SEITEI (SHOTEI) WATANABE (Japanese 1851-1918)

Ten (10) woodblock prints, Meiji period, produced by artist Watanabe Seitei, also known as Shotei, was born in Edo in 1851 and adopted into the Watanabe family. Seitei was first trained by the Edo artist Kikuchi Yosai (1788-1878) and then briefly worked with Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891). In 1875 one of his flower designs for the Industry and Commerce Company of Matsuo Gisuke won a flower-crest award. When hiswork won a bronze medal at a Paris industrial exhibition, he travelled to Paris and he studied and worked there for three years. Seitei was the first Nihonga painter who studied in Europe. He became famous for his paintings of birds andflowers (kacho-e), in which he combined close observation of nature with Japanese and Western technique. W. 21.5 cm (8 1/2 in.); L. 34 cm (13 2/5 in.)