Kuroda Seiki

Kuroda Seiki was a Japanese painter and teacher who was known as the "father of Western-style painting" in Japan. He was born in Kagoshima, as the son of a samurai of the Shimazu clan. He was adopted by his uncle, Kuroda Kiyotsuna, who was a viscount and a high-ranking official in the Meiji government. Kuroda went to France in 1884 to study law, but he was persuaded by other Japanese artists to pursue painting instead. He studied under Raphael Collin, a French painter who taught him the academic style and the impressionist technique of plein-air painting. Kuroda returned to Japan in 1893 and brought with him the new ideas and methods of Western art. He founded the Hakubakai, a group of Western-style painters, and the Tenshin Dojo, a school of Western painting. He also became a professor at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and the director of the Imperial Art Academy. He was influential in establishing the Bunten, an official art exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Kuroda's paintings are characterized by his use of light, color, and composition. He painted various subjects, such as landscapes, portraits, nudes, and historical scenes. Some of his famous works include "Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment", "Lakeside", and "Morning Toilette". Kuroda died in 1924 at the age of 57. He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government after his death.