IMAO, Keinen (1845 -1924) Raven, No. 17 (Winter)

IMAO, Keinen (1845-1924) Raven, No. 17 (Winter) From: Keinen Kacho Gafu (trans. Keinen’s Flower-and-Bird Painting)Kyoto, 1891 14 1/2" x 10" Seasonal woodblock prints from Keinen Kacho Gafu, a popularized kacho-ga publications of the time, illustrated by Imao Keinen (1845-1924), a leader in the Shin-Hanga movement. Imao studied painting and calligraphy under ukiyo-e artist Umegawa Toukyo and traditional ink painter Suzuki Hyakunen. He taught painting as a professor at the Kyoto Prefecture School, starting in 1880, and soon grew to become one of the most well known painters of his time, in large part due to his famed work Keinen Kacho Gafu. Published first in 1891, these woodblock prints were released in sets of forty and in four volumes pertaining to a specific season, with the blocks carved by Tanaka Hirokichi. Each print featured both striking large birds and beautiful small songbirds set against scenery such as abundant chestnut trees or blossoming cherry branches. They were lauded for their naturalistic presentation of birds in their native habitat with wonderful lifelike detail and duly solidified Imao’s importance to Japanese art. Soon after their publication, Imao was enlisted as a member of both the Imperial Household Art Committee (1904) and the Imperial Art Academy (1919). Keinen Kacho Gafu is closely linked to the realm of Japanese textile and was used as a source for kimono design and decoration at the time. The book was commissioned by Nishimura Sozaemon (1855-1935), a major textile producer and trader in Kyoto specializing in embroidery and hand-painted yuzen. As did many artists in Kyoto, Keinen supplemented his painting career by working for Sozaemon in the laborious effort of painting yuzen textiles. Imao’s Keinen Kacho Gafu was conceived and realized in close contact with the naturalist Yamamoto Akio and two renowned artisans, the carver Tanaka Jirokichi and the printer Miki Jinzaburo. Keinen Kacho Gafu was published initially by Tanaka Jihei, a Kyoto publisher who curated the printing, publication and distribution though the ownership of the woodblocks always remained with Nishimura Sozaemon. Later in 1894, the publisher Unsodo acquired Tanaka Jihei’s stock and publication rights and also reprinted the work with the original woodblocks, recognizable by the replacement of Tanaka Jihei’s name with Unsodo’s own.