This summer, the East Asian department is awaiting the arrival of an important gift of 40 Japanese paintings from Dr. Toshihide Hirose, an orthodontist in Hirosaki, Aomori prefecture, Japan. Dr. Hirose is an old friend who I first met online in 2009 when I was researching the mysterious origins of CAM’s two suits of Japanese armor. My investigation led me to discover that the museum purchased both suits in 1892 from Dr. Adeline Kelsey (1844–1931), a medical missionary and English teacher. Dr. Kelsey sold the suits to fund the medical education of Kaku Sudo (1869–1963) and Hana Abe (1873–1922), two young girls she met while working in Japan. During my research, I came across Dr. Hirose’s blog post on Sudo, who became a legendary pioneer female doctor from Dr. Hirose’s hometown. I have since kept in touch and visited Dr. Hirose in Japan.    

In addition to researching local history and participating in local art activities, Dr. Hirose has avidly collected Japanese paintings since 2007. He focuses mainly on masterpieces of the less recognized yet highly accomplished painters from the late Meiji (1868–1912) to early Shōwa eras (1926–1989).

After his recent retirement, Dr. Hirose decided to share the paintings from his personal collection with CAM. This gift not only extends the museum’s holdings of Japanese paintings into the twentieth century, but also greatly enriches our East Asian collection’s cultural contents through the many unique subjects explored during this pivotal time in Japanese art history.