., and one in Italian, Masahiko Kimura, Il grande tecnico del bonsai, would be published by Luni in 1996. Kimura's wife, who often greeted tours to their Omiya garden and served tea and goodies to the visitors, died November 23, 2009. See also episode #5 of Lindsay Farr's World of Bonsai, as well as this Spanish demo.] 
Masahiko Kimura's Cryptomeria Forest at Sakufuten, 10/03/2001.
(Photo courtesy of Alan Walker, 05/11/07) 
Masahiko Kimura in Argentina, 11/12/2003.
(Urbanski, Kay "The World of Masahiko Kimura," Bonsai Journal, ABS, Winter 1991, pp. 12-14; "Tree Art:
6 Amazingly Creative Bonsai Artists," http://webecoist.com/2009/06/09/tree-art-6-amazingly-creative-bonsai-artists/;
"Art of Bonsai Profile: Masahiko Kimura," http://www.artofbonsai.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=942;
"Artist Profile: William N. Valavanis," http://bonsaijournal.com/profile-valavanis.php;
Lind, Gunter "Bonsai, Art and Kimura," http://www.bonsaipots.net/index.php?page=art-and-kimura;
"The Magician: The Bonsai Art of Kimura 2," http://www.bonsaitrees.com/detail.php?id=710;
"Masterpieces," http://www.j-bonsai.com/masterpieces.html;
Liporace, Salvatore "Slanting a Juniperus prostrata to create the correct angle,"
http://www.bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/Liporace%20Demo%20page1.htm;
"Pacific Northwest Bonsai Clubs Association Bonsai Instructors," http://pnbca.com/instructors.html;
"Sad News From Omiya," William N. Valavanis posting to Internet Bonsai Club, 29 Nov 2009,
http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/announcements-f5/sad-news-from-omiya-t1813.htm.)
(Photo courtesy of Alan Walker, 05/11/07) 1981 -- " Miniature landscapes," a set of six postage stamps, was issued by the Peoples' Republic of China (Mainland China). SEE ALSO: Jan 23, 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,
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.]
1968 -- The Fresno Bonsai society held its first public display of trees in a joint show with the Fresno Chapter of Ikebana International. That show was held at the Fresno Art Center. (A handful of plant lovers, gardeners and people who were learning bonsai had met informally, during the middle to late 1950s. These gatherings led to something more like a "club," which became then the Bonsai Club of Fresno. Early in the 1960s, the Bonsai Club of Fresno took the new name of Fresno Bonsai Society. At that time the society catered to a lot of so-called "plant people" who grew everything from bonsai to desert cactus to African violets. The rapidly growing club was divided almost equally among men and women and was very social.) [The 1968 show would raise funds to landscape the arts center courtyard and begin a Japanese Garden then being planned at Woodward Park. About five years after the joint show would come the society's first public bonsai-only show. In the mid-1970s the group would formally incorporate and in 1978 the Fresno Bonsai Society would become one of the first local affiliates to join the Golden State Bonsai Federation in 1978.] (Wasserman, Jim "FBS History," http://www.gsbf-bonsai.org/fresnobonsai/bonsai/fresnobonsai/fresno_bonsai_society1.htm) SEE ALSO: Feb 25, Apr 6. 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.) 
(Bonsai, BCI, September 1972, pg. 23)
Lynn Perry & Dorothy Young, 04/07/1989.
("Comment," Bonsai 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, Apr 20, Jun 15.
(Photo courtesy of Alan Walker, 05/11/07) 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 but most widely known of the oldest authenticated Japanese depictions of dwarfed potted trees. 
Kasuga-gongen-genki, 5th scroll
(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.)
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