American art collector Joe Price, renowned for his marvelous collection of works made in Japan during the Edo Period (1603-1867), died of old age on April 13 at his home in suburban Los Angeles. He was 93.
About 70 years ago, he became fascinated by a hanging scroll created by painter Ito Jakuchu in the Edo Period, marking the beginning of his passion for collecting paintings from the era.
Price visited Japan for the first time in 1963.
He later built up a large collection of Japanese paintings, known as the Price collection, with his wife, Etsuko.
In the wake of the devastating 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the couple held exhibitions that toured across Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures.
In Price’s later years, he searched for a museum in Japan that would take over a portion of his collection.
The Idemitsu Museum of Arts in Tokyo purchased about 190 of the works in bulk.