Seison Maeda1885~1977 前田青邨

Seison Maeda (January 27, 1885 – October 27, 1977; real name Renzo) was a leading Japanese-style painter (nihonga) born in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture. He trained under Kajita Hanko and worked alongside Yasuda Yukihiko and others in the Kojikai group, becoming a central figure of the Japan Art Institute (Nihon Bijutsuin). Deeply versed in the yamato-e tradition, he excelled in historical paintings, portraiture, and bird-and-flower subjects, and is especially admired for the meticulous rendering of armor and helmets in his warrior pictures. Major works include “Yoritomo in the Cave” and the “Heike Monogatari Emaki,” and in 1955 he received the Order of Culture. As a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, he later led the reproduction of the Horyu-ji Kondo murals and the copying of the Takamatsuzuka tomb paintings.