Greatest American Bonsai

Ross

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In your opinion, what is the greatest American bonsai in existence?

One of my favorites has always been this bald cypress by Vaughn Banting. I like it because it is a distinctly American species, done in a flat-top style he helped pioneer, that truly captures the essence of a majestic, full-grown swamp cypress.
 

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rockm

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Naka's Goshin, hands down, not because its particularly terrific design-wise or a difficult species. It's because it marks the beginning of post-war American bonsai. It has become something of an icon. It has influenced literally thousands of people over the years.
 

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crust

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In your opinion, what is the greatest American bonsai in existence?

One of my favorites has always been this bald cypress by Vaughn Banting. I like it because it is a distinctly American species, done in a flat-top style he helped pioneer, that truly captures the essence of a majestic, full-grown swamp cypress.

That tree use to be better.
 

rockm

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There are several V. Banting flattops out there. Here's the specimen at the National Arb--
 

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crust

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Most of us, me included, don't get to see all the great trees across America like many popular teachers do. They'd know.
With the development of more American shows and competitions the great trees should be revealed.
A different subject would be the iconic trees that rose from American bonsai. Trees from the old guard, which is a pretty long list. Of course Naka's Goshin but many others too such as the Robinsons 'Jackie Gleason Dancing tree', Lenz's 'Christian larch', Madisons beach trees, Bills flowering trees, An Oki California juniper and on and on.
 

crust

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There are several V. Banting flattops out there. Here's the specimen at the National Arb--

Much nicer!
 

rockm

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We here in the DMV (District, Md and Va.) are lucky in that we have the National Arb. collection in a stone's throw. That collection is literally brimming with "icons" from all the noted bonsaiists of past years, from Naka, Oki and Hirao, to Banting, Rosade, Yushimura, Tucker, Robinson--the list goes on. All those trees, and many more at that facility, have undoubtedly fueled interest nationwide for decades.

http://www.bonsai-nbf.org/site/north_american.html
 

Martin Sweeney

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Ross,

I have always been partial to Guy Guidry's "Twister" Bald Cypress, which I thought I heard may have been sold.

I think that the Greatest American Bonsai is in some one's private collection and that few of us are aware of it's existence. Conversely, it may very well be on the Bonsai Mirai web page and just needs a few years and a coming out party.

Regards,
Martin
 

PaulH

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I agree about Goshin, but this black pine is in the running. It was brought to the U.S in 1914 for the Pan American San Francisco exposition. It was cared for for many years by my first teacher, Mas Imazumi, and now resides in the Golden State Bonsai Federation collection at Lake Merritt in Oakland Ca.
MAS PINE.jpg
 

Ross

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Thanks for the replies. I didn't put any qualifiers in my question, because I wanted to see a range of opinions, but for me, the greatest American bonsai would have to be an American species. I would not really consider Goshin an American bonsai because it is comprised of Foemina junipers, and reportedly inspired by a forest near a Japanese shrine. Likewise, although it is an unbelievable tree, I wouldn't really consider Mas Imazumi's imported black pine as an essentially American bonsai either. Twister looks like an amazing tree, even better in person I'm sure because of it's scale. For me though there is something transcendent about Banting's flat-top style trees, maybe similar to what the Chinese see in scholar's rocks or Japanese in the Bunjin or Literati styles. What do you guys think?
 

Darth Tanuki

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This one is pretty cool.

Kind regards,
Darth
 

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Ross

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Most of us, me included, don't get to see all the great trees across America like many popular teachers do. They'd know.
With the development of more American shows and competitions the great trees should be revealed.
A different subject would be the iconic trees that rose from American bonsai. Trees from the old guard, which is a pretty long list. Of course Naka's Goshin but many others too such as the Robinsons 'Jackie Gleason Dancing tree', Lenz's 'Christian larch', Madisons beach trees, Bills flowering trees, An Oki California juniper and on and on.

If you had to pick one though, which one is your favorite Crust?

Here's Dan Robinson's 'Jackie Gleason Dancing'
http://www.bonsai-nbf.org/site/whats_new_archive4.html

Here's a bunch of Nick Lenz trees including 'Christian Larch'
http://www.artofbonsai.org/galleries/lenz.php
 

rockm

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"I would not really consider Goshin an American bonsai because it is comprised of Foemina junipers, and reportedly inspired by a forest near a Japanese shrine. "

To each his own. I think it is as American as any collected specimen. The trees aren't imported. They are from California nursery stock--just like the thousands of other nursery trees that American bonsaiists work on every year. The bonsaiist who made them is as American as they come too, born here as the son of immigrants.

The composition isn't really meant to represent what you'd see at a shrine in Japan. The trees in it have been said to represent Naka's grandchildren. I see it as a close knit family gathering, corralled by a doting grandfather.

I don't think an "American" bonsai has to be a native species or composed in an "American" way. American bonsai, like our country itself, is a mix of many different kinds of people with different points of view towards a common goal.
 

october

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I have always thought that Goshin was one of the greatest bonsai compostions.

I really like Darth Tanuki's posted tree as well.

Rob
 

crust

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If you had to pick one though, which one is your favorite Crust?

Here's Dan Robinson's 'Jackie Gleason Dancing'
http://www.bonsai-nbf.org/site/whats_new_archive4.html

Here's a bunch of Nick Lenz trees including 'Christian Larch'
http://www.artofbonsai.org/galleries/lenz.php

Personally I think the Jackie Gleason tree does not even come close to Dan's best work (as you can see in the latest book about him or at Elandan) It just happen to land at the arb---it has a story and it is BIG. As a bonsai I think its sucky but it is iconic.
Nicks Christian tree is immensely impressive in person and much more fine when it was under his cultivation..Personally I was most blown away by his two tree beanpole geriatric style composition (which I don't have a decent picture of but it was in his books). To be in the presence of that bonsai was amazing. Larch won't live down in DC but some of his work is at the Montreal botanic garden and at Weyerhaeuser amongst other places.
 

Darth Tanuki

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Wow, very nice. What kind of tree is that Darth? I love how unassuming the pot is, it just lets the tree do all the talking.

It is Juniperus occidentalis (Sierra juniper).

Kind regards,
Darth
 

monza

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I recalled seeing the GOSHIN in my Naka book and just looked at it again, amazing how similar it looks now to the photo taken in '73. I'm sure seeing it in person in '73 and seeing it today it would look different in the details.
Anyone see it in '73 and see it recently??

Sorry for side tracking the original post.
 

Ross

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"I would not really consider Goshin an American bonsai because it is comprised of Foemina junipers, and reportedly inspired by a forest near a Japanese shrine. "

To each his own. I think it is as American as any collected specimen. The trees aren't imported. They are from California nursery stock--just like the thousands of other nursery trees that American bonsaiists work on every year. The bonsaiist who made them is as American as they come too, born here as the son of immigrants.

The composition isn't really meant to represent what you'd see at a shrine in Japan. The trees in it have been said to represent Naka's grandchildren. I see it as a close knit family gathering, corralled by a doting grandfather.

I don't think an "American" bonsai has to be a native species or composed in an "American" way. American bonsai, like our country itself, is a mix of many different kinds of people with different points of view towards a common goal.

Oh I agree with you Rock, and I don't want to disparage any bonsai as being 'un-American' especially Goshin. I guess for me the pinnacle of American bonsai would be an American species of tree, inspired by and styled to represent a full-size tree in nature. I think to achieve that, the artist or artists don't need to be American per se, but would need exposure to and understanding of the species and how it exists naturally, so you would expect that an American would have an advantage. Obviously I never met him, but I see John Naka's bonsai as embodying a transition from Japan to America, reflecting the artist and his life's experiences which were both American and Japanese. Obviously Goshin is a perfectly acceptable answer to my question too. It is one of the best bonsai ever created by any standard.
 
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