Seiki Kuroda's 156th Birthday

Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and 156th birthday of Seiki Kuroda, who was born on this day in 1866. Kuroda was an influential artist who’s known as the father of Western-style paintings in Japan. He was also a teacher and art administrator for the Tokyo Art School, as well as the founder of the White Horse Society.

He was born in Kagoshima, Japan where he was adopted by his uncle at birth and moved to his estate in Tokyo. At age 18, Kuroda traveled to Paris to study law but instead chose to pursue painting after two years. While in France, he spent a decade learning how to paint in the Western academic-style, honing his craft during a period of self-discovery.

In 1893, Kuroda returned to Japan and breathed fresh air into the Western-style art scene in many Japanese cities. He started a Western painting school called Tenshin Dojo and established pleinairism which is the practice of painting outdoors. In 1986, he founded the Habuka-kai—also known as the White Horse Society—a group of Japanese practitioners of yoga and painting. He was also invited to teach the Western Painting Department at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts.

In his waning years, Kuroda was chosen as a teishitsu gigei-in, or Imperial Household Artist, to create works for the Tokyo Imperial Palace. He also served as the President of the Imperial Art Academy and was titled a Viscount in 1917. Then, in 1920, Kuroda was elected to join Japan’s House of Peers, or Kizoku-in, the new aristocratic social class during the Meiji Era.

Kuroda made a lasting impression on the art world in Japan and beyond, inspiring the next generation of Western-style, Impressionist and Pleinairist artists to continue his legacy. His works can be found in countless museums and galleries such as the Artizon Museum in Tokyo and the Kuroda Memorial Hall within the Tokyo National Museum. Two of his works, Maiko (1893) and Lakeside (1897), have also been selected as commemorative postage stamps by the Japanese government.

Happy 156th birthday, Seiki Kuroda!