Page 12 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

涅槃寂静 | THE COLLECTION OF DAVID AND NAYDA UTTERBERG (LOTs 1-20)

Although relatively small, the Korean celadon collection was Because I am an academic, I suspect that David granted me
distinguished by its superior quality; indeed, every piece was slightly more access, principally by correspondence, to his
a masterwork. Virtually all of the pieces had been purchased collection than others. He kept museum curators, fellow
from leading dealers in Japan, just as almost every piece had collectors and most dealers at a distance for reasons of his own.
previously been published. In addition, David, a stickler for The research of the works in which he was interested might
proper provenance, acquired only pieces with documentation have been as enthralling for him as the beauty of the work of art.
that evinced that they had left Korea before 1970.
Many of the people who got to know David personally were art
I last saw David early in 2005, when he attended the opening of dealers. James Godfrey, a dealer specializing in Chinese art and now
“Marks of Enlightenment, Traces of Devotion,” an exhibition based in Cleveland, was living in Manhattan when he first met David.
of Japanese painting and calligraphy from the collection of They were good friends and spent much time together talking about
mutual friends in Cambridge, Sylvan Barnet (1926–2016), a Asian art, among myriad other topics. When David and his travel
Shakespearean scholar, and his partner, William Burto (1921– buddy, Glenn Vinson, came to New York for auctions in the 1980s,
2013), which we mounted at the Fogg Art Museum. Godfrey thought of them as “the odd couple.” Glenn, an attorney
with a Harvard law degree, was from Dallas but ended up in San
Professor Yukio Lippit, at Harvard University, confirmed the Francisco. He and his late wife, Joan, who was from Singapore, were
significance of Utterberg’s accomplishments in the art field. He first patrons of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco—their collecting
met David as a graduate student in the 1990s, in Tokyo, through interests were on the Chinese and Southeast Asian side.
the Cambridge collectors Sylvan Barnet and Bill Burto, and that was
when he began to correspond with him to field questions about his Precise and demanding in terms of his taste, David knew exactly
collection: what he wanted. According to Godfrey, he was an absolutely driven
collector, with high standards and very good taste.
He never asked my advice for purchases, but over the years, he
would occasionally write to ask questions about objects in his He had two sides to his brain—the business side, focused on
collection. Gregory Levine and I borrowed David’s painting his medical inventions, and the aesthetic side, directed toward
Tenjin Visiting China for our 2007 “Awakenings” show at Japan his art collection. He excelled at both. David gravitated toward
Society, New York. I always felt that he had—and I still don’t Goryeo celadons, but also moved on to other areas as his lifestyle
understand why—one of the most under-recognized collections changed. He decorated his apartments—first in San Francisco
of East Asian art anywhere, with truly fabulous works. And it and then in Seattle, where he overlooked the harbor—with
was never exhibited in full. So, this tribute in Impressions will Ming-dynasty, as well as French art deco furniture and Chinese
be one of very few public instances that preserve his legacy in carpets.
the art world.
David, as a Westerner, early on came to understand the subtleties
As you know, painting wasn’t the primary focus of his of Korean and Japanese art. But he also happened to like
collecting—to me it was Buddhist objects and ceramics—but Chinese furniture and carpets. His overall taste was restrained
I was always struck by how remarkable his objects were. The and classical. He did a lot of homework, which frustrated some
ones that stand out to me include Tenjin Visiting China. This is dealers—he was quite demanding, even persnickety, in his taste
in my view perhaps the most significant example, and the earliest and often seemed to know more than the dealer, which could
dated one (1430). Not only is the inscription by Yoka Shinko be intimidating. He tended to think that you could get the best
intriguing in terms of what it says about the legend of Tenjin’s things in Japan. On balance, he bought from the “right” sources:
crossing to China, but the work itself is unusually well preserved Tajima, Setsu and Yabumoto in Tokyo, Giuseppe Eskenazi and
and beautifully colored. I think it must be by a yamato-e painter Bluetts in London, John Eskenazi in Milan and London and
or court artist of the period because of the remarkable handling from Christie’s and Leighton Longhi in New York.
of mineral pigments and the surety of figural depiction. Sylvan He and Nayda were still going to Japan as late as 2015, before his
Barnett and Bill Burto always regretted selling the work to
David, and told me how painful it was to see the work in our disease forced him into a wheelchair a few years later.
“Awakenings” exhibition at Japan Society Gallery in 2007.