Masuzu Shunnan: A Master of Bird-and-Flower Paintings, Active at the Bunten Exhibitions

Botan Kujaku Zu (Painting of Peonies and Peafowl)

Masuzu Shunnan was born in Edo in 1851. He grew up in a family of Shogunal retainer. He was a disciple of Noguchi Yūkoku and established a name as a painter of bird-and-flower paintings of the style of Watanabe Kazan and Tsubaki Chinzan. He was active in the beginning of 1887, the peak of the Nihon Bijutsu Kyōkai (Japan Art Association). He received awards including the third award, an honorable mention, and a bronze medal. In the second to seventh Bunten exhibition, he was a judge of old-school side. This artwork was painted in 1909 and deserves to be the key work. Though its brilliant and decorative style is of traditional method and not new, this work can be said to be a well-drawn masterpiece. He is said to be the last person who painted bird-and-flower paintings which come from Shen Quan and Yun Shouping. He died in 1916.