Raymond Bushell; Donor of Japanese Art

Raymond Bushell, an authority on Asian art who donated his collection of Japanese netsuke to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, has died. He was 88.

Bushell, who practiced law in Tokyo for 40 years, died Jan. 17 in San Francisco, where he had lived since his retirement in 1989. The cause of death was complications of emphysema and a stroke.

Born in New York, Bushell had little personal connection with Los Angeles, so it came as something of a surprise when he offered his prized netsukes--miniature carvings of ivory, wood or stag antler--to the county museum in 1988 for its new Pavilion for Japanese Art.

“I’m not what you would call a giver-awayer,” Bushell told The Times then. “But there were two considerations [in choosing the county facility]. First, the museum has a strong interest in Oriental art, particularly Japanese. Second, it has primary material such as paintings, but not the minor arts, so I know they will make good use of the netsuke.”

Such carvings were created during Japan’s Edo period from 1615 to 1868 as toggles to attach medicine boxes or tobacco pouches to sashes on traditional garments. They range in height from 1 1/2 to 5 inches and are carved in such intricate detail that they are valued as museum-quality sculpture.

Bushell became interested in netsuke in 1945 when he was captain of a U.S. occupation force’s sea-air rescue boat in Japan. He began collecting and studying the miniature sculptures and became such an expert that he wrote eight classic books about them. Two were considered so knowledgeable that they were translated into Japanese, a rare achievement for an American collector of items from that country. Bushell also wrote the entry on netsuke in the Dictionary of Art.

In the 1940s, Bushell told The Times, netsuke were readily available and inexpensive. That changed, but he continued collecting them, amassing nearly 1,200 at one point.

The first, 141-piece installment of his donation--including boars, lions, monkeys, rabbits and mythological creatures--in 1988 was valued at more than $1 million. Among the most prized pieces were Kaigyokusai Masatsugu’s 19th century carving of zodiac animals entwined in an ivory circle and Yochimura Shuzan’s 18th century demon of painted wood.

Bushell and his wife, Frances, gave the Los Angeles County museum 600 netsuke, which are rotated on display 150 at a time in the Raymond and Frances Bushell Netsuke Gallery of the Japanese pavilion.

Bushell is survived by his wife, who has asked that any memorial donations be made to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036.