The Gateway's Oriental Treasure

San Francisco has long been the U.S.'s gateway to the Orient. There, clipper ships embarked, coolies came to build the transcontinental railroad, and the largest Chinese colony in the New World was established. To embellish it, Avery Brundage, 78, president of both the U.S. and more recently the international Olympic committee and millionaire builder as well, last week opened a new wing containing his collection of Oriental art, which doubles the size of the M. H. de Young Museum.

Estimates of Brundage's collection start at $30 million. Says the crusty old gent who once bounced Eleanor Holm from the Olympic swimming team for sipping champagne: "You can be sure it is worth more than I paid for it." Brundage, who has been collecting since 1912, has acquired more than 5,000 objects, whose origins range from Japan to Iran. As he opened the 12-ft-high bronze doors that lead to the Museum's 100,000-sq.-ft. new wing, he sported in his lapel the grey rosette on gold representing Japan's Order of the Sacred Treasure first class, earned for both his role in the Olympics and his patronage of Japanese art.

Twelve years ago, Brundage offered his collection to San Francisco. By his stipulation, it took a $3,000,000 public bond issue to raise funds to house it, which the city voted in 1960. He also insisted on appointing his own curator, Yvon d'Argence, a Frenchman who grew up in Viet Nam and who speaks and writes three Oriental languages.

Despite the vast new gallery, only one-fifth of the Brundage collection can be shown at one time. Its 700 pieces of Jade are but part of the treasures available not only to the public but also to Oriental scholars. When did Brundage decide to specialize in collecting Eastern art works? "In 1935," he says, "I made a special trip to London to see a .great exhibit of Chinese art there. British experts had brought a whole gunboat load back. Seeing that drove the last nail in my coffin. I've been broke ever since." Now, because of Brundage, the Western world has a rare chance to study the artistic richness of the Orient.

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