On Wednesday March 8 David O'Sullivan wrote: >>Something that I wonder about more is if there are any plans for the >>works to be publicly displayed in any way? There is an aura of wonder >>and mystery around Yoshizawa's oeuvre partly as a consequence of the >>works being boxed up and only revealed for seconds at a time to a chosen >>few visitors. >> >>Does anyone know if there is any prospect of these works being archived >>or even just photographed, let alone displayed in a more public way?
David, To both answer your question and toot my own horn a bit (it's been a while, I'm allowed): In 2007 during research for the exhibit I curated at the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art in Israel, I stumbled upon the fact that Felix Tikotin, the 20th century's great collector of Japanese art, was a key figure in arranging the 1955 show of Yoshizawa's works at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam—-Yoshizawa's first museum exhibit anywhere and his first real exposure in Europe. I used that discovery in turn (and the friendship that subsequently arose between the two men) to appeal to Mrs. Yoshizawa to loan works for my exhibit, which to my delight she did. Many of these works had actually been in the Amsterdam show. Probably more important, Tikotin's grandson, who found out about the family connection via the above, a few years later arranged a show exclusively of Yoshizawa's works at the Sieboldhuis JapanMuseum in Leiden, Holland (2011)-- as a memento of his grandfather's 1955 one. Some 300 works were shown from all periods in Yoshizawa's creative life. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/orihouse/sets/72157626681112524/) I learned through the newspapers of this upcoming exhibit and got involved—eventually writing the preface to its catalog and giving a lecture at the museum on the Legman-Tikotin-Yoshizawa connection such as I'd pieced it together at the time. (Gershon Legman was the first person in the West to correspond with Yoshizawa and had obtained works from him for a display, originally planned to be held in Paris). Much of my understanding was conjectural and based on sketchy information from David Lister, who in turn got it from very cagey letters to him by Legman himself. But many questions remained and I took them up again circa 2013 with Laura Rozenberg, who at the time had just come back from France where she'd purchased copies from Legman's widow Judith, of her husband's correspondence primarily with Argentine designer Ligia Montoya. This enquiry sparked Laura's interest and she paid a second visit to Judith in the south of France, this time collecting Legman's correspondence more specifically with Yoshizawa. Together we were able to piece together a far more complete and more accurate picture of how the 1955 show evolved. It makes a fascinating story; Laura owns the rights to the information she purchased and we'll wait till she's ready to tell it. Meanwhile the EMOZ origami museum in Zaragoza, Spain also hosted a major show of Yoshizawa's works,in 2014, based on the Zaragoza folders' own direct, personal history and connection with AY over the years. What I'm saying in short (hah!) is that one does not need to rely on the memories of brief glances of works that some of the older generation of designers were privileged to have. Mrs. Kiyo Yoshizawa actually has been eager to have her husband's work be shown in appropriate museum venues in Japan and abroad. One needs to just stay informed. S
