Tikotin: A Life Devoted to Japanese Art

Felix Tikotin (1893–1986), arguably the most important Western dealer in Japanese art for much of the 20th century, founded the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art in Haifa, Israel, in 1959. This documentary by Santje Kramer doesn't shortchange Tikotin's contributions to the field—offering interviews with curators and colleagues testifying to his importance—but the emphasis here is more on Tikotin's life, overall. Kramer employs a mass of photos, home movies, and letters to investigate Tikotin's childhood, architectural studies, service in the German army during World War I, decision to make Japanese art his occupation, and success in surviving the Nazis despite his Jewish background (as well as saving most of his collection by storing it in the Netherlands for the duration). Through interviews with Tikotin's family and relatives, Kramer hones in on the man's domestic tragedies—the professional devotion that often left his family feeling abandoned; his children's refusal to follow in his footsteps, which led him to virtually adopt an outsider as his successor; and the suicides of both his wife and one of his daughters. Kramer even recounts the tax dispute that induced Tikotin to establish his museum, and a disagreement with the curator that made him leave Israel and live the rest of his life in solitary luxury in Switzerland. An incisive, poignant, visually elegant portrait of a fascinating figure full of contradictions, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)