Imao Keinen (今尾景年) (artist 1845 – 1924)
Pigeons - ehon diptych from Keinen kachō gafu ('Album of Bird-and-Flower Pictures by Keinan' - 景年花鳥画譜)
1892
18 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Publisher: Nishimura Sōzaemon (西村藏版)
Not listed in Marks
British Museum
National Diet Library - photocopy - go to #8
Kruizenga Art Museum, Hope College, Holland, Michigan
National Museum of Asian Art - the Pulverer Collection According to the Rijksmuseum the four volumes of this series each represent a season.
The number 7 appears at the top center of the right-hand page.
The curatorial files at the Spencer Library at the University of Kansas note "The nineteenth-century was a heyday for kachō-e in Japan. The famous ukiyo-e artists Hokusai and Hiroshige excelled in this genre, as did a many artists in other schools of painting. Jack Hillier, author of The Art of the Japanese Book, begins his chapter on “Kachō-e and Natural History Books” with the disclaimer: “In the nineteenth century, there is such a plethora of books entirely of kachō-e or containing a diversity of prints including those of birds, flowers and the like, that only a representative selection is possible here.” That Hillier selected Imao Keinen for inclusion is indicative of his stature, as is the characterization of his Keinen kachō gafu as not only the artist’s finest work but also “one of the most splendid productions of the Meiji period.” Louise Norton Brown went so far as to suggest that it “is perhaps the most beautiful work of this kind ever printed in Japan.”
There are other copies in the full set at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, the Art Institute of Chicago (Ryerson Library), and in the National Library of Australia.
kachō-e (bird and flower picture - 花鳥絵) (genre)
picture book (ehon - 絵本) (genre)
Nishimura Sōzaemon (西村總左衛門) (publisher)