Western Soka Zufu

the work

Western Flower and Plant Atlas

"Illustrated Guide to Western Flowers" is a collection of woodblock prints of Western flowers drawn by the Japanese bird-and-flower artist Tanigami Konan ( 1879-1928). It was published by Kyoto's Geisodo in 1917. Konan combined traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques with the realism of Western botanical illustrations to express the beauty of Western flowers with delicate lines and vivid colors.

Hironami Tanigami Biography

• Born in Kyoto in 1879 .
• He studied Japanese painting at Kyoto Municipal School of Art and Crafts.
• He studied under Takeuchi Seiho.
• He specialized in painting flowers and birds, and is particularly known for his works depicting Western flowers.
• He died in 1928 (aged 49).

Representative works

• "Illustrated Guide to Western Flowers" (1917)

Konan's style and achievements

Konan's work is characterized by a unique style that combines traditional Japanese woodblock printmaking techniques with the realism of Western botanical illustrations. He accurately captures the shapes and colors of Western flowers, while expressing them with delicate lines and vivid colors based on Japanese aesthetic sensibilities.

"Illustrated Guide to Western Flowers" is one of Konan's masterpieces and an important work in Japanese botanical illustration. This work symbolizes the fusion of traditional Japanese aesthetics with Western natural science, and had a major influence on subsequent botanical and bird-and-flower paintings.

As a painter who expressed Western flowers through a Japanese aesthetic sense, Konan 's works occupy an important place in the history of Japanese art and in the history of botanical illustration .