HONOREE NOBUKO KAJITANI RETIRING FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART,

"HONOREE NOBUKO KAJITANI RETIRING
FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART,
NEW YORK
Nobuko Kajitani who built the textile conservation department from a repair shop into a world renown facility will be retiring from her position after thirty seven years (37 years!). From her initial training as a handweaving artist, Ms. Kajitani visited the United States in 1963 and studied textile conservation at the Textile Museum program then in place with Louisa Bellinger, Irene Emery, Col. Rice, and Joseph Columbus. Hired by the Metropolitan in 1966, Ms. Kajitani has trained several generations of textile conservators, through apprenticeships and internships and in teaching at the Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (1980-2002). She has acted as a consultant for numerous collections and expeditions world wide. This June, she was made an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Conservation. In addition to her laboratory work and teaching, she wrote several papers which are standard references for many textile conservators. These articles in English reflect her wide range of interests, responsibilities, and concerns. She also authored several articles in Japanese.

“A Man’s Caftan and Leggings from the North Caucasus of the Eighth to Tenth Century: A Conservator’s Report,” Metropolitan Museum Journal 36. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001, pp. 85 – 124.

“Conservation of “Courtiers in a Rose Garden”: a fifteenth century tapestry series,” Conservation research: studies of fifteenth-to nineteenth century tapestry Studies in the history of art. Monograph series II.42.Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art,
1993, pp. 79-103."