With Alice at Joan B Mirviss LTD, New York, 2021.
With wife Alice and artist Fujikasa Satoko and donated artwork, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2015.
Hosting a dinner for artist Ogawa Machiko, New York, 2009.
With Robert Poster and Kurt Gitter, 2010.
Speaking at a party, 2012.
With artist Yagi Akira (seated) and wife Sakiyo, Joan Mirviss and Bob Levine and Sylvie (in lap), 2008.
With artist Kishi Eiko and Joan Mirviss, IAAF, 2008.
With Alice and artist Mishima Kimiyo and curator Cora Rosevear, MOMA New York, 2011.
With Joan Mirviss at the opening of "Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics and Bamboo Art from the Stanley and Mary Ann Snider Collection," MFA, Boston, 2013.
Halsey North (1947-2022)
It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved friend Halsey North after a long illness. He was a groundbreaking art collector, influential champion of both the visual and performing arts, dedicated museum patron, and through those roles, he touched many lives with his generous spirit, intelligence, warm presence and boundless enthusiasm.
With his wife and professional partner, Alice, he was a pioneering collector of Japanese ceramics who was committed to introducing new audiences to this art form. Together they produced and organized four ceramics-focused tours to Japan on behalf of New York’s Japan Society. Their own significant collection of Japanese clay masterworks was featured in the exhibition Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century, held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Japan Society, New York. Halsey's tireless advocacy extended to his role as a museum patron, and a major portion of the Norths' collection has been donated to leading American museums, primarily The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which also houses the database, archives, and library relating to their collection.
He and Alice co-authored two books on Japanese ceramics, Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century (2005), which accompanied the exhibition, and the newly released book written over a span of twenty years with Louise Allison Cort, Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists (2022). This unique, insightful, and deeply personal view on the world of Japanese clay art and the men and women who create it will remain a lasting legacy of their pioneering contributions to this field.
Halsey’s “day job” was with The North Group through which he and Alice provided strategic and fundraising advice to community arts organizations, predominantly in the performing arts. In this role, he and Alice assisted these organizations in designing campaigns that raised many hundreds of millions of dollars. Their efforts contributed to the restoration and reinforcement of numerous performing arts centers and community arts organizations. Over the years, Halsey was honored with many awards highlighting his outstanding service in the area of the performing arts, for his creative thinking and, most especially, his leadership.
Through his collecting and arts management, Halsey's impact was immediate, far-ranging and extraordinary. But he will also always be remembered by many, alongside Alice, for generously hosting countless artist's dinners at their New York apartment, donning a red apron and proffering his delicious and irresistible culinary creations to our Japanese guests and fellow clay devotees. His enthusiastic support of the field of contemporary Japanese ceramics has and will continue to influence many others around the world. He will be dearly missed.
