NOTES
Takeuchi Seihō was a descendant of the Maruyama-Shijō school tradition of bird-and-flower painting. He became a highly influential and key figure of the Kyoto school of painting of the late 19th to early 20th centuries. He later became a founder of the modern Kyoto school of Nihonga. As a teacher, Seihō was without rival. His superb technique and aesthetic sophistication made him the leading artist of Kyoto for decades.
While traveling in Europe in 1900, Seihō developed a keen appreciation for the works of French painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and British artist Joseph William Mallord Turner. He utilized some of their Western aesthetic for his highly original early work upon his return in autumn of 1901. However, by the 1910s, Seihō fully returned to his Japanese roots, incorporating the focus on sketching from life (shasei) into his landscapes and celebrated animals studies.
