Sherman Emery Lee (April 19, 1918 – July 9, 2008) was an American academic, writer,

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

and expert on

Asian art Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. East Asian art includes works from China, Japan, and Korea, while Southeast Asian art includes the arts of Brunei, Cambodia, E ...

. He was Director of the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

from 1958 to 1983. Lee earned his B.A. and M.A. at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

in Washington, D.C. He was awarded his PhD at

Western Reserve University Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

in 1941. Lee was "a renowned expert on Asian art." According to Philippe de Montebello, Lee will be remembered for "sensational acquisitions that transformed the Cleveland Museum of Art in all fields."

Career

In 1941, Lee was named Curator of Far Eastern Art at the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

. His museum career was interrupted by military service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He returned to the United States in 1948. He was the Associate Director of the

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The museum operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in ...

and he taught at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. In 1952, Lee began work at the

as Chief Curator of Oriental Art. He was named Director in 1958, and served in this capacity until 1983. He advised Mr. and Mrs.

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...

on building their collection of Asian art. After retiring from the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1983, Lee became an adjunct professor of art history at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

World War II

Lieutenant Sherman Lee was activated from the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

during World War II. His naval career took a turn when he was transferred in 1946 to

Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit (MFAA) was a program established by the Allies in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. The group of about 400 service members and civilians worked ...

(MFAA) in Japan. When he was discharged from the military, he continued working as a civilian in Tokyo. From 1946 to 1948, he was a civilian adviser to the staff of Gen.

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

(

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...

, also known by the acronym SCAP) on the cataloging, preserving and protection of Japanese artworks. Among those serving with Lee at SCAP headquarters in Tokyo were

Patrick Lennox Tierney Patrick Lennox Tierney (January 28, 1914 – June 12, 2015) was an American Japanologist academic in the field of art history, an emeritus professor of the University of Utah, a former Curator of Japanese Art at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, a fo ...

Consulate General of Japan, Los Angeles
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon (3rd class).
and

Laurence Sickman Laurence Chalfant Stevens Sickman (1907–1988) was an American academic, art historian, sinologist and Director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Education A native of Denver, Colorado, Sickman became interested in Japanese and ...

Quote

Speaking of his service with the Monuments Men, Lee said:

We were responsible for protection of registered cultural property ... We were responsible for national parks ... We were responsible for the encouragement of the living artists and ... the democratization of Japanese museums to see that there was evenhanded fair play.

Legacy

According to Philippe de Montebello, director of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in New York, Sherman Lee "carried a lot of weight in the community of museum directors. He bought in all fields, his own particularly brilliantly, but in many different fields. He really transformed the Cleveland museum from a regional museum to a major global museum."

Honors

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...

, Japan. *

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, France. * Charles Lang Freer medal, 1983.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Sherman Lee,

OCLC OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

encompasses roughly 100+ works in 300+ publications in 8 languages and 14,000+ library holdings. WorldCat IdentitiesLee, Sherman E.
/ref> * ''Chinese Landscape Painting'' (1954) * ''Japanese Decorative Style'' (1961) * ''A History of Far Eastern Art'' (1964) * ''Ancient Cambodian Sculpture'' (1969) * ''The Colors of Ink: Chinese Paintings and Related Ceramics from the Cleveland Museum of Art'' (1974) * ''The Genius of Japanese Design'' (1981) * ''Reflections of Reality in Japanese Art'' (1983) * ''Past, Present, East and West'' (1983)

Notes

References

* American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas. (1946). ''Report.'' Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. *Giuffrida, Noelle.
Separating Sheep from Goats: Sherman E. Lee and Chinese Art Collecting in Postwar America
'. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2018. * Lee, Sherman E. (1997). "My Work in Japan: Arts and Monuments 1946–48," in ''The Confusion Era: Art and Culture of Japan during the Allied Occupation 1945–52,'' ed. Mark Sandler. Washington, D.C.:

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. * Nicholas, Lynn H. (1995)
''The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Teasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War.''
New York:

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...

.
OCLC 32531154
* U.S. Department of State. ''Foreign Relations of the United States'' (FRUS) B. This is a publication of the State Department that serves as a key finding aid because the documents selected for printing include the source file designation.**__________________. (1944). "Interest of the United States in measures for the protection and salvage of artistic and historic monuments in war areas," ''FRUS.'' (Vol. II, pp. 1031–1068. **__________________. (1945). "Interest of the United States in measures for the protection and salvage of artistic and historic monuments in war areas," ''FRUS.'' (Vol. II, pp. 933–957.

External links

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

(

Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary public broadcasting, public media organization for the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington (state), Washington. It provides news, information, and programming via television stati ...

)
"The Rape of Europa."
2006 film, aired November 24, 2008 *

California Digital Library The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management ...

(CDL)
Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Sherman E. 1918 births 2008 deaths Harvard University faculty Art and cultural repatriation Directors of museums in the United States Writers from Cleveland Monuments men Writers from Seattle Academics from Ohio Academics from Washington (state) 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American academics American art historians 20th-century American historians