Ernest Francisco Fenollosa
Ernest Francisco Fenollosa was an influential American educator, art historian, and critic, best known for his significant contributions to the appreciation of Japanese art and culture during the late 19th century. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Fenollosa graduated from Harvard University in 1874 and later moved to Japan, where he taught philosophy at Tokyo Imperial University. His passion for historical Japanese art led him to travel extensively throughout Japan, where he championed the country’s artistic heritage and played a crucial role in establishing key cultural institutions, such as the Tokyo Imperial Museum.
Fenollosa aimed to shift the perspective of educated Japanese people regarding their own art history, which was often undervalued compared to Western art. His efforts not only preserved numerous artifacts but also contributed to their introduction to Western audiences. After his death in 1908, his influence continued to resonate, particularly through the work of his second wife, Mary, and poet Ezra Pound, who edited Fenollosa's manuscripts, leading to significant publications that impacted American poetry. Despite the complexities of his legacy, including the exportation of Japanese artifacts, Fenollosa is recognized for bridging Eastern and Western cultures and paving the way for modernism in the arts.
Ernest Francisco Fenollosa
- Born: February 18, 1853
- Birthplace: Salem, Massachusetts
- Died: September 21, 1908
- Place of death: London, England
Critic and historian specializing in Asian art and literature
Ernest Francisco Fenollosa played a major role in popularizing Japanese art and literature in the United States. He also organized one of the world’s largest collections of Japanese art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Born: February 18, 1853; Salem, Massachusetts
Died: September 21, 1908; London, England
Full name: Ernest Francisco Fenollosa
Areas of achievement: Art, literature
Early Life
Ernest Francisco Fenollosa grew up in Salem, Massachusetts, where his father worked as a music teacher. Salem was also the home of the Peabody Academy of Science, later known as the Peabody Essex Museum, one of the first American museums whose collections adopted an international outlook. Ernest graduated from Harvard University in 1874 and married his childhood sweetheart, Lizzie Millett, in 1878.
During the 1870s, Japan embarked on a modernization program that included hiring foreign experts to train the next generation of Japanese leaders. Many of these foreign teachers pursued avocations outside their teaching field with a fierce intensity. On the recommendation of Harvard zoologist Edward Morse, Fenollosa accepted a position teaching philosophy at Tokyo Imperial University. While there, he soon developed an interest in historical Japanese art, eventually establishing himself as a renowned expert in the field. He went on extensive tours of Japanese cities and the countryside in search of forgotten and neglected art treasures. It was this work that won him the Order of the Sacred Mirror, bestowed on him by the emperor of Japan.
Life’s Work
Fenollosa made it his mission to completely revise the attitude of nineteenth-century Japanese people toward their nation’s art history. Before Fenollosa, many educated Japanese viewed their artistic history as unimportant or at least markedly inferior to that of other cultures. After witnessing Japanese artifacts being neglected or sold to make way for more modern collections, Fenollosa worked to show the Japanese that they had a unique art heritage, and he played a major role in the founding and management of both the Tokyo Imperial Museum and the Tokyo Fine Arts Academy. He acquired an immense personal collection of Japanese art, much of which would later form the nucleus of the Asian Art wing at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA).
By 1895, Fenollosa was lionized in both Tokyo and Boston and held a prestigious post at the Boston MFA. Then, quite suddenly, he left his wife and family and married his young museum assistant, Mary McNeil Scott. He was forced to resign from the MFA, and his former wife won a crippling financial settlement from him. As a result, Fenollosa tried to carve out an adequate living for himself, his second wife, and his stepchildren by writing and lecturing, as well as importing Japanese art to the United States. He and his family traveled frequently and spent three years in Japan. Fenollosa’s travels punctuated his magazine writing and his attempts to sort out his thoughts on art and Buddhism into commercially viable manuscripts. While preparing to return to the United States from London in 1908, however, Fenollosa suffered two heart attacks, the second of which proved fatal. His body was cremated, and his ashes were buried at Lake Biwa in Japan.
After Fenollosa died, his second wife, Mary, was determined to ensure that his reputation as a critic and promoter of Japanese culture would remain intact for posterity. She contacted talented literary figures of the day, requesting that they take on the manuscript notes of some of her deceased husband’s unfinished projects and edit them for publication. Ezra Pound, a young poet with a growing reputation, worked on some of Fenollosa’s notes that were later published under the title The Chinese Written Character As a Medium for Poetry. The slim pamphlet contrasted Western and Eastern poetry, suggesting that modern poets had much to learn from their ancient Chinese counterparts. Another result of the posthumous Pound-Fenollosa collaboration was a book of poems called CATHAY, published in 1915. American poetry set out on a new path partly as a result of Pound’s editions of these two works, thus causing Fenollosa’s impact on American arts and letters to grow considerably after his death.
Significance
Fenollosa had substantial influence on art and literature in Japan and the United States during his lifetime. Due to the efforts of his widow, that influence was sustained throughout following generations. Fenollosa was highly interested in the preservation of Japanese art and theater; however, many of his preservation efforts involved exporting artifacts from Japan to the United States, detracting somewhat from Japan’s national collection. By introducing Asian art, literature, and theater to the West, Fenollosa both preserved and altered it. Ironically, although Fenollosa was an advocate of traditional forms and styles, his efforts helped give birth to the modernism that dominated the art and literature of the twentieth century.
Bibliography
Brooks, Van Wyck. Fenollosa and His Circle. New York: Dutton, 1962. Print. More focused on personalities than ideas, this sketch describes the circle of friends that encouraged Fenollosa before his ostracism in 1895.
Chisolm, Lawrence. Fenollosa: The Far East and American Culture. New Haven: Yale UP, 1963. Print. A comprehensively researched book that balances Fenollosa’s personal life with his intellectual achievements.
Fenollosa, Ernest. Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art: An Outline History of East Asiatic Design. 1913. 2 vols. New York: Stone Bridge, 2007. Print. Offers an overview of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art and design history, including chapters on Buddhist and feudal art.
Fenollosa, Ernest, Ezra Pound, and Haun Saussy. The Chinese Written Character As a Medium for Poetry: A Critical Edition. 1919. Ashland: Fordham UP, 2008. Print. Presents Fenollosa’s reflections on written Chinese, along with previously unpublished multilingual notes, diagrams, and Pound’s adjustments to the original text.