When we think about
Art Dealer Who Changed the Way We See Japanese Art Today
By the end of the 19th century, Japan had already started opening its borders to Western commerce. Mutual fascination with each other’s cultures resulted in the appearance of new forms of cross-cultural communication. For example, in The Land of the Rising Sun, new
Sadajiro Yamanaka was a Japanese art dealer who came to the US in 1894. He started by opening three small antique stores in America and the UK. Yamanaka & Co soon became one of the leading art dealerships of Asian and Japanese art in the world. Yamanaka’s marketing strategy was incredibly effective: he introduced American art patrons to classical Japanese artists by comparing them to European household names and appealing to already familiar concepts. Thanks to his expertise, Western collectors saw that there was much more to Japanese culture than household items, and the interest in antiques and artworks from Japan grew exponentially.
Yamanaka & Co supplied valuable Japanese antiques for galleries and museums until the middle of the 20th century, even after its founder’s death. Some of these items are still in the collections of the largest museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For example, the folding screens painted by the 18th-century artist Ogata Korin were acquired by Yamanaka & Co in Japan and sold to the Met in 1953.