Page 8 - Christie's The Joseph Collection of Japanese Art

Adrian Malcolm Joseph (1926-2010)
Jim Joseph, September 2015

Adrian Joseph at the opening of Hugh Moss Gallery, 1970 © Jim Joseph

Walk into an art dealership in any part of the world, His interest in Asian art began in the late 1950s.
and you are likely to be quizzed by its proprietor as to A friendship with a fellow dentist who shared an
whether you are a collector, scholar or a dealer. (And interest in antiques led to both attending an evening
your response met with either warmth, weariness or course in oriental art at a London college. Lunch
wariness respectively.) Adrian Joseph was all three hours were spent in the West End galleries of Bluetts,
combined – as well as a dental surgeon, a secure Spinks and Sparks. Weekend mornings involved
occupation with a practice in west London that he outings to the British Museum and the V&A (family
abandoned in the 1970s for a Bruton Street art gallery. in tow). The study collection of the Percival David
Adrian Malcolm Joseph was born in 1926 in Swansea, Foundation in Gordon House was thoroughly
South Wales. He trained at Edinburgh University examined. His circle of contacts and friendships
and, immediately after graduating in 1949, was among the collectors and dealers was broadened via
commissioned for his National Service as a captain his participation in the Oriental Ceramic Society. He
in the army Dental Corps. On being demobilised in was elected to the Council of the OCS in 1965.
1950, he moved to London and established a surgery The enthusiasts of the day were generous with their
in Queensway, close to Hyde Park, London, where knowledge and my father was familiar with most of
he was to practise for the subsequent two decades. the great collectors and their collections. Of these,
The location in Bayswater brought an exotic – and perhaps the most infuential was W. W. (“Billy”)
occasionally royal – clientele. Winkworth, from whom he learned much and

6 (Right) Adrian Joseph, 1970 © Jim Joseph