Page 5 - Bonhams NYC Japanese Prints March 2019

Property from the Collection of the

Late Bertram and Ruth Malenka

Bertram Malenka was born on June 8, 1923 in Brooklyn, NY. He Their ties to the MFA ran deep, as they forged close relationships
started college at Columbia University with the ambition of becoming with such legendary curators as Robert Treat Paine, Jr. (1900-1965)
an artist. World War II interrupted his education but he returned to and Kojiro Tomita (1890-1976). Bert liked to relay the story of how he
Columbia where he switched majors to physics. While there he met would rush new print discoveries over to the museum to have them
Ruth Stolper—herself a Brooklyn girl—who was also at Columbia, vetted by Tomita and Paine. More often than not, his acquisitions
pursuing a Masters degree in the Teachers College: they were married would meet their approval. For over 25 years the Malenkas made
for over 60 years. Bert went to graduate school at Harvard University, an annual trip to Santa Fe for Indian Market to visit with modern-day
where he received his PhD in physics, while Ruth completed a MSW at artists and collectors from around the country. They believed strongly
Boston University, her second such advanced degree. in the value of museums and individuals’ collections and Bert sat on
numerous visiting committees.
While graduate students, the Malenkas took an interest in collecting
posters, mostly copies of Western masterpieces. They soon learned Bonhams is proud to offer Japanese prints from the collection of the
from friends in the faculty of fine art that for roughly the same price as late Bertram and Ruth Malenka, a group carefully selected and stored
a poster they could acquire an original work of art—a Japanese print. in print drawers in their home for the past five decades and shared
With that in mind Bert and Ruth began earnestly collecting by gallery- many times over the years with anyone who showed enthusiasm for
hopping and going to auctions in Boston and New York during the late Japanese art.
1940s, 1950s and 1960s. This activity sparked a lifelong passion, not
only for Japanese prints but for other collecting areas as well. Their
tastes were eclectic, ranging from ukiyo-e and later shin hanga prints,
to French impressionists, German expressionists, African sculpture,
and pots and baskets from the American Southwest. Parts of their
collection were routinely on loan to a variety of museums and several
pieces are now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston.