Japan Society of Fairfield County
Biography of Genjiro
Genjiro Kataoka was born in 1867 in Arita, Japan, the home of
Arita Pottery.
Traditionally, families were limited to a single aspect of pottery
production in Arita and the Kataoka family specialized in painting
pottery. After the Meiji Revolution controls on the pottery industry
were relaxed and Genjiro's brother became a prosperous potter.
Genjiro worked in the family business and was an accomplished pottery
painter. In 1891 he was adopted by the pottery family Ezoe , and
he later used the name Yeto or Eto in United States. He went to
Chicago to attend the Columbian Exposition World Fair and to market
Arita pottery. This pottery was well received at the earlier
fairs in Vienna in 1873 and in Philadelphia in 1876. It should be
noted that prior to the opening of Japan by Commodore Perry in 1854
almost no Japanese goods or culture reached the outside world.
After the Columbian Exposition, Genjiro moved to New York City, where
he was a student at the Art Student League of New York. He
renounced his adoption to become a painter. He studied under the
Impressionists, especially John Twachtman. In 1896 he came to the
Cos Cob Artists' colony as an art student at the Bush-Holley house in
Greenwich, CT. and introduced Japanese painting techniques and
styles. Visitors to the Bush-Holley House are able to examine
Japonism in Elmer MacRae’s and Childe Hassam’s paintings. Genjiro
imported Japanese art which was quite popular at the time and also led
classses in Japanese culture such as ikebana (flower-arranging) and the
tea ceremony. Genjiro illustrated books by the Japonist Lafcadio Hearn
and the poet and novelist Yone Noguchi, whose son is the sculptor Isamu
Noguchi. He continued to promote Arita pottery. He traveled to
Philadelphia with the artist Thomas Eakins. In 1904 married En
from
Arita and had several children. Genjiro helped Stewart Curin
start the collection of Japanese art at
the Brooklyn Museum from 1909-1913. In 1911 he made his final
trip back to Japan amid growing anti-Japanese
sentiment in the United States. He was forced to take a job with
the Japanese Postal Communication
Museum about 1918 but continued to paint. In spite of his
success in the US, Genjiro was unable to get into the mainstream of
Japanese art when he returned. Genjiro contracted tuberculosis and died
in 1924.
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