[Bob Hudson]

This painting has intrigued me for several months. It's about 18x24 inches (or larger) and hanging on the wall at a local antique/estate liquidation shop. It is - obviously - a Marine and he appears to be a Warrant Officer, although the colors on the insignia seem to be reversed.


The interesting part is the signature:

MM
TIENTSIN
1947

So who was this China Marine and who painted him? The signature makes me think it was done in China.

[Forum Support]

Well, went to an estate sale this morning and found a cousin to the above portrait. This newest one is CWO William J Tade and we have more about him here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...mp;gopid=260948

The signatures on the paintings are of course the same artist:

[teufelhunde.ret]

One would tend to think it was a Marine artist - another possibility is a wife or dependent???

[Forum Support]

One would tend to think it was a Marine artist - another possibility is a wife or dependent???

There is some very light pencil writing on the back of the canvas stretcher which I am still trying to decipher.

[Dirk]

By the style and colors I am thinking done by a western trained artist, not a local. Very few dependents over there post war so most likely either a fellow Marine or a European living in North China. Many Europeans freed from Japanese camps post war returned for a few years to try and resume their old-prewar lives in China. Lots of Russians who couldn't go back to Russia where still living in that city and it could be who "MM" is. Painting is a more noble profession then many others had to engage in during those first few years.

This post has been edited by Dirk: Jan 16 2009, 03:01 PM

[Forum Support]

By the style and colors I am thinking done by a western trained artist, not a local. Very few dependents over there post war so most likely either a fellow Marine or a European living in North China. Many Europeans freed from Japanese camps post war returned for a few years to try and resume their old-prewar lives in China. Lots of Russians who couldn't go back to Russia where still living in that city and it could be who "MM" is. Painting is a more noble profession then many others had to engage in during those first few years.

I have the artist, I believe. On the back of the painting was this (this is reduced in size - I used larger version on my computer to decipher it):



Most of that is easy to figure out:

Pagoda and Mountain
Hang Chow
Mary A..........

(My guess is that, as sometimes do, she re-used a canvas on which she had prviously painted something, in this case something from the Hang Chow

That last word though through me for a loop but after lots of analyis I came up with MULLIKIN. I ran some searches then for "Mary A Mullikin" and found that name listed in the Bibliography for the textbook

"McGRAW-HILL SERIES IN GEOGRAPHY

Land of the 500 Million
A GEOGRAPHY OF CHINA"

And here she is listed as apparently the author of a 1945 National Geographic article about China:

"MARY A. MULLIKIN:
Tai Shan, Sacred Mountain of the East, National
Geographic Magazine, LXXXVII (1945), 699-
718"

Another reference:

"The Nine Sacred Mountains of China: an illustrated record of pilgrimages made in the years 1935-1936, Mary Augusta Millikin and Anna Mary Hotchkis, Vetch & Lee Ltd, Hong Kong, 1973. "

and another one that also shows she was in China even before WWII:

"....Wrote Buddhist Sculptures at the Yen Kang Caves with Mary Mullikin, 1935" (refers to her co-authorship with Annan Mary Hotchkis who left China in 1937).

Mary Augusta Mullikin first came to China in the 1920's and gained some acclaim as an artist and observer of China.

This is from 1925:

"Under the auspices of the Peking Institute of Fine Arts, Misses Mary Augusta Mullikin and Florence E. Starr held an exhibition of their paintings at the Institute's headquarters from December 1st to 5th. According to The Peking Leader, most of Miss Mullikin's pictures represented "work in and about Peking and in Tsinanfu, Shantung."

She was born in 1874 so when she painted the portraits of these two Marines she was about 72 years old and probably looked much as she did when she sat for this portrait:



I found her passport applications which show she first went to China when she arrived in Tientsin in April 1920 (she lost her first passport and applied for a new one in 1923). Here she is in 1923:



The passport application shows she lived in Paris and London in 1898-1900, probably to study art, which was her stated occupation (she also studied under James Whistler, best known for "Whistler's Mother."

I have found that her original China landscapes sell for about $2,500-3,000 and that her works have been featured in major galleries over the years.

Okay, you're wondering, how did this esteemed artist end up painting portraits of Marines in post-war China?

Well, it appears she may have spent the war in China. She returned to the US in June 1947 and the ship's manifest says that her US Passport was issued in Teintsin, China on Dec. 13, 1945! Well, about the only way that would happen is if you were in China with an expired passport from the pre-war years. Passports at the time were numbered by the office that issued them - notice hers is No. 1 at the US counsel in Tientsin:



So, does this explain why a 72-year-old fine artist, published at least twice in National Geographic and author/illustrator of books, came to be painting portraits of US Marines: she needed the income after spending the war in China?

I have found no references to a biography of her and in fact what we have in this post is now the most complete reference to her on the web, but we may never know the real story. She's certainly not a military person (although she was a member of Daughters of the American Revolution) but she turned out some compelling portraits of real Marines and I suspect there are more of them out there with her MM signature.

She died in 1964 at age 90.

[teufelhunde.ret]

Great detective work and certainly a fascinating story. Dirk, does the last name ring any bells - I still suspect there was some relationship to a Marine stationed there, perhaps diplomat, or industrialist?

[Dirk]

Darrell: Prior to WWII there were a number of American communities in China, Tientsin being just one location. Many Americans left just prior to the war and of those that remained they either went inland or were interned by the Japanese. What this woman's story was I don't know but I have access to social registrars that have information on all American living in Tientsin prior to the war and other locations. At some point I'll check it. Although it is possible she was married to a diplomat or a businessman, it is even more likely she may have been part of a crowd of artists, poets, writers and explorers who came to China in the 1920's and 30s. Many would hover around established western communities, but others would strike out to live alone in the real China...an artist would be an ideal candidate for that life style.

[teufelhunde.ret]

Darrell: Prior to WWII there were a number of American communities in China, Tientsin being just one location. Many Americans left just prior to the war and of those that remained they either went inland or were interned by the Japanese. What this woman's story was I don't know but I have access to social registrars that have information on all American living in Tientsin prior to the war and other locations. At some point I'll check it. Although it is possible she was married to a diplomat or a businessman, it is even more likely she may have been part of a crowd of artists, poets, writers and explorers who came to China in the 1920's and 30s. Many would hover around established western communities, but others would strike out to live alone in the real China...an artist would be an ideal candidate for that life style.

She was indeed a very brave woman of the period. While poking around for more clues found out she was also published in National Geographic Magazine in March 1938: http://cgi.ebay.com/National-Geographic-Ma...Q2em118Q2el1247 and the National Geographic Magazine of June 1945 http://cgi.ebay.com/National-Geographic-Ma...Q2em118Q2el1247

[Forum Support]

It appears her connection to China came through Methodist missionaries, based on what was in her passport applications. In the 1920 applications she wrote:



and her 1923 application had as a witness:



Well that turns out to be the renowned Hiram Harrison Lowry, who died in China in 1924.



and the "EK Lowry" appears to be "Edward K. Lowry" and based on what Mary wrote in the passport application it sounds like EK Lowry was married to her sister - she said the passport was for “Accompanying mother to the home of her daughter - Mrs. E.K. Lowry, Tientsin”

Here's a couple of old New York Times clips about Lowry:

This from 1900:



And this from an 1894 article about the Chinese-Japanese War:




And I just found this confirming that Mr Edward Lowry was the sister of Mary Mullikin:



So Mary Augusta Mullikin came to China in 1920 to visit a sister who was part of the missionary and diplomatic communities and it seems she decided to stay there as an artist. The question that remains is, was she interned in China during WWII?

What amazed me in researching her is to learn about those American Methodist missionaries who spent 40, 50 or more years in China (Hiram Lowry spent 57 years there).

Which brings up a question of the presence of US Marines in China: how much influence did the missionaries have in bringing Marines to China and keeping them there? It's clear that the missionaries got a lot of press in the New York Times and were a prime source for news about the China-Japan war and they even briefed US politicians on the situation there.

I have to say that after learning all of this background, I see a lot more in that panting than I did yesterday morning when I first spotted it hanging on a bedroom wall in the former home of CWO William Tade: it really does link 80+ years of US presence in China and has touches the American military, artistic, missionary and diplomatic communities there.

The first Mullikin Marine painting I found is now owned by another forum member and I ID'ed that but can't remember his name now. As I said, there are sure to be more than these two so now if someone stumbles across a portrait of a Marine with the MM signature you can at least narrow it down to post-WWII China.

[Forum Support]

The Marine in the service uniform is certainly deserving of attention: he's CWO William Tade and before I found his portrait at the estate sale, I found his dogtags hanging above what had been his workbench in the garage:



The name sounded kind of familiar so I did a google search on my Palm Treo phone and up came this link, to our forum!

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=30695

Turns out that forum member larrystonebooks had posted an Icelandic patch from Tade back in November and I had found some bio information and posted it there:

"William J Tade enlisted in the reserves 16 Feb 1932 and was discharged 3 Dec 1934 to enlist in the regular Marines. He then spent most of his enlistment at sea, serving in detachments on the Arizona at various times from 1935 to 38, along with tours of duty aboard the Argonne and Tuscaloosa. He became an acting sergeant, but was bumped back to corporal when had a change of assignment in mid-1938. Then he was discharged from the regular Marines as a Corporal on 3 Dec 1938, given a GCM, and then enlisted in the reserves again and given the permanent rank of Sgt. If he went to China it would have been in 1941, but the available Muster Rolls only go through Dec. 1940.

He was born 27 Apr 1912 in Decatur, Macon, IL and died 26 Dec 1975. "

Larry had written that Tade was in China before the war (that was probably based on info from the family) but as I noted he did not show up in China in the Muster Rolls. We now know that he was in China post-war. Larry also noted that he "was in 2ndMarDiv in WW2, and wound up getting a Purple Heart in Korea." Larry sold Tade's Iceland scrapbook and you can see some pictures here: http://www.larrystonebooks.com/tadeice.html - and his Purple Heart medal group http://www.larrystonebooks.com/tademed7.jpg plus discharge papers, etc. :http://www.larrystonebooks.com/tademed4.jpg

[ADMIN]

What an amazing story!!!!

[Forum Support]

She was indeed a very brave woman of the period. While poking around for more clues found out she was also published in National Geographic Magazine in March 1938:

Thanks - I just bought those.

[Dirk]

"Which brings up a question of the presence of US Marines in China: how much influence did the missionaries have in bringing Marines to China and keeping them there?"

I think the answer will probably be very little, in that the Marines were sent to China to protect American lives and property in the cities in which they were garrisoned. If missionaries were operating in those cities (and they were) the Marines would have to include them in their defensive plans (Boxer period, 1911-12 and warlord period, 32 and 37). On several occasions the Marines did garrison their compounds, within or near Peking. But they really focused on the cities and not much farther beyond the city walls.

Since missionaries were spread out all over China, it was the Navy who tended to get the call to go upriver and bring them in....I recently came across in the National Archives a Sand Pebbles like event in 1911 that followed closely with that type of mission...a small US gunboat was ordered to go off the Yangtze onto a lake to save missionaries...only sailors on board that ship

Afloat, Marines mainly served on larger ships operating long the coast and up as far as Hankow. In addition they were on several larger gunboats through the whole pre-war period....from one of these larger gunboats, they landed at Wushan on day one of the Chinese Revolution to bring businessmen and missionaries to safety. Around 1927 they were placed on a number of craft on the Yangtze during the Nationalist campaign (to protect commerce) but did not remain long when the fighting shifted elsewhere.

Also it is interesting to note, Marines and Missionaries did not get along and tried to avoid each other were possible...I've read many accounts or have letters from marines who were loath to say anything kind about that group. Of course there were exceptions, I've got a grouping from a Marine who did associate with missionaries while in Shanghai and a Pvt Curtis published a book about leaving the Corps and joining the missionaries while in China. But these are rare examples.

From the records I've examined it was the navy that had to worry about the 1-2 missionary family stations while the Marines seems were restricted to protecting larger commercial institutions and large groups of Americans. If you were a missionary deep in China and off the river you were out of luck.

This post has been edited by Dirk: Jan 17 2009, 09:55 AM

[Forum Support]

This is the type of painting Mary A Mullikin is best known for:

[teufelhunde.ret]

Thanks - I just bought those.

I'm sure they will help fill in some voids - and perhaps there may be more of her work in the National Geographic series?

[Rustykamel]

Hi, A web site featuring a 1933 article published in Mordern Mechanix titled Fighting Chinese Pirates with U.S. Marines can be found here:

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/05/...hinese-pirates/

The only Marines are in the title, but author does suggest a reason why the Yangtze gunboats and sailors were needed. Mentioned is an incident about the USS Palos saving a town from pirates.

Best wishes, Jim

[Forum Support]

"Which brings up a question of the presence of US Marines in China: how much influence did the missionaries have in bringing Marines to China and keeping them there?"

I think the answer will probably be very little, in that the Marines were sent to China to protect American lives and property in the cities in which they were garrisoned. If missionaries were operating in those cities (and they were) the Marines would have to include them in their defensive plans (Boxer period, 1911-12 and warlord period, 32 and 37). On several occasions the Marines did garrison their compounds, within or near Peking. But they really focused on the cities and not much farther beyond the city walls.

I think the China missionaries may have had more influence in Washington than in Peking The New York Times regularly reported on the missionaries and the missions home office seemed to have kept up the drum beat for them in the US. We know that Mary Mullikin's brother-in-law interuppted his missionary duties to accept an appointment as Second Secretary of the US Legation in Peking. He also interpreted for General Chaffee:

"Mr. Edward Lowry, the youngest son of the Eev.
H. H. Lowry, D.D., the late superintendent of the
Methodist Episcopal Mission in North China, had acted
as interpreter to. General Chaflfee on the march. He
had tried to reach Peking with Admiral Seymour and
Captain McCalla, but, like them, had had to, return to
Tientsin. Neither of these two was present when
Peking was reached, but Mr. Lowry was there. The
secret of his persistence lay in the fact that his dear wife
had suffered the siege, and this had made him desperate.
Mr. Lowry had marched, accompanied by Mr. Lewis of
the Soldiers' Christian Association, with the U.S. 14th
Infantry, and arrived at the Tung-pien Gate in time to
see the wall scaled ; but the heavy fire from the Manchu
city wall hindered their progress, the more so that there
was so little shelter to be had. At last the forward
move was made, along the side of the moat to the Ha-ta
Gate, and thence to the water-gate, which they entered
at five o'clock, employing the same method as ourselves,
but three and a half hours afterwards. Several of their
men had been hit, and they had some sharp fighting. "

The book Letters from China by Sarah Pike Conger reported on what was happening with Catherine Mullikin Lowry while her husband was with General Chaffee's Relief Expedition :



Mrs. Lowry's diary is also quoted in other books about the "rebellion" such as "Peking 1900." And she wrote an magazine article to, which appeared in the States:

Perhaps the most timely article in Mc-
Clures Magazine for November, is A
Woman's Diary of the Siege of Pekin, by
Mrs. E. K. Lowry, one of the besieged
missionaries in the legation last summer.

Her father in law Hiram H Lowry was president of Peking University and had headed the Methodist Northern China Mission while serving in Peking since 1869.

So when Mary Augusta Mullikin arrived in China in 1920 it was visit an extended family that was prominent in Peking and Tientsin. I can't find it now but last night I ran across a reference to a US Senator getting a briefing on China from Edward K Lowry.

I just now found something that adds credence to my belief that Mary Mullikin spent the war in China. He brother-in-law was a POW and died in captivity:

"World War II Prisoners of War, 1941-1946
about Edward K Lowry
Name: Edward K Lowry
Race: White

Report Date: 14 Sep 1943
Latest Report Date: Oct 1943

Grade: Civilian
Service Branch: Civilian
Area Served: Asiatic Theatre: China
Detaining Country: Japan
Camp: Tientsien Area China 39-117
Status: Died as Prisoner of War, Not Above Cases "

Attached image(s)

 

[Forum Support]

Okay one more thing about the artist: she was a POW.

After finding the info about her brother in law, I ran a check of the POW records for her, but found nothing. The I used the ancestry.com feature that searches for names that sound similar and sure enough her's was mispelled:


World War II Prisoners of War, 1941-1946
about Mary A Mulliken
Name: Mary A Mulliken

Report Date: 14 Feb 1944
Latest Report Date: 26 Feb 1946

Grade: Civilian
Service Branch: Civilian
Area Served: Asiatic Theatre: China
Detaining Country: Japan
Camp: Tientsien Area China 39-117
Status: Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated

[Forum Support]

I wanted to show Mary's China landscapes side-by-side with the painting of CWO Tade so you can see the similarity:



As I mentioned above, she studied under the famous painter James Whistler and you can see some of his influence in her landscapes at least and maybe even in the background of the CWO Tade painting. Wonder if Tade knew his portrait shared some roots with "Whistler's Mother?"
These are all by Whistler: