Theodore Wores

The artist
Carolyn Wores, 1939 (the artist's wife, by descent)
Dr. Ben and Dr. A. Jess Shenson, San Francisco, California (acquired from the above)
By descent to the present owner

Describing his first impressions of Yokohama, Japan, Theodore Wores remarked: "For a long time I had a great idea of going to Japan. I had read about the country, and studied such samples of Japanese art as I could find, and it had interested me greatly, and at last I made up my mind to go. My first halting place was Yokohama. I can't tell you what an effect my first few months' stay in that country had upon me. I could do nothing, it was all so new, so strange, so wonderfully beautiful that when I looked around for a subject I was bewildered. I wanted to do everything at once, and consequently, for a time, I did nothing. At last, however, I got to work" (The Star, London, July 9, 1889, as quoted in Lewis Ferbraché, Theodore Wores: Artist in Search of the Picturesque, San Francisco, California, 1968, p. 16).

A Chrysanthemum Show, Yokohama has descended in the family of brothers Dr. Ben and Dr. A. Jess Shenson of San Francisco, California. Their mother, Rose Shenson, was a close friend of Wores' wife, Carolyn, and the brothers helped to promote the artist's work by organizing museum and gallery exhibitions worldwide. The Shenson brothers were influential supporters of art and culture in San Francisco and provided important philanthropic support to the Merola Opera Program, the San Francisco Opera and Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera, and the San Francisco and Asian Youth Orchestras.