Page 9 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF DAVID AND NAYDA UTTERBERG

涅槃寂静 | ENLIGHTENMENT AND SERENITY

IMPORTANT BUDDHIST PAINTINGS FROM
THE COLLECTION OF DAVID AND NAYDA UTTERBERG

It has been just over two years since David Scott Utterberg (1946– Working his way through college, David learned the value of hard
2019) died in Seattle at age seventy-three. David had been collecting work at a young age. He received his BA degree from DePauw
Japanese and Korean art for nearly fifty years, yet few in the Asian art University as an undergraduate and his MBA from Northwestern
field were familiar with him. Nayda Utterberg, his wife, described University. Right after graduate school, David joined Baxter, a
him as a man of so few words he was dubbed “Mr. Enigma.” He Chicago-area medical company, but it was Cordis Dow Corporation
was unique. that sent him to Singapore in 1974 to open an office. After a year,
he transferred to Hong Kong for four years, still with Cordis Dow.
Twenty hanging scrolls from his extensive collection—Japanese, Then, he moved to Japan for two years, where he befriended
Chinese and Korean painting and calligraphy—are included in this
sale. an employee of a medical company, who supported his ideas in
manufacturing. David opened his own company in San Francisco,
Nayda, who has since moved to Nevada, returned to their penthouse settled there in 1981 in an apartment on Russian Hill, and commuted
apartment in Seattle for David’s second death anniversary in regularly to Kyushu, Japan, to learn manufacturing.
November 2021. She wanted to be at the home he built for the two A prolific, talented inventor and manufacturer, his pioneering work
of them, filled with their Jean Michel Franck (1895–1941) art deco led to over one hundred United States and foreign patents related to
and Chinese furniture. “Of course,” she said recently:
blood treatment, such as dialysis and safety medical devices. David’s
I was all stirred up again, but I was happy to bring back all noteworthy contributions to the treatment of end-stage renal disease
the sweet memories. I am keeping most of the art, like the included the StreamLine blood-tubing and MasterGuard safety-
Death of the Buddha (Nehan) painting, the Korean screen of needle products. His relentless pursuit of excellence significantly
Blossoming Plum Tree and many calligraphy scrolls. Parting from changed the medical field and positively impacted the lives of patients
the pieces for a Christie’s auction is quite emotional for me. and healthcare professionals internationally.
The calligraphy especially is something I had second thoughts Between 1981 and 2007, among numerous other firms, David
about. David and I loved calligraphy and having them auctioned
feels like I am trying to erase something that is part of our life. served as Chief Executive Officer, President and sole stockholder
of Medisystems Corporation and Lifestream Medical Corporation,
You see, we don’t read calligraphy but it’s the mystery of the a private medical company. He expanded in the 1990s—there were
calligrapher and the (feminine or masculine) beautiful strokes of
the calligraphy that made us appreciate the work. We did not factories in Italy and Mexico. In 2007, he sold Medisystems to
NxStage Medical, a company he admired and where he served as a
care much about the painter/calligrapher, but the technique and director until 2013.
the end result was important to us. That’s one reason we love
Ikkyu Sojun. David met Nayda in San Francisco in 1983; they married in the late
1980s. He was embraced by her family as the honorary father and
David’s father, a Christian Scientist, arrived in Minnesota from grandfather to her children and grandchildren. In 1993, the couple
Sweden at the age of eighteen. His mother, Scottish and a Roman moved to Seattle, where his staff—people with technical medical
Catholic, settled in Chicago. Many years later, they met each other backgrounds—could more easily buy homes, as the cost of living was
in Chicago, where Mr. Utterberg began tuning pianos, and later much lower there. In 2011, the Utterbergs were enchanted when
founded the Utterberg Piano Company. He was fifty-three when they discovered an immaculate, thirty-three-acre farm in Kilauea,
David was born (David’s older brother died young). David was at the north end of Kauai, Hawai‘i. Nayda recalls that its beauty
especially close to his mother, who was widowed in 1978 and died in tempted him to buy it as a Valentine’s present for her. Parts of the
1991. She made headlines when she started skiing at age eighty-three.
film Jurasssic Park had been filmed there. The couple subsequently
spent up to five months there annually.