Richard Douglas Lane


Richard Douglas Lane was an American art critic, collector, dealer, historian, and writer. He was dealer of Japanese art, lived in Japan for much of his life, and had a long association with the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii, which now holds his vast art collection.

Life and career

Lane was born in Kissimmee, Florida. After graduating from high school in 1944, during World War II, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. In the Marines he trained as a Japanese translator, and served in Japan during the war. He later received a bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii in Japanese and Chinese literature, and continued his studies at Columbia University, where he earned a master's degree and a PhD in 18th-century Japanese literature. In 1957, Lane moved to Japan, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Lane was never on a university faculty, but supported himself as an author, dealer and consultant. He was a visiting research associate at the Honolulu Museum of Art from 1957 to 1971, during which time he helped catalog the James A. Michener collection of Japanese prints. In 1960 Lane married physician Chiyeko Okawa; they remained married until her death in 1999. In 2002, he died intestate and without heirs in Kyoto, Japan, and the Honolulu Museum of Art purchased his collection from the Japanese judicial authorities. The Lane Collection consisted of nearly 20,000 paintings, prints and books.
From October 2008 to February 2009, the Honolulu Museum of Art exhibited a sampling of the collection under the title "Richard Lane and the Floating World". From March 2010 to June 2010, the museum exhibited a second installment of the collection under the title "Masterpieces from the Richard Lane Collection".
Among the works in the Richard Lane "Arts of the Bedchamber: Japanese Shunga," which included over 50 erotic paintings, prints, and woodblock-printed books from the Lane Collection.

Publications

Richard Lane's publications include:
  • Lane, Richard, Shinpen Shoki Hanga: Makurae, Tokyo, Gakken, 1995.
  • Lane, Richard; Hayashi, Yoshikazu; Kamiya, Hoshu, Oya, Kyoko; Okumura, Masanobu et al.. Teihon Ukiyo-e Shunga Meihin Shusei, Tokyo, Kawade Shobo Shinsha. 26 volumes published between 1995 and 2000.
  • * Hatsuharu irogonomi: Katsushika hokusai. Supplemental Vol.3, 2000., NAID BA51905822.
  • * Azuma-otoko ni kyo-onna: Harukawa Goshichi, Ehon tegoto no hana. Supplemental Vol.2, 2000., NCID BA46825305.
  • * Sode no maki: Torii Kiyonaga and more: Nishiki-e hashira-e yokoban higa-kan, Vol.24, 1999., NCID BA41011500
  • * Ehon komachi-biki; Kitagawa Utamaro. Vol.2 Collectors’ edition, 1998,, NCID BA3993278X.
  • * Emmusubi Izumo no sugi: Chuban nishiki-e higa-cho. Vol.1 Collectors’ edition, 1998,, NCID BA39932407.
  • * Fukujusou: Oban nishiki-e higa-cho. Vol.23, 1998,, NCID BA38727140.
  • * Koshoku hanazakari and others; Sugimura Jihei: Oban, Chuban te-zaishiki higa-cho. Vol.22, 1998,, NCID BA37603186.
  • * Furyu edo hakkei and others; Suzuki Harunobu: Chuban nishiki-e higa-cho. Vol.21, 1998,, NCID BA37602252.
  • * Koi no kiwami; Hishikawa Moronobu: Oban nishiki-e higa-cho. Vol.20, 1998,, NCID BA36135388.↵
  • * Edo no haru; ihojin mankai: etange elotique. . Supplemental volume, 1998., NCID BA35313152.
  • * Koshibagaki soshi: Higa emaki. Vo.17, 1997,, NCID BA32961870.↵
  • * Negai no itoguchi; Kitagawa Utamaro: Oban nishiki-e higa-cho. Vol.15, 1997,, NCID BA32961600.
  • * Tui no hina; Katsushika Hokusai: Oban nishiki-e higa-cho. Vol.13, 1997,, NCID BA31673575.
  • * Shikido torikumi juniban; Isoda Koryusai: Oban nishiki-e higa-cho. Vol.3, Collectors’ edition.. 1998., NCID BA3993308X.
  • * Ehon komachi-biki: Oban nishi-e higa-cho. Vol.2, 1996,, NCID BA32953227.
  • * Azuma nishiki; Katsushika Hokusai: Oban nishi-e higa-cho. Vol.7, 1996,, NCID BA31423749.
  • * Fubi no seisho: Oban urushi-e higa-shu. Vol.9, Collectors’ edition, 1998., NCID BA31423658.↵
  • * Shitone no hinagata: Oban urushi-e higa-shu. Vol.11, Collectors’ edition, 1998., NCID BA31422746.
  • * Haru no yuki; Ikeda Eisen: Kamban nishiki-e higacho. Vol.5 Collector's edition, 1996., NCID BA31418953.
  • * Emmusubi izumo sugi; Katsushika Hokusai: Chuban nishiki-e higacho. Vol.1, 1995., NCID BA32951174.
  • Lane, Richard "Kesareta shunga wo abaku", from Special: Ukiyoe kesareta shunga. Geijutsu shincho, pp.4-40, Volume 6, Number 45, ISSN 0435-1657, Shinchosha, June 1994. NAID 40000935384.
  • Lane, Richard, Masterpieces of Japanese Prints: The European Collections Ukiyo-e from the Victoria and Albert Museum, New York, Kodansha America Inc, 1991..
  • Lane, Richard, Hokusai, Life and Work, New York, Dutton, 1989..
  • Lane, Richard, Erotica Japonica: Masterworks of Shunga Painting, New York, Japan Publications, 1986..
  • Lane, Richard, Ukiyo-e Holschnitte. Künstler und Werke, Zürich, 1978.
  • Lane, Richard, Images from the Floating World: The Japanese Print, Including an Illustrated Dictionary of Ukiyo-e, New York, Putnam, 1978..
  • Lane, Richard Douglas, Hokusai to Hiroshige, Köln, Galerie Eike Moog, 1977. English and Japanese, with one pamphlet in German.. Based on Hokusai and Hiroshige, Tokyo : Gakubundō, 1976, in English and Japanese,.
  • Lane, Richard, Japanische Holzschnitte, München Zürich, Droemersche, 1964, in German.
  • Lane, Richard; Arbour-Brackman, Renée. L'Estampe Japonaise, Paris, Aimery Somogy, 1962, in French..
  • Lane, Richard, , Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1962. One-hour free access.
  • Lane, Richard, Masters of the Japanese Print, Their World and Their Work, Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1962.
  • Michener, James A. with notes on the prints by Richard Lane, Japanese Prints, From the Early Masters to the Modern, Rutland, Vermont, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1959.
  • Michener, James A. with notes on the prints by Richard Lane, Japanese Prints, From the Early Masters to the Modern, Rutland, Vermont, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1959.