Saru Gallery
       Japanese Prints & Japanese Paintings

Biography Yokoyama, Taikan (1868 - 1958)

Yokoyama Taikan was born in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 1868. In 1889 he graduated from the Tokyo Art School as one of the school's first graduates. He greatly admired Okakura Tenshin (1862-1913), who proposed the creation of a new style of Japanese painting and who served as Taikan's mentor. Taikan devoted his entire life to painting, with some 60 of his 90 years having such an impact that this period could rightly be claimed as an important era in the history of Japanese painting. He is known for his introduction of European painting styles into traditional Japanese painting and for harmonizing them. In 1937, Taikan was awarded the first Order of Cultural Merit by the Japanese Government for his contribution to modern Japanese painting. He died in 1958.
Yokoyama Taikan and Takeuchi Seihō are generally considered the two greatest Japanese painters of the 20th century.