Annie Shepley Omori

Annie Shepley Omori
Born Annie Barrows Shepley
1856
Died 1943
Japan
Nationality American
Spouse(s) Hyozo Omori
Annie Barrows Shepley, Portrait of a Young Woman

Annie Shepley Omori (1856 – 1943) was an American artist, activist, and translator. For the first fifty years of her life, she produced work under her maiden name, Annie Barrows Shepley. She studied art in New York under Harry Siddons Mowbray and in Paris at Académie Julian under Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Lucien Simon. After that, she established studios in New York and Connecticut, where she worked as a portrait painter and children's book illustrator. She married Hyozo Omori, a Japanese exchange student, in 1907 and moved with him to Japan, where they established the Yurin En settlement house to provide educational and recreational opportunities to the poor in Tokyo. They were leaders in the Japanese playground movement. Hyozo Omori died in 1913, and Annie continued running the center. She also translated Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan with Kochi Doi in 1920.

Early life and education

Annie Barrows Shepley studied art under Harry Siddons Mowbray in New York. In Paris, she studied at Académie Julian under Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Lucien Simon.[1]

Artist

Annie Barrows Shepley, Portrait of Artist's Niece (Rosamund Sargeant)

Shepley established a studio in New York and later in Connecticut, where she painted portraits and illustrated children's books.[1] She exhibited two paintings at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and Exposition: Work and Play and The Wonderful Story.[1] Other paintings that were representative of her work at the time were Portrait of Artist's Niece (Rosamund Sargeant) and Portrait of a Young Woman.[1] Two of her works, Portrait and Study of a Head, were exhibited at the annual Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts show held from December 1896 through February 1897. At that time, she lived at 96 Fifth Avenue in New York City.[2] She exhibited a painting entitled Echo in 1897 at the Art Club of Philadelphia.[3] About a dozen of her works were shown in a New York gallery owned by William Clausen in 1905.[4]

Japan

In October 1907, she married Hyozo Omori[lower-alpha 1] and lived in Japan.[7] Hyozo Omori became dedicated to welfare work and Annie was described as someone "with delicate refinement, high idealism, and scholarly outlook, she found all the elements of happiness."[8] In Tokyo, they established a community center, Yurin En (House of the Friendly Neighbor) which offered dramatic classes and a playground for children. It also offered courses in sewing, flower arranging, cooking, and crafts as well as mother's meetings and opportunities for people to speak English.[8] Initially, they met resistance because of their co-educational programs, the fact that the Omoris were Christian, and that they broke down well-establish class barriers.[8] Hyozo Omori died in 1913, but Annie continued running Yurin En after his death.[8] She was a leader in the Japanese playground movement.[9]

She was decorated by the Japanese government for her heroic service during the 1922 earthquake.[1] She translated Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan in 1920.[10] The book, published with Kochi Doi, combined a translation of The Diary of Lady Murasaki with that of Izumi Shikibu (The Izumi Shikibu nikki) and of the Sarashina nikki. Their translation had an introduction by Amy Lowell. A more recent English translation was published by Richard Bowring in 1982.[11]

She died in 1943, during World War II.[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Hyozo Omori was in the 1905 class of Stanford University[5] and a YMCA exchange student who studied in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1908, when he had returned to Japan, he introduced basketball to the country.[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Annie B. Shepley". U. S. Women Painters: 1893 Chicago World's Fair and Exposition. Arcadia Systems. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  2. ↑ Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1896). Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition: December 21, 1896 to February 22, 1897. p. 81.
  3. ↑ Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings & Sculpture. Art Club of Philadelphia. 1897. p. 17.
  4. ↑ The International Studio. New York Offices of the International Studio. 1905. p. 94.
  5. ↑ The Stanford Quad. Associated Students of Stanford University. 1903. p. 197.
  6. ↑ "Basketball". Japanese American National Museum. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Author:Annie Shepley Omori". WikiSource. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 David Starr Jordan (1922). The Days of a Man: Being Memories of a Naturalist, Teacher, and Minor Prophet of Democracy. World Book Company. pp. 353–354.
  9. ↑ Recreation. National Recreation Association. 1917. p. 228.
  10. ↑ "Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan". WikiSource. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  11. ↑ Marian Ury (Summer 1983). "The Real Murasaki" 38 (2). Monumenta Nipponica. p. 175.

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Annie Shepley Omori