James Daulton is an American art collector, trial lawyer, music entrepreneur, exploration philanthropist, and expert and lecturer on the history of art and architecture. Daulton rose to fame representing the nation of Myanmar in the groundbreaking 1994 legal case, United States v. Richard Diran and The Union of Myanmar, successfully recovering a 1,000-year-old Buddha statue that had been stolen in 1988 from a temple in Myanmar's ancient capital, Bagan, a treasure now on display in the National Museum in Yangon. This was the first cultural property claim litigated by a Southeast Asian nation in the United States. Daulton has also gained recognition as a result of the Daulton Collection–his vast art collection which includes one of the world's largest private collections of German Symbolist art and, in particular, the world's largest collection of works by a number of individual artists, such as the eccentric monkey painter Gabriel von Max, the Austrian symbolist Rudolf Jettmar, and the proto-hippie Fidus. Among the Daulton Collection's highlights are masterpieces of symbolist portraiture, including Karl Gussow's Portrait of the Novelist Ossip Schubin, Rudolf Jettmar's Self-Portrait of the Young Artist, and Oskar Zwintscher's The Woman in Hamster . In addition, Daulton is well known as an expert on non-western art, architecture, and religion, acclaimed for his many lectures on those subjects for institutions such as National Geographic, The American Museum of Natural History, and The Art Institute of Chicago. He is also well known for his activity in exploration philanthropy, funding research expeditions around the globe, from archaeological digs in the Peruvian Andes to language documentation projects on remote atolls in Micronesia. And as an art and entertainment lawyer in the 1990s, Daulton developed the major-label rock band Kill Hannah, among other recording artists.
Education
Daulton received his B.S., with honors, from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978 and his J.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1981. Daulton later attended graduate school at Northern Illinois University where he studied the history of Southeast Asian art under the supervision of Professor Richard Cooler, then Director of the Center for Burma studies, and, having been awarded a FLAS fellowship, studied the Burmese language under the supervision of Professor Saya U Saw Tun. During his time at NIU, Daulton undertook fieldwork in Myanmar and India, researching, documenting, and publishing, in the Journal of Burma Studies, the story of the Relics of Sariputta and Moggallana, the Buddha's two chief disciples, at the Kaba Aye Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar.
Legal Case Recovering Stolen Buddha
In 1991, an ancient Buddha statue from a Burmese temple was identified in a Sotheby's auction catalog by an NIU professor specializing in Burmese art, Dr. Richard Cooler. After the FBI tried unsuccessfully for 3 years to prove that the statue was stolen, they enlisted Dr. Cooler to help demonstrate the origins of the statue. Cooler contacted his former student, Daulton, both a specialist in Burmese art and a litigator, to represent Myanmar in the case. Daulton and Cooler were able to demonstrate that the statue, which had been broken off at the legs, matched up with the lower third of the statue that still stood in the temple in Myanmar. The national treasure was returned with great gratitude from the Burmese government. The case was highly publicized, a reflection of growing interest in the return of stolen ancient cultural properties to their countries of origin.
The Daulton Collection
The Daulton Collection is an eclectic collection of art and artifacts from all over the world. The current acquisitional focus of the collection is symbolist art, of which the collection contains several notable works including "Hexenwald" by Julie Wolfthorn, as well as the largest collection of Gabriel von Max works in the world. Pieces from the collection are frequently featured in exhibitions in Europe and the US. A 2011 exhibition at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Washington entitled Gabriel von Max: Be-tailed Cousins and Phantasms of the Soul featured the Daulton Collection's many works by the artist.
Exploration Philanthropy
With his partner, software executive Roz Ho, Daulton has funded research expeditions around the globe, particularly in the fields of archaeology and linguistics. Expeditions funded by Daulton include the following:
July 2013, Micronesian Linguistics Expedition: expedition to document endangered languages on remote islands in Micronesia, including Mwoakilloa Atoll. This expedition was organized by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. Daulton was also a member of the expedition team as an ethnographic interviewer and photographer.
July-August 2016, Wiracochan Archeological expedition: expedition to excavate, survey, and map Inca and pre-Inca sites on a mountain called Wiracochan in the Vilcabamba mountain range of the Peruvian Andes.
November 2017, Arunachal Pradesh Linguistics Expedition: expedition to document endangered languages in the remote northwest area of Arunachal Pradesh State, India, in particular the Sartang language of West Kameng district. Daulton was also a member of the expedition team as an ethnographer and photographer.
July 2018, Pico Cão Grande Climbing Expedition: expedition to make the first American free climb of Pico Cão Grande, a 1,200-foot volcanic spire arising from the rainforest on Sao Tome off of the equatorial coast of west Africa.
Daulton and his partner Roz Ho, as executive producers, also funded short documentary films arising out of the Wiracochan and Pico Cão Grande expeditions: “Vilcabamba – A Sacred Valley,” 2018, directors Kyle McBurnie and Kevin Floerke; “Nubivagant 360 VR,” 2019, director Jacob Kupferman ; "Why We Climb," director Jacob Kupferman, ; and "Nubivigant," director Jacob Kupferman. Daulton and his partner Roz Ho have also provided financial support to paleoanthropological research and exploration undertaken by the Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, where Daulton is on the Research Council, and at the Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University. In addition, Daulton has provided significant funding to the Last Mile Technology Program, supplying indigenous groups with modern technology to document their traditional culture. Daulton is a member of the Explorers Club.
