Page 11 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

涅槃寂静 | THE COLLECTION OF DAVID AND NAYDA UTTERBERG

David was attracted to Asian art from the beginning of his years in the never in David’s vocabulary. He ran the race well and embodied
Far East. He and Nayda, who was born in the Philippines, spent more the words of Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have
than half the year traveling to Asia and Europe. Around 1990, David finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
gave sixteen Korean early stoneware ceramics and several calligraphy I know that people think of him as a loner. In fact, he was
scrolls to the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco. In Seattle, David’s
office was across the street from the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), very private, formal and old school. He was also extremely
where he served on the board of trustees from 1995 to 2001, when snobbish by nature (we laughed about that—I’m the same way).
David was very careful (his mother warned me about that),
Mary (Mimi) Gates was its director. David and Nayda gave the library
of the Seattle Asian Art Museum, in Volunteer Park, an annual fund reserved and totally formal. Yes, people found him intimidating.
Everyone we know told me so. He did not want to socialize,
of thirty thousand dollars for three years (1995–97)—that library because he was not a “chit chat” kind of guy. For him, it was a
was an important resource for him. He was forming a substantial
collection of Buddhist painting and sculpture, as well as ink painting; waste of time. Underneath all that, however, he was full of dry
wit, humor and warmth—he never lost those gifts, even in his
woodblock-printed Buddhist material; medieval Japanese ceramics; last months.
some lacquer; Korean celadons—and both Japanese and Korean
folding screens, among other genres. The reminiscences recorded Nayda confirms he was not interested in having others see his
below are excerpts from, “David Scott Utterberg (1946–2019): A collection; there were no group visits or seminars at his home. It was
Very Private Collector,” Impressions 42 Part Two (2021), the journal for the two of them to enjoy. Before he died, he advised her not to
of the Japanese Art Society of America (www.japaneseartsoc.org): give any of his collection to a museum. When one curator asked to
visit him a few years ago, David warned him, “Don’t come if you
Nayda, who was David’s confidante, explained his approach to think I’m going to give anything to your museum.”
acquiring a work of art. After seeing a piece at a gallery, he would go
back home and do intensive research. SHARED MEMORIES
Typically, he would not buy something on the spot. He had Xiaojin Wu, Curator of Japanese and Korean art at the Seattle Art
his own library of about seven thousand books and could study Museum (SAM), remembers that David preferred works that were
by himself. He never depended on scholars when making a minimal and elegant. In 2013, he was a lender to an exhibition of
purchase. As for calligraphy, he didn’t understand it, but he East Asian art celebrating SAM’s eightieth anniversary, “A Fuller
would train his eye by looking at it and similar works for a View of China, Japan and Korea.” When he saw the museum’s
long time. At home, we would flip through pages of his books thirteenth-century ink painting of a bull hanging at the end of one
together, without talking, just studying. David read all the time. gallery, he said, “I’d trade anything for that.” He lent his beautiful
When we visited a dealer, he sat there without saying anything, screen of spring azaleas and autumn grasses with calligraphy, by
for a long time. He would return nine months later and say, Konoe Nobuhiro, to the museum’s 2015 exhibition “Calligraphic
“Do you remember that piece you showed me? I’ll buy it.” He Abstractions.” Wu continues:
was very careful. His motto was: Don’t settle for anything less
than the best. He was never content with “It’s OK.” Also, he He really had a sharp mind and eye (and sometimes tongue,
would weed out lesser things, labeling them with the comment too) as well as a good sense of humor. He formatted his e-mail
messages rather dramatically, making me think of a Zen koan!
“Ready to sell.”
After I gave him a tour of the 2013 exhibition in celebration
He collected French wine, as well. By 1993, he had three of SAM’s eightieth anniversary, David wrote, “A great job and
thousand bottles in an off-site wine cellar. I still have seven I’m very glad for the personal introduction. You are obviously
hundred bottles, each labeled by David: “Not yet ready,” much harder working and enthused than 96% of museum people
“Almost ready” and “Ready.” I have met in my life and those are the crucial ingredients.” I
don’t know how he came up with the “96%.”
He was similarly meticulous about his appearance and dressed
like royalty. He wore a tie for dinner, even in Hawai‘i. He never I was most pleased that he came to see our renovated Asian
wore a T-shirt and didn’t own a pair of jeans or sneakers. That Art Museum in the late summer of 2019, before we finished
was probably the influence of his father, who was very old- installing the galleries. He was very happy with our renovation.
world European and always wore a bow tie. Just a few weeks before David passed away, the Utterbergs
pledged one million dollars to name a gallery in the Asian Art
In 2005, he was diagnosed with a form of myositis that affected Museum. So, while there is no Utterberg art on the walls, we
his quadricep muscles and eventually put him in a wheelchair.
It was not a death sentence for him: His physicians told us that now have a Nayda & David Utterberg Gallery.
everything else would be normal, but that he would be unable Robert D. Mowry, Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art
to use his legs after the fifteenth year. That gave him all the more Emeritus, Harvard Art Museums, and a consultant at Christie’s, New
reason to travel, visit the countries and museums he loved and York, notes that David Utterberg, whom he first met in Seattle in
also eat at the three-star Michelin restaurants, singling out those 1991, had a deep understanding of Korean art, as well as a keen eye
that had ramps for a wheelchair. “Exhausted” or “tired” were for its beauty, importance and rarity. Mowry remembers: