On January 13, 2014, which happened to be a national holiday – “Coming of Age Day”, my wife and I went to the Yokohama Museum of Art to see the Shimomura Kanzan retrospective, commemorating the 140^th anniversary of his birth. Kanzan was born into a family of Noh performers but managed to master traditional painting techniques when he was still a youngster. Here is a quick rundown of his career.

In 1889, he became a student of the Tokyo Fine Arts School (the present Tokyo University of the Arts) where he met his lifelong mentor, Okakura Tenshin (1863 – 1913) as well as an immortal class mate, Yokoyama Taikan (1868 – 1958). From 1903 to 1906, Kanzan studied western art in England (At the exhibition, I was astonished to see the superb replicas of Raffaello Santi’s works that Kanzan made). So, incorporating western art, he managed to establish his own style; thus becoming a master artist.  

He died at the age of 57 in Yokohama.

        Scenes from the "Tale of Heike", which was written in the 13th Century.

Here are some more works by Kanzan

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