Asian art authority, poet, translator. He was the son of Spanish-born musician Manuel Francisco Ciriaco Fenollosa and Mary Silsbee of a Boston Brahmin family. He graduated from Harvard in 1874. A professor of philosophy and economics, he was Invited to teach in Japan. While there he helped preserve neglected national art treasures and for his efforts the emperor awarded him the Orders of the Rising Sun and Sacred Mirror. He converted to Budhism and took the name Tei-Shin. The discovery of Chinese scrolls launched him on a study of Chinese writing characters and poetry. He returned to the United States where he became curator of oriental art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He was ousted from that post in 1895 after a scandalous divorce from his first wife, Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Millet. He died in London during a return to Japan and his ashes were placed at the Mii Temple in Kyoto.
Asian art authority, poet, translator. He was the son of Spanish-born musician Manuel Francisco Ciriaco Fenollosa and Mary Silsbee of a Boston Brahmin family. He graduated from Harvard in 1874. A professor of philosophy and economics, he was Invited to teach in Japan. While there he helped preserve neglected national art treasures and for his efforts the emperor awarded him the Orders of the Rising Sun and Sacred Mirror. He converted to Budhism and took the name Tei-Shin. The discovery of Chinese scrolls launched him on a study of Chinese writing characters and poetry. He returned to the United States where he became curator of oriental art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He was ousted from that post in 1895 after a scandalous divorce from his first wife, Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Millet. He died in London during a return to Japan and his ashes were placed at the Mii Temple in Kyoto.
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