CANDLE AND MOUSE

Alice Boney was a native of Philadelphia and rose to become one of the most prominent dealers in the Asian art world, despite being a Western woman and with no college education. Initially, she began in the art trade when she and her husband, the Dutch dealer Ian Kleykamp opened a gallery in New York City. Although the gallery closed during the Depression and the couple divorced, Ms. Boney continued to work in the field. She was instrumental in selling art to a number of museums and organizing important exhibitions. She also advised President Herbert Hoover in the assemblage of his collection of Chinese ceramics. Ms. Boney traded in not only Chinese paintings and works of art but also in Japanese art, a field she learned well during the sixteen years she lived there. Ms. Boney was Mr. Ellsworth’s first guide in the Asian art market, beginning with their meeting in the late 1940s and continuing throughout the rest of her life.