George Lazarnick, netsuke collector, dead at 90

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

George Lazarnick, an author and photographer whose work covered such subjects as rare Japanese sculptures, portraits of Eleanor Roosevelt and Campbell's soup labels, died March 12 of Parkinson's disease. He was 90.

A native New Yorker, Lazarnick moved to Hawai'i in 1970. He lived in Waikiki.

He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in business in 1935 and embarked on a trip around the globe. Lazarnick sailed from Manhattan to China, then traveled overland through India and Pakistan.

He spent most of his career in Manhattan, where he maintained a photo studio and catered to high-end clients such as The Washington Post and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

It was in Honolulu that Lazarnick cultivated his passion for the Japanese art form of netsuke, a form of miniature sculpture that developed in Japan over a period of more than 300 years, according to the International Netsuke Society.

He published two books of his photographs and writings on the subject. His specialty was capturing netsuke artists' signatures, often hard to find on the minute sculptures.

Lazarnick was a prominent netsuke collector whose collection was sold to the Eskenazi gallery in London in 1991.

"He loved life and everything in it," said Verna Lazarnick, his wife of 35 years. "He loved food, he loved wine, he loved writing, but collecting was his big love in life."

Lazarnick is survived by his wife and their two sons, Chris and Tony.

Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.