Nishimura Suishō

Undated photo of the artist

Nishiyama Suishō 西山翠嶂 (1879-1958)

BIOGRAPHY

Sources: Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p. 110; A Dictionary of Japanese Artists: Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints, Lacquer, Laurance P. Roberts, Weatherhill, 1976, p. 120.

Nishiyama Suishō was born and worked in Kyoto. His given name was Usaburō. He studied with Takeuchi Seihō (1864-1942), a leading Kyoto painter, and in 1915 he married one of Takeuchi's daughter. He graduated in 1899 from Kyoto City School of Arts and Crafts and and became head of Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting. Along with Kikuchi Keigetsu (1879-1955), he became one of the important figures in the Kyoto art world. He exhibited in the government sponsored Teiten, Bunten, and Inten and was a member of the Imperial Art Academy and Imperial Household Art Committee. In 1957 he received the Order of Cultural Merit.

Roberts notes that Nishiyama is "[a]n interesting colorist whose works contrast flat areas or color with careful attention to details and some hint of of Western modelling" and that his work "displays a strong Shijō influence."

Primarily known as a painter, Nishiyama produced few prints.