Kawahara Keiga

Kawahara Keiga(Japanese:Xuyên nguyên ăn mừng,also known as Taguchi Takumi or Toyosuke,Nagasaki,1786–1860?) was a lateEdo periodJapanese painter of plants, fishes, birds, reptiles, crustaceans, social scenes, landscapes and portraits at the Dutch Factory ofDejima,and atEdo,KyotoandNagasaki.^[1]His works can be found in museums in Japan (about a hundred works) and in the Netherlands (about a thousand), among others.

Career

Kawahara was born in Nagasaki as the son of the painter Kawahara Kozan. He studied with the painterYūshi Ishizaki(1768–1846). With special permission from the Japanese government, Kawahara worked as a painter at the Dutch factory of Dejima, Nagasaki, from 1811 to 1842. At the request of successive directors at Dejima, Kawahara documented many aspects of life of Japan in general and at Dejima in particular.

From 1823 to 1829, Kawahara drew and coloured detailed images of Japanese flora and fauna, at the behest of Dejima commander, physician and botanistPhilipp Franz von Siebold.In 1825Carl Hubert de Villeneuve(1800–1874) came to Dejima and taught Kawahara the fundamentals of Western painting techniques. As a result, Keiga introduced Western techniques in traditional Japanese painting. In 1826 he accompanied Von Siebold together withHeinrich Bürgerduring his visit to the court atEdo,and documented many objects, street and court scenes. In 1829, he was imprisoned by theTokugawa shogunatefor involvement in a spying incident of Siebold, who was subsequently expelled from Japan.

In 1842, Kawahara was punished again, now for depicting the harbor of Nagasaki with family crests showing and therefore was dismissed from Nagasaki. In 1846 he put his signature on five ceiling paintings in the main hall of the Buddhist templeWakimisaki Kannon(now inWakimisakimachi,Nagasaki-shi, Nagasaki).

Kawahara's images have been fundamental for biological publications byCoenraad Jacob TemminckandHermann Schlegel.^[2]^[3]

Techniques

Kawahara used watercolor-coloured pencil drawing on paper for his biological work. For other works he also painted on silk and wood, like his paintings on the ceilings of several temples in Japan.

Gallery of Kawahara's work

Carmichael’s Monkshood (Aconitum napellus,Aconitum carmichaelii,Aconitum japonicum subsp. napiforme?)
Common mallow (Malva sylvestris)
Pomegranate (Punica granatum)
Ceiling painting of the Chinese Trumpet Vine (Campsis grandiflora), Kannonji Temple, Nagasaki
Siebold with his Japanese lover and baby-daughterKusumoto Inewatching how rowing boats tow a Dutch ship into Nagasaki harbour, 1823-1829.
Bird's-eye view of the Nagasaki bay, with the island Dejima at mid-left
View of Dejima in Nagasaki Bay folding screen, c1836
Carcinoplax longimana (De Haan, 1833)
Pale-edged stingray(Dasyatis zugei)

Museum collections with his work

For instance

Sources

References

^KAWAHARA KEIGA STUDIO PAINTINGS by Guus Röell (2020)
^Philipp Franz von Siebold; C J Temminck; H Schlegel:Fauna Japonica,Leiden, J. G. Lalau, 1838 (or 1834–1850?)Kawahara Keigain libraries (WorldCatcatalog)
^Temminck and Schlegel, 1844

[1] KAWAHARA KEIGA STUDIO PAINTINGS by Guus Röell (2020)

[2] Philipp Franz von Siebold; C J Temminck; H Schlegel:Fauna Japonica,Leiden, J. G. Lalau, 1838 (or 1834–1850?)Kawahara Keigain libraries (WorldCatcatalog)

[3] Temminck and Schlegel, 1844

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