The following
photographic-rich
article features
story of historical Dreamland Fire of 1911 in Coney Island,
Brooklyn, New York, which ended the Golden Era of Coney Island’s
entertainment industry. Also unique original artworks by Takeshi
Yamada inspired by this historical disaster were featured here.
In addition, artworks inspired by two other major fire disasters
took place in the city where Yamada lived for 13 years before
his moving to Coney Island are also covered. Yamada
is one of the most active educators and artists in New York
City, and has had over 450 fine art exhibitions internationally
with his paintings and sculptures. The manuscript was produced
by Dr. Eriko N. Bond, noted art critic and New York City author,
as told by Yamada.
TAKESHI YAMADA
ON
Chapter 5
Takeshi Yamada (photograph by Evon Davis. 2002)
Great Chicago Fire
For
Takeshi Yamada, the series of artworks entitled “Artifacts of
Dreamland Fire of 1911” was not un-chartered terrain. He had
previously created a similar series of art representing the
“Great Chicago Fire of 1911, a city in which he had lived some
years ago. (This author, Dr. Eriko N. Bond also met Takeshi
Yamada at his major art exhibition in Chicago then.) Before
closing this article, to illustrate Yamada’s creativity and
genius in proper context in his over four decades of creative
career, this author was compelled to add the following portion
of an article accompanying Yamada’s artworks entitled “Great
Chicago Fire of 1911 and Iron Phoenix”.
City of Chicago flag
The Great Chicago Fire was such a major incident and it became
the part of the city’s flag.
Two stripes represent two branches of Chicago river. Each stars
represents Fort Dearborn (1803),
Great Chicago Fire (1871), World Columbian Exposition (1893),
Century of Progress Exposition (1993)
When
living in for 13 years before moving to New York City, Takeshi
Yamada witnessed a truly devastating fire at the heart of the
art scene, the River North Gallery District in Chicago,
Illinois. A city block was completely destroyed by the fire, and
his gallery (Neville-Sargent Gallery) right next to the block
barely escaped damage. Literally thousands of un-replaceable
high-end artworks were destroyed in the fire. It was the darkest
time in the history of the most prominent gallery district in .
This
personal experience as an artist, in a city which had risen from
the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire (1871) like the phoenix.
deeply inspired Yamada. Even destroying a third of the city,
including the entire central business district, rapidly rebuilt
and grew and constructed the world’s first skyscraper in 1885
using steel-skeleton construction. For Yamada, the city of is an
embodiment of the aforementioned myth. Yamada created a series
of artworks and they were exhibited at Neville-Sargeant Gallery
for his solo art exhibition entitled “Iron Phoenix: Chicago
Architecture” in 1991. Shown below are selected artworks of
Takeshi Yamada shown at the art exhibition. They were exhibited
at Neville-Sargent Gallery (one of the oldest and most
prestigious gallery), Shinsen Gallery and Collins Fine Art in
Chicago. Illinois.
Regeneration of Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871,
Acrylic on canvas, 40x30 inch, Takeshi Yamada
Water Tower on Fire at the Great Chicago Fire of
1871,
Acrylic on ceramic plate, 12 inch diameter, 1992, Takeshi Yamada
(This is the sole architecture survived in downtown from the
Great Chicago Fire of 1871.)
Great Chicago Fire of 1911, #1,
Acrylic on canvas, 24x32 inch, 1992, Takeshi Yamada
Great Chicago Fire of 1911, #2,
Acrylic on canvas, 24x32 inch, 1992, Takeshi Yamada
Great Fire of Life and Death,
Acrylic on canvas, 22x32 inch, 1992, Takeshi Yamada
Firefighters at River North Gallery District Fire in 1992,
Acrylic on canvas, 24x18 inch, 1992, Takeshi Yamada
Private Collection, Chicago, Illinois
Magnificent Mile on Fire,
Acrylic on canvas, 12x24 inch, 1992, Takeshi Yamada
Wrigley Field on Fire,
Acrylic on canvas, 24x32 inch, 1992, Takeshi Yamada
Note:
Yamada also created a series of artworks representing the water
disaster in Chicago. His artworks, this time, was based on the
“Great Chicago Flood” on April 13, 1992, which completely
paralyzed the central business district of the city completely
for over a week.
Great Chicago Flood of 1992, #2, Orochi (Japanese mythic giant
evil snake) at Carson Pirie Scott,
Acrylic on canvas 24 x 18 inch, 1992, Takeshi Yamada
Private Collection, Chicago, IL
Carson Pirie Scott on the State Street is one of the fanciest
department stores in Chicago.
