Friday, October 11, 2013

A Family Treasure Found

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.

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