Kitty’s String of Pearl Series

One of the pieces I made for my solo show Deviate in 2023 was ‘For Masako Katsura’. In the exhibition I explored the lives and contribution of twelve noteworthy people of marginalised genders.

Image by Image Up Club

The following is a small bio I wrote for the exhibition, explaining what the life and work that inspired the piece above.

1913 – 1995

Masako Katsura is known as ‘the First Lady of Billiards’ as she was the first woman to compete in an international billiards tournament.

Katsura was born in Tokyo, and at age 12 she went to live with her older sister and her husband after her parents died. Her brother in law owned a billiards parlor, so Katsura spent two years playing the game daily and at age 14 became a billiards attendant. She began competing against the men who would come into the parlor and soundly beat them all. At 15 she won the women’s championship straight rail tournament in Japan, even inspiring her two younger sisters to earn the same title years later.

Before the outbreak of World War II Katsura had met Kinrey Matsuyama, a Japanese billiards champion who helped train Katsura to become the only female professional player in Japan.

After the war Katsura met a USA Army master sergeant who had been interested in Katsura after watching her play a billiard exhibition, and asked her to give him lessons. They soon fell in love and married in 1950 whilst she simultaneously set billiards records and placed second in Japan, twice.

In 1951 Katsura’s husband was transferred back to San Francisco. Katsura spoke little English and after the War and Pearl Harbour bombing, Japanese people were largely unwelcome in the USA.

Despite this ill-feeling Katsura was invited to play at the 1952 World Three-Cushion Billiards and was the first woman to compete for any world billiards title. Much was made of Katsura appearance in the media remarking at her small and doll-like appearance and grace in a sport that had mostly been played by men. While Katsura only took out second place, this was a huge achievement and launched an exhibition tour with 8-time world champion Welker Cochran. While the organizers of the tour exaggerated Katsura’s physical features and even had Katsura wear a tight-fitting kimono during the exhibition Katsura performed well and was a huge sensation to the public. She continued to play exhibition matches and appeared on American television, but after the 1961 World Championship seemed to disappear off the billiards circuit. Much of this was attributed to the death of Matsuyama, Katsura’s first mentor.

The piece came to be quite naturally as can sometimes be rare in the making journey. As I was playing with circular motifs in groups of three (billiards is a three ball game) I found myself drawn to the endless combinations that could be formed.

Masako Katsura was nicknamed Kitty and she was often pictured wearing a pearl necklace. In Japan, where she was born, pearls are often seen as a symbol of purity and also grief. Her life, while not as dramatic or swashbuckling as the pirates and spies I had previously sought to celebrate in this exhibition I found her solitude and the untimely deaths that occured in her life to be particularly poignant and a clear example of personal resilience.

To further explore this resilience, the rule of three and the symbolic and aesthetic beauty of pearls a new series was born. Kitty’s String of Pearls is a series of necklaces that are stylistically similar but is unique from piece to piece. Each pendant and combination of pearls will be as unique as the pearls themselves. As of today 13 have been made and we will see where it ends!