Heizo Kanayama1883~1964 金山平三

KANAYAMA Heizo (December 18, 1883 – July 15, 1964) was a Western-style painter active in the Taisho and Showa periods, born in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. He graduated at the top of his class from the Western Painting Department of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1909, studying under Kuroda Seiki and others. From 1912 to 1915 he was based in Paris and made sketching trips throughout Europe; after returning to Japan he exhibited prominently at the Bunten and Teiten. After distancing himself from the art establishment over the 1935 reorganization of the Imperial Art Academy, he was called “the phantom painter,” and for his many masterpieces depicting snow he was also nicknamed “the painter of snow.” From 1947 he made Oishida in Yamagata Prefecture his base, was named a member of the Japan Art Academy in 1957, and died in 1964 at age 81.