Early 20th century

Landscape with Fisherman

Japanese, 1864 - 1942

Born in Kyoto, Takeuchi Seihö began his study of painting with the Shijö school artist Köno Bairei. He quickly established himself as a rising star on the artistic stage, and took a teaching post at the Kyoto City University of Arts. In 1900 he spent three months traveling through Europe, where he first saw paintings by such artists as J.M.W. Turner and Camille Corot, who were to be lasting influences on his work. Seihö probably painted this lyrical scene of a fisherman and his boat in the late 1930s. It is most reminiscent of the "splashed ink" (haboku) style, a difficult technique to control, especially when executed on silk, as the artist has done here.