Saturday, June 6, 2009

My dad in Japan -- 1945

My late father, Ernest Beatty, was in the Army and stationed in Kyoto, Japan as part of the occupation force in 1945. He brought home a few souvenirs -- some of them shown here. The pencil portrait of Dad is by a USO artist named Bill Gray -- if anyone knows any history on this artist, I'd love to know about it. Dad also came back with a few small color paintings on paper (one shown here as well) -- but the most intriguing thing he brought back to the states was a portfolio of prints of ink wash images. I know nothing about this portfolio, other than what's obvious -- which is that it's a quality collection, and the images are lovely. There are twelve plates in all -- well eleven, really, one of them double sized (two pictures). I'm showing just a few of the plates here, cropped to show just the pictures -- they all have a lot of border surrounding them.  Along with the pictures, I'm showing some of the labels from the portfolio cover, in hopes someone will be able to translate and offer some information on the artist, etc. I may scan more of the plates at a later date. Until then, enjoy.














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