Uemura Shōen

Uemura Shōen　(1875 - 1949)

上村松園

 

Born in 1875 in a leaf tea house in Kyoto.

Her mother, who recognised her talent for painting, sent her to the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting after primary school. At the time, it would have been unusual for a woman to make a career as a painter.

She continued to paint women with the aspiration of creating 'fragrant gem-like paintings with a sense of purity and clarity without a single vulgarity' and 'authentic paintings of beautiful women that have reached the ultimate in truth, goodness and beauty'.