Thank you to Scott Huddleston of the San Antonio Express news for this wonderful article on the discovery of one our grandfather Kimi Eizo Jingu's handpainted photographs. An amazing discovery and a significant treasure uncovered.
Old Photo connects families, history
Vivian Garoni, who owns the photograph of the Japanese Tea Garden that was colorized by Kimi Eizo Jingu, points out details in the picture to Peggy Nishio, the artist's granddaughter.
September 8, 2013 By Scott Huddleston
An old
hand-painted photo of the Japanese Tea Garden that for decades was stored, for
in a garage and forgotten has united two families with deep San Antonio roots.
The
circa-1920s photo by San Antonio native Eugene Goldbeck, known for panoramic
images of local scenes and sites worldwide, also is a rare surviving work by
Japanese artist Kimi Eizo Jingu, who ran the garden, a popular visitor site,
from its 1918 opening until he died in 1938.
Jingu lived
in a stone house in the garden with his wife and eight children.
The piece
is the only work by Jingu that descendants ever have seen.
“It was the
first time we'd actually seen his signature. It opened up a whole new world for
us,” said Peggy Nishio, Jingu's granddaughter.
Jingu lived
in a stone house in the garden with his wife and eight children.
The piece
is the only work by Jingu that descendants ever have seen.
“It was the
first time we'd actually seen his signature. It opened up a whole new world for
us,” said Peggy Nishio, Jingu's granddaughter.
To San
Antonio's Garoni family, which owns the rare item, being able to show it to one
of the Jingu descendants has had its own rewards.
“My dad
would have loved this,” said John Garoni, whose father, John Charles Garoni,
had treasured the photo before he died in 2010.
Family
members gathered around a dining table where the photo, still in its original,
specially treated bamboo frame Jingu is thought to have made himself, has been
since they showed it to Nishio a few weeks ago.
Tom
Shelton, photo curator with the University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries
Special Collections, said the work is unique, reflecting the genius of both
Goldbeck and Jingu, who highlighted it in light brown, green and crimson.
“The
Japanese used restraint in adding color to black and white images,” Shelton
said. “Some would want to remove the photo from the frame and display it
separately. I would say all of this needs to stay together.”
About a month ago, Garoni read a
San Antonio Express-News article about paintings by Nancy Enkoji, Nishio's
sister, now on display at the garden, that replicate scenes of the four seasons
that Jingu had painted around the 1920s.
Enkoji relied on memories of her
mother, Mabel Enkoji, who died in July, in creating the panels, but never had
seen any of Jingu's surviving artwork. So the Garonis contacted the Jingu
descendants, who now live mostly in California, and invited them to see the
work.
Vivian Garoni, 92, the widow of
John Charles, said the photo, dated 1924 and signed “K.E. Jingu,” was given by
Jingu to city Parks Commissioner Ray Lambert, whose visions led to development
of the garden and surrounding Brackenridge Park.
After Lambert died in 1927, the
photo belonged to his widow, Helena Garoni, and stayed in the family, she said.
It sat in the rafters of a relative's garage for decades, suffering minor water
damage until Vivian and John Charles Garoni took possession of it in the 1960s.
The photo hung over a fireplace at
their home at Medina Lake until they sold the house in 1991.
shuddleston@ express-news.net
San Antonio Express-News
This photograph was colorized by San Antonio Japanese immigrant Kimi Eizo Jingu in the 1920s. Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013
Links to the Jingu family Japanese Tea Gardens in San Antonio Texas here:
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