was a Japanese artist and art instructor in the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

. Although his style remained recognisably Japanese, his knowledge of Western principles and methods is also reflected in his work.Diósy, Arthur. (1900). Beisen trained under Suzuki Hyakunen (1825–1891).British Museum
Kubota Beisen and others
/ref> The way in which he integrated Western perspective and techniques in his work was a self-taught skill.

Biography

Kubota was a teacher at the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting, which was founded in 1878 by Kubota and others. Among his colleagues in establishing the school was the artist

Kōno Bairei was a Japanese painter, book illustrator, and art teacher. He was born (as Yasuda Bairei) and lived in Kyoto. He was a member of the broad Maruyama-Shijo school and was a master of kacho-e painting (depictions of birds and flowers) in the Meiji ...

(1844–95). * 1886: Kubota was ordered to decorate the ceiling and doors of one of the rooms in the Imperial palace, which was then newly constructed in Tokyo. * 1889: Kubota visited Paris, where he made a study of European masters. * 1890: Kubota began working for the '' Kokumin Shimbun'', which was among the daily newspapers in Tokio. * 1893: Kubota was sent to the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

at Chicago by a newspaper, ''Kokumin Shimbun''; and his drawings were published for its subscribers in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan Kubota's paintings were collected in a multivolume set of soft cover books in Japan that same year under the title ' (閣龍世界博覧美術品画譜) by Okurashoten. 　The illustration to the right appears in volume one, available for free download as a PDF through Getty Images, the Internet Archive, an
Hathi Trust.
* 1897: A painting by Kubota was amongst the gifts from Japan which were presented to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

on the occasion of her

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...

. As war artist for ''Kokumin Shimbun'', he accompanied the Japanese army at the time of the war with China in 1894 through 1895. His vivid illustrations of battlefield scenes of the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...

were widely distributed in the Japanese population. When Kubota returned from the front, he was summoned to General Headquarters where he was ordered to create drawings in the presence of the Emperor. Kubota's artwork was published in ''Nisshin Sentou Gahou'' (''A Pictorial Record of the Sino-Japanese War''). The eleven volumes were published at irregular intervals between October 1894 and June 1895. The volumes are a visual chronicle of the war, beginning with the outbreak of hostilities in the summer of 1894.''Nisshin Sentou Gahou''
''A Pictorial Record of the Sino-Japanese War,''
1894-1895 Kubota created images of Japan's sea-victories. He also published a visual account of Japan's advance into Manchuria. The peace treaty signed between Japan and China was also illustrated as part of this series of drawings. Amongst the honours he received are the Paris Exposition, Gold Medal, 1889.Tokutomi, Ichiro ''et al.'' (1896). and at the

Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

, First Class Medal, 1893.

Works

Kubota's published work in Japanese is encompassed in 24 works in 25 publications in 53 library holdings. His one work in English was published in six editions and is found in 84 libraries worldwide.WorldCat
Beisen, Kubota 1852-
/ref> * 1921 — 洗張浮世模漾 ''(''
OCLC 029340693
* 1905 —
OCLC 037632804
* 1901 — 米僊畫談 (')
OCLC 037418923
* 1895 — * 1894 — 圖案服紗合 ('
OCLC 027754896

References

External links

* British Museum
"Myriad Fish," a handscroll painting by Beisen and others
* Victorian & Albert Museum
"The Japanese left wing fire off cannon against the Chinese camp."

''Nisshin sen'eki jinchu no zu''
digitized version, Waseda University Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Kubota, Beisen 1852 births 1906 deaths Japanese printmakers 19th-century Japanese painters

Biography

Works

See also

References

Further reading

External links