KONO BAIREI 1844-1895 GROUP OF FOUR JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS OF BIRDS 1881 VII

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

KONO BAIREI 1844-1895 GROUP OF FOUR JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS OF BIRDS 1881 VII:
$18.81

var itemNumber = window.ItemID ? window.ItemID : -1; function passpara(){return + itemNumber + \'&baseurl=\'+escape((function(){var d = return d })());}
Adrian_Money Store
function passparaSC(){return \'&baseurl=\'+ escape((function(){var d = return d })()) +

Kono Bairei 1844-1895
Four woodblock Prints.

A group of four woodblock prints of birds from Bairei hyakuchō gafu (Bairei\'s Album of 100 Birds) published in 1881. Each woodblock is on japan paper and attached to page on both sides by corners only. Each bird is identified in Japanese and each plate has the artist\'s seal/hanko.

I am selling a number of these and can combine postage on any number for no additional cost (free postage within UK)

Dimensions: Each print is8¼ inchesby5¾ inches approx (210mm by 150mm)

Biographical Information

Born March 3, 1844 in Kyoto, and originally named Yasuda Bairei, Kōno Bairei was one of the leading practitioners of the ukiyo-e school devoted to pictures of birds and flowers (kacho-ga) in the Meiji period. Unlike the majority of ukiyo-e artists, he was trained as a classical Japanese painter. As a child, Bairei studied with Nakajima Raishō (1796-1871), a Maruyama school artist, and in his late twenties, with Shiokawa Bunrin (1808-1877) of the Shijō school.

In 1873, he was invited to show his work at the second Kyoto Exposition and he would go on to show at other Expositions. Through these Expositions Bairei attracted the attention of the abbot of Higashi Honganji, Ōtani Kōshō, who patronized Bairei and took him along on journeys to Kyushu in 1877 and the Kantō in 1885.

Along with Kubota Beisen (1852-1906), Mochizuki Gyokusen (1834-1913) and a few others, he co-founded the Kyoto Prefectural Painting School in 1878. The Kyoto University of Arts which operates today has its origins in this school. Bairei headed the Northern School section for a brief time, before a dispute with another artist and teacher Suzuki Hyakunen (1825-1891) led to both men leaving. He would return again in 1888, and leave once again in 1890 amid controversy over changes he proposed.

In 1886, along with Kubota Beisen, he founded the Kyoto Young Painters Study Group, aimed at helping train and promote young painters with a focus on talent rather than lineage. The group was successful for a brief time, but controversy once again erupted and the group was dissolved and Bairei left Kyoto for Nagoya for much of the 1880s.

Returning to Kyoto, Bairei collaborated with Beisen again, founding the Kyoto Art Association, launching one of the city\'s first arts journals, and establishing the first major competitive painting exhibition in the city, the \"Exhibition of New and Old Art,\" in 1895.

As one of the foremost artists of his day, Bairei had about 60 apprentices in his studio named Ryōuin-juku (\'the atelier of the transcending cloud\'), including Kikuchi Hōbun, Kawai Gyokudō, Uemura Shoen, Takeuchi Seihō (1864-1942) (Bairei\'s most famous student) and the recently rediscovered Tsuji Kakō (1871-1931). He is said to have been a stern instructor and quite harsh at times.

Though at first woodblock prints were only an afterthought, Bairei eventually designed woodblocks for illustrated books and produced a number of series of prints, such as Bairei hyakuchō gafu (Bairei\'s Album of 100 Birds); Bairei kachō gafu (Bairei\'s Album Flowers and Birds) whichdepicted birds and flowers in the four seasons, and Bairei Gakan (Mirror of Bairei Paintings) which depicts animals, birds, insects, flowers, landscapes, Mt. Fuji and more. His kacho-ga as having \"a faint touch of Western realism.\"

In February of the twenty-fourth year of Meiji (1891 A. D.) Bairei suddenly announced his retirement from the art world, and the next year he sent Landscape in Autumn to the World Fair held in Chicago. Later Bairei traveled with Bishop Kosho of Higashi-hongan-ji Temple, Kyoto, on the latter\'s preaching tour. In 1893 Bairei became a member of the Art Committee of the Imperial Household. In the twenty-seventh year of Meiji (1894) he was commissioned to paint murals in Higashi-hongan-ji Temple, Tokyo, and died the next year upon completion of this work.

Please visit my \"About Me\" page for further information about Barham Money Antiques and Barham Money Fine Art

Buy with confidence from a seller that has 100% positive response.

POSTAGE / SHIPPING

Free Postage option within UK.

Handling time of one working day applies to all items paid for immediately by payal.

All postage is trackable with the exception of some large parcels over 2kg

Some countries do not accept airsure so will use International Signed For instead.

COMBINED SHIPPING

I offer a discount on multiple purchases providing items can pack together and the combined weight is not over 2kg