Yamamoto Hosui · 1850–1906
Yamamoto Hosui
Yamamoto Hosui was a Meiji-period Western-style painter from Gifu. He studied in Paris and, after returning, ran a painting school and trained younger artists. A pioneer of Western painting in Japan, his works include Nude and Urashima.
Yamamoto Hosui was born in 1850 (Kaei 3) in Akechi Village in Mino Province (now Ena, Gifu Prefecture), the eldest son of a family that farmed and raised silkworms. At fifteen he was inspired by the Hokusai Manga and resolved to become a painter, studying Nanga painting in Kyoto at first. Around 1872 he went to Yokohama, where he admired Yokohama-e prints, entered the circle of Goseda Horyu, and turned to Western-style painting.
In 1876 he was taught by Fontanesi at the Technical Fine Arts School, and in 1878 he went to France as an employee of the secretariat of the Paris World's Fair. In Paris he learned painting technique from Gérôme, and he is also known for strongly urging Kuroda Seiki, who later became a Western-style painter, to become an artist.
After returning in 1887 he opened a painting school, the Seikokan, and taught Fujishima Takeji and Kita Renzo, among others. In 1889 he joined in founding the Meiji Fine Arts Society, and in 1896 he left that society and also took part in the Hakubakai. In his last years he also made stage backdrops, and he died in 1906 at the age of 56.
