Background
Suiun was born in the town of Yagoecho, present-day Tatebayashi, in Gunma prefecture. His birth name was Komuro Teijiro.
(Sannomaru Shozokan, Imperial Household Collections.)
Sannomaru Shozokan, Imperial Household Collections.
1913
(Sannomaru Shozokan, Imperial Household Collections.)
Sannomaru Shozokan, Imperial Household Collections.
1919
Suiun was born in the town of Yagoecho, present-day Tatebayashi, in Gunma prefecture. His birth name was Komuro Teijiro.
From 1890 until 1898, Suiun Komuro studied in the atelier of painter Tazaki oōun in Ashikaga, Tochigi prefecture. After Suiun had been Soun's student for about three years, he was given the name Suiun.
In September 1899, Suiun moved to Tokyo, where he became active in the Tokyo Nanga Association and Japan Art Association. In 1905, his entry to exhibition of the Japan Art Association, Noble Character, Pure Moon (Kofu seigetsu) was awarded Second Prize, and he was made a committee member of the group. His 1907 entry Tall Trees and Rocky Mountains (Kyorin kanseki) was purchased by the Imperial Household Agency.
In May 1903, painter Noguchi Shohin adopted Suiun Komuro as heir and husband to her daughter, Noguchi Shokei, a painter of the bird-and-flowers genre. For a few years, Suiun exhibited paintings, including his entry "Solitary Duck in Spring Scenery" (Shuntei no kokamo) to the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904, under the name Noguchi Suiun. He reverted to using the name Komuro when the marriage was annulled in November 1906.
In 1907, Suiun was one of several artists to boycott the inaugural exhibition Bunten, the Ministry of Education Art Exhibition, over the appointment of a jury dominated by representatives associated with the Japan Art Institute (Nihon Bijutsuin). He served as Vice Chair of the Society of Orthodox Schools (Seiha Doshikai), a coalition of individuals and art societies united in opposition against the organization of Bunten.
From 1908 until 1943, with the exception of the 1937 event, Suiun submitted paintings to Bunten and its later incarnations Teiten and Shin-Bunten annually. His first four entries were each awarded Third Prize. His sixth entry, Winter Forest, Quiet Hermitage (Kanrin yukyo), was awarded Second Prize and Suiun was appointed as a judge for the exhibition.
In 1921, Suiun traveled to China and Korea for the first time. Following his return, he created a number of paintings based on his experiences including "Southern Water" and "Northern Land" (Nansen hokuba), exhibited at the third Teiten in 1921. Watching the "Tide at Haining" (Kainei kancho), exhibited at the fourth Teiten in 1922; and The Fallen Hairpin (Dakinsaizu), exhibited at the second exhibition of the Japan Nanga Institute (Nihon Nangain) in 1922.
On his return to Japan, Suiun was invited to join the Japan Nanga Institute (Nihon Nangain), a collective founded in Kyoto 1921 by a group of six artists. Suiun assumed leadership of the group until disbanding it in 1936 due to internal disagreements. The final annual exhibition of the Japan Nanga Institute was attended by French artist and writer Jean Cocteau (1889–1963).
Suiun was selected to travel to Berlin as the main representative of the Japan-German Friendship Special Envoy on the occasion of the German government's exhibition, Contemporary Nihonga, held from January 17 to February 28, 1931, at the Prussian Academy of Arts. He exhibited a diptych, Insect Choir (Kiin nidai), now in the collection of the Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin. After his official duties were completed, Suiun traveled to France, Italy, Egypt, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, mainland US, and Honolulu, before returning to Yokohama on July 9, 1931.
During his journey, his ink painting "Woman of Berlin" (Berurin fujinga) was sent back to Japan. Another painting of a young European woman, "Beauty" (Reijin), a half-length portrait in ink and light colors, was exhibited at the tenth annual Japan Nanga Institute exhibition in 1931. "Silent Man of Stone" (Sekijin mugo), depicting the Great Sphinx of Giza, was exhibited at Teiten in 1931.
In April 1932, Suiun founded the Nanga Appreciation Society (Nanga Kanshokai). Its goal was to popularize the appreciation and practice of nanga among the general public. The Nanga Appreciation Society issued two publications: "Records of Nanga Kansho" (Nanga Kansho Roku), a serialized painting manual, published from 1932, and a monthly magazine, "Nanga Kansho", produced from January 1934 to February 1944.
In 1941, Suiun founded the Greater East Asia Southern School Institute (Daito Nanshuin) with members of the Nanga Appreciation Society and former Japan Nanga Institute.
The Greater East Asia Southern School Institute opened exhibitions of nanga painting in 1942 and 1943. The first exhibition opened in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing, and Shinkyo, with support from President of the Republic of China in Nanjing, Wang Jingwei (1883–1944), the Special Services Agency (Tokumu Kikan, an intelligence unit of the Japanese military), and other government agencies. The exhibition was projected to open the following year at the same venues and in Seoul, but due to the escalation of the war, it was only held in the Japanese and Korean venues.During the Fifteen Years War, Suiun rarely created paintings with overtly war-related themes, preferring instead subject matter that could be accommodated within the conventions of nanga while still communicating patriotic sentiments.
