Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 19, 1993 TAG: 9310160106
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Watson lives in Campbell County now, but her connection to W&L and the Ming and Qing dynasties dates back to the Great Depression and Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Mass.
In 1933, Watson graduated from Radcliffe - Harvard's sister school at the time - with a fine arts degree. She hoped for a career in the art museum business, but taught school instead, first in New York, then in Connecticut and Washington, D.C.
Then in 1947, she married William Watson, a W&L graduate, and traveled to China, where he worked for Standard Oil Co. They lived in a company-owned apartment that Standard Oil agreed to\ decorate in the Chinese city of Canton. But Watson refused.
She wanted to fill their new home with local art.
So, the company gave them the money to buy the decorations themselves - and the collection began. Soon, Watson became known as something of a local art expert. In Canton, she became notorious for her bartering ability.
The Watsons stayed in the Far East for 18 years, primarily in China. They amassed an extensive collection of rare porcelain, and other artwork, which they brought home with them when they retired to Campbell County in 1965.
William Watson died in 1979. Elizabeth Otey Watson has since donated their collection to W&L. In addition, Watson gave the school a cash gift to help in the construction of a building to display the collection.
Saturday, W&L will dedicate the building, named the Watson Pavilion for Asian Arts. Pieces from the Watson collection will be on display, as well as other Asian ceramics that have been donated or loaned to the school.
There also will be two days of lectures on Asian art and other subjects beginning this afternoon. The keynote lecture will be given Saturday by William R. Sargeant, curator of Asian Export Art at the Peabody and Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.
The $1 million Watson Pavilion is a companion building to the Reeves Center for Research and Exhibition of Porcelain and Paintings located in a former faculty residence.
The Reeves Center contains some 2,000 examples of Chinese and European porcelain given to W&L in 1967 by Euchlin and Louise Reeves of Rhode Island. Euchlin Reeves was a W&L graduate.
The Watson Pavilion contains some 500 pieces of porcelain, jade, ivory and bronze spanning a period of 2,000 years. Ceramics from the Ming and Qing dynasties make up the majority of the collection.
But it also includes Chinese paintings and furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries, plus ceramics from the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties.
Other contributors to the Watson Pavilion display include Bolton and Willie McBryde of Blacksburg, Jean Wilson of Lynchburg and Groke Mickey and Felicia Warburg Rogan, both of Charlottesville.
Although principally a student research center, the Watson Pavilion will be open to the public 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and by appointment on weekends. There is no admission fee.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***