Maeda Seison (1885 - 1977)

Seison was born in Nakatsugawa Village of Gifu Prefecture on January 27 of 1885 as the second son of Maeda Tsunekichi, grocery seller.
His real given name was Renzo.
In 1901, he went to Tokyo and became a disciple of Kajita Hanko.
In 1902, Hanko accorded Renzo to use the pseudonym "Seison".
In 1907, Seison became a member of the Koji-Kai, and, he kept researching Japanese painting styles especially Yamato-e style painting together with Imamura Shiko, Kobayashi Kokei and Yasuda Yukihiko.
Seison married with Sue in 1911. Shimomura Kanzan was the go-between of them.
In 1914, he became a member of the Resurrected Nihon Bijutsu-In.
Seison was said a good word for the Teishitsu Gigei-In (=awarded artist by the Imperial Court of Japan).
After World War 2, he was awared the Order of Cultural Merit in 1955.
In 1974, he completed the "Madam Hosokawa Gracia" that was requested by the Roman Curia for displaying in the Vatican Museums.

Seison was good at historical paintings.
However, he drew many of varied genres such as portraiture and flowers & birds painting based on the Yamato-e style painting.
Especially, his precise and detailed depiction of Japanese armors and helmets in the Samurai warrior painting is well-known.
Hirayama Ikuo is famous as the pupil of Seison.
Seison deceased on October 27 of 1977 at the age of 92.