Kuroda Seiki
A Western-style painter from Kagoshima. He brought to Japan the bright plein-air expression he learned in France and trained many painters at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. "Lakeside" at the Tokyo National Museum is an Important Cultural Property.
Kuroda Seiki was born in 1866 (Keio 2) in Kagoshima into a Satsuma domain samurai family, and was later adopted by his uncle Kuroda Kiyotsuna and raised in Tokyo. In 1884 (Meiji 17) he went to France to study law but there decided to become a painter and studied under Raphael Collin. He mastered a bright-toned method of painting figures in outdoor light. In 1891 (Meiji 24) his "Reading" was accepted at the Salon in France.
After he returned in 1893 (Meiji 26), his style with bright colors, set against the dark tones of earlier Western-style painting in Japan, spread and was called the "new school." In 1896 (Meiji 29) he founded the art group Hakubakai and became head of the newly established Western painting department at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Many later Western-style painters, including Kishida Ryusei, Wada Sanzo, and Nakamura Tsune, studied at Kuroda's institute or school. In his last years he also served as president of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts.
"Lakeside" (1897, Meiji 30) shows a woman in a yukata cooling off by Lake Ashinoko in Hakone. The model was Teruko, who later became his wife, and the pale lake surface and mountain ranges convey the quiet air of summer. He died in 1924 (Taisho 13), and by his will part of his estate was devoted to promoting art. His works are presented at the Kuroda Memorial Hall in Ueno, Tokyo.
