Biography Lum, Bertha (1869 - 1954)

Born in 1869, Bertha Boynton Bull managed to study art in her younger years, in spite of the fact that her parents were not well-off. She was gripped by the wave of Japonisme that swept both Europe and US at the end of the 19th century. In 1903 she married Burt F. Lum, and their honeymoon took them to Japan. She was disappointed at what she found there, but managed to buy some woodblock cutting materials on her last day in Japan. In 1907, during her second trip to Japan, she studied in the workshop of Igami Bonkotsu, one of the truly great craftsmen in Japan at the time. Allegedly she was taught by two 12-year-old students. After a third visit in 1911, her work was shown at the 10th annual art exhibit at Ueno Park in 1912. Though she was a capable carver and printer, she hired professional printers and carvers in the latter half of her career. She died in Genua in 1954.



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