Background
Hishida Shunso was born on September 21, 1874 in Iida, Japan.
菱田 春草
Hishida Shunso was born on September 21, 1874 in Iida, Japan.
Shunsō moved to Tokyo to study under Kanō school artist Yuki Masaaki (1834-1904) in 1889. The following year, he enrolled at the Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō (the forerunner of the Tokyo University of the Arts). Shunsō was one year junior to his colleagues Yokoyama Taikan and Shimomura Kanzan; his teacher was Hashimoto Gahō.
In 1898 he joined the Japan Fine Arts Academy, where he and Taikan gradually mastered the art of reconciling traditional Japanese line drawing with a Western Impressionistic style.
After his graduation, Shunsō was commissioned by the Imperial Household Museum (now the Tokyo National Museum) to copy important religious paintings at Buddhist temples in Kyoto and Nara, and he also became a teacher at the Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō (now the Tokyo University of the Arts). In 1898, he joined Okakura Tenshin in establishing the Nihon Bijutsuin. From 1903-1905, he traveled extensively overseas, holding exhibitions of his works in India, the United States and in Europe.
After his return to Japan, Shunsō successfully competed in many national exhibitions in Japan, including the government-sponsored Bunten.
Shunsō's style was revolutionary in that his new method replaced line drawings that were characteristic of traditional Japanese paintings. But his style was criticized, thus Hishida Shunsō decided to integrate his style with traditional line drawings. The result was a new genre Nihonga. Bright examples of his works in that style was "Black cat" and "Cat and plum blossoms".
In his final years, Shunsō concurrently suffered from renal and kidney disease. Driven by fear of blindness, Shunsō painted frantically whenever his illness entered a state of remission. Hishida Shunsō died on September 21, 1874 in Iida, Japan.
Hishida Shunsō became a founding member of the Nihon Bijutsuin in 1898.