Imao Keinen

Imao Keinen (1845-1924)
Keinen kacho gafu [Keinen's natural history paintings] Kyoto: printed by Harubei Tanaka for S. Nishimura, 1891-1892. 4 volumes, 2° (370 x 257mm). 135 coloured wood-block plates on 162 leaves (including 27 'diptych' plates). (Wormtrack running through first 20 images of the 'autumn' volume, light marginal worming to final 4 leaves of 'summer' volume'.) Stitched with cloth head bands within limp cream and gilt-flecked textured paper-covered boards, (light worming to two covers). Provenance: early pencilled note in French at rear of each volume: 'Printemps', 'Eté', 'Automne' and 'Hiver'.
A FINE SERIES OF JAPANESE BIRD PORTRAITS FROM ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ARTISTS IN HIS FIELD. The birds are all shown in naturalistic poses and in carefully chosen settings that include plants that reflect the four seasons. Subjects include birds-of-prey, herons, egrets, cranes, ducks, geese, buntings, finches, pheasants and parrots. The indices in each volume identify not only each bird species but also the plants. Keinen was born in Kyoto in 1845. After studying under a number of masters (the ukiyo-e style with Umegawa Tokyo, and later with Suzuki Hyakunen) he set up his own studio in 1868 and began to teach. Sometime after 1880 he was appointed professor at the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting. An important figure in the traditional art circles of Kyoto he won numerous awards both in Japan and abroad and in 1904 became a member of the Art Committee of the Imperial Household. In 1907 he was appointed a juror of the first Bunten, and in 1919 a member of the Teikoku Bijutsuin. (4)