Ficke, Arthur Davison, 1883-1945

Arthur Davison Ficke (1883-1945), American poet and collector of Japanese prints. His works include Sonnets of a Portrait Painter(1914), Chats on Japanese Prints (1915), Out of Silence and Other Poems (1924), and Mrs. Morton of Mexico, (1939), a novel.

Ficke (Harvard, A.B., 1904) served as Curator of Japanese Prints at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard.

American poet.

Arthur Davison Ficke (1883-1946) was a poet, author and collector of Japanese and Chinese art.

Iowa-born American poet.

Donald Evans (1884-1921) was an American journalist, publisher, and poet. Arthur Davison Ficke (1883-1945) was a lawyer and poet (A.B. Harvard 1904).

Arthur Davison Ficke was an American author and lawyer, best known as a poet. Born in Iowa, he travelled extensively, and was educated at Harvard and the University of Iowa Law School. He practiced law at his father's firm, and wrote poetry, publishing both individual poems and collections. He eventually published some fifteen volumes of verse, as well as several other books. Although technically sound, his poetry is generally considered to be uninspired. He was well-known as co-perpetrator of the Spectra hoax, lampooning contemporary poetry movements, for which he ironically created some of his most interesting poems.

American poet and lawyer.

Poet.

Donald Evans (1884-1921) was an American journalist, publisher, and poet. Arthur Davison Ficke (1883-1945) was a lawyer and poet (AB Harvard 1904).

Arthur Davison Ficke was born on November 10, 1883, in Davenport, Iowa, the son of Charles August Ficke, a lawyer, and Frances Davison Ficke. Ficke spent part of his childhood traveling in Europe and the Orient with his family. During these travels he developed a lifelong interest in Japanese art. After attending Davenport public schools, Ficke entered Harvard College in 1900, studying with such noted figures as William James, Kuno Franke, and George Santayana. He also met Witter Bynner, who became his lifelong friend.

Upon graduating from Harvard in 1904, Ficke returned to Iowa and entered the college of law at the Iowa State University. He also taught English at the University in 1906. In 1908 Ficke completed his law degree and entered his father's practice. On October 1, 1907, he married Evelyn Bethune Blunt in Springfield, Massachusetts. Their son Stanhope Blunt Ficke was born in 1912.

In 1907 Ficke published his first book, From the Isles . This book was followed by The Happy Princess and Other Poems (1907), The Earth Passion (1908), The Breaking of Bonds (1910), Twelve Japanese Painters (1913), Mr. Faust (1913), Sonnets of a Portrait Painter (1914, 1922), The Man on the Hilltop and Other Poems (1915), Chats on Japanese Prints (1915), and An April Elegy (1917). Chats on Japanese Prints was particularly well received and established Ficke as an authority on Japanese prints.

In 1916-17 Ficke made a trip to the Orient with his wife and Witter Bynner. In 1916 he and Bynner published Spectra under the pseudonyms Anne Knish and Emanuel Morgan. The poems were well received, although the authors had intended them as satires on modern poetry. The hoax was revealed in 1918.

Ficke volunteered for Army service in 1917, received a commission as a captain in the Ordnance Department, and was sent to France. While enroute to Paris in early 1918 he met the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, with whom he had been corresponding for six years. They remained friends throughout their lives.

Ficke served in France until July 1919. During his service he was reassigned from the Ordnance Department and was appointed a Judge Advocate of the General Courts-martial in Paris. While in France he continued to collect Japanese prints. Upon returning to the United States he decided to give up the practice of law and to dispose of his collection of Japanese prints in order to concentrate on writing. He made a second trip to the Orient in 1920. In 1922 Ficke accepted an appointment as curator of Japanese prints and lecturer in Japanese art at the Fogg Art Museum in Boston, but soon resigned for personal reasons.

Ficke was divorced from his wife in 1922. On December 8, 1923, he married Gladys Brown, a painter, and the couple settled in New York City. Ficke was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in 1925 and underwent treatment at Saranac Lake, New York. Following the treatment he went to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he remained until 1928. That year the Fickes purchased "Hardhack," their home in Hillsdale, New York. During the 1920s he published five books: Out of Silence and Other Poems (1924); Selected Poems (1926); Christ in China (1927); Mountain Against Mountain (1929); and The Road to the Mountain (1930), and contributed to art and literary magazines.

Ficke was forced to undergo further treatment for tuberculosis at sanatoria in Asheville, North Carolina, and Kerrville, Texas in 1930 and returned to Texas for more treatment in 1931. He recovered his health and was able to travel to Jamaica; Sarasota, Florida; and Chapala, Mexico during the years 1931-34. In the summer of 1935 he was suddenly taken ill at Hillsdale and underwent treatment at Pinecrest Manor in Southern Pines, North Carolina until 1936. Despite illness he was able to publish The Secret and Other Poems (1936); a novel, Mrs. Morton of Mexico (1939); and contributions to magazines. Ficke made trips to Barbados and Bermuda in 1937-38. In 1939 he returned to Hillsdale.

In 1940 he began to give lectures on Japanese art in New York, but the worsening international situation forced their cancellation in December 1941. Ficke produced a final book of poetry, Tumultuous Shore and Other Poems (1942) and began to outline a book on Chinese art. In 1943 Ficke was diagnosed with throat cancer and died in Hudson, New York on November 30, 1945.