sábado, 26 de octubre de 2013

OBITUARY

It is with great sadness, I write to inform you that on October 23, 2013
Dr. Donald F. McCallum passed away peacefully at his home after battling
sudden metastatic prostate cancer. Donald McCallum had a long
distinguished career as a scholar of Japanese art history, over seven
years of which were spent doing research and fieldwork in Japan. Last June
he retired from his position as Professor in the Department of Art  History
at University of California, Los Angeles. He was a beloved teacher known
for his serious commitment to education alongside a sharp sense of humor.

He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on May 23, 1939. He
earned his Ph.D. at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University and his
A.B. at University of California, Berkeley.

He began teaching at UCLA in 1969 and has served as Chair of the
Department of Art History at UCLA, Interim Director for the UCLA Center for
Japanese Studies, Director of the University of California Tokyo Study
Center, Toyota Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, Franklin
D. Murphy Lecturer at the University of Kansas, and Hooker Distinguished
Visiting Professor at McMaster University. His numerous awards include
fellowships from the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in
Kyoto, Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art, Japanese Society for the
Promotion of Science, Korean Cultural Service, Japan Foundation, and the
John D. Rockefeller III Fund.

Dr. McCallum's research on Japanese art had a wide breadth, but his main
area was Japanese Buddhist art in which he published three books: Hakuho
Sculpture published by University of Washington Press (2012), The Four
Great Temples: Buddhist Archaeology, Architecture, and Icons of
Seventh-Century Japan by University of Hawai'i Press (2009), and Zenkoji
and Its Icon: A Study in Medieval Japanese Religious Art by Princeton
University Press (1994). His interests expanded to Korean art, modern
Japanese art and even tattoos, as exemplified in his articles "Korean
Influence on Early Japanese Buddhist Sculpture," in Korean Culture (1982),
"Three Taisho Artists: Yorozu Tetsugoro, Koide Narashige, and Kishida
Ryusei," in Paris in Japan: The Japanese Encounter with European Painting
(1987), and "Historical and Cultural Dimensions of the Tattoo in Japan," in
Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations of the Human Body (1988).
In addition to his books, his published articles and book reviews that
number over seventy will continue to have a significant impact on the field
for years to come.

As a dedicated teacher at UCLA for forty-four years, Dr. McCallum shared
his passion and knowledge with thousands of students and patiently served
as dissertation advisor to eleven graduate students. His rigorous training
style and strong, personal commitment toward his students, even after they
started their own professional careers, was instrumental towards enabling
some to become leaders in the field of Japanese art history. Among them are
tenured faculty members at Yale University, Portland State University,
University of Kansas, University of Regina, Taiwan National Central
University, California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, and
University of Maryland. Aside from helping his own graduate students,
Dr.McCallum enthusiastically and generously supported nearly the entire
next generation of younger scholars in Japanese art history with great
encouragement and by writing thoroughly researched letters of support for
tenure and promotion.

Dr. McCallum will be dearly missed by many both in and outside of
academia. He is survived by his wife Toshiko, his son Kenneth,
daughter-in-law Takayo, daughter Sumako, son-in-law James Turner and
grandchildren Ella Sachiko and Jackson James Turner. Anyone who has ever
talked with him or heard him lecture knows how devoted he was to his family
and was more than likely treated to many humorous tales about his cherished
grandchildren.

At present the family is in the process of making arrangements for a
memorial service. More information on the service as well as information
for anyone who wishes to make a memorial gift will follow.

Condolences may be sent to:

The McCallum Family
2333 32nd Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405-2027 USA

Sincerely,

Sherry Fowler
Associate Professor of Japanese Art History
University of Kansas