Lotus

Entrepreneur and art dealer Bunkio Matsuki arrived in the United States in 1888, just in time to capitalize on the growing interest in all things Japanese. Matsuki opened the first Japanese store in Boston, maintained a successful mail order business of Japanese art supplies, and wrote for several national arts publications. Matsuki was a friend of the art collector Charles Lang Freer, who founded the Freer Gallery of Art, now part of the Smithsonian Institution. Many works from Matsuki now reside in the Gallery’s collection. In 1903, Matsuki founded a magazine about Japanese art called Lotus. The first volume was published at Christmas, priced at 25 cents, and was dedicated James McNeill Whistler, who had died in July of that year. Only one issue was ultimately published, but it had contributions from members of the Boston circle of Japonisme-enthusiasts, and featured delicate wood-cuts, photographs of artworks, and a beautiful chrysanthemum on its cover.