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
