“Birds and Flowers”

Mori Kinseki

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Artist Name: Mori Kinseki
Title: “Birds and Flowers”
Dimensions: （right side）painting　top right：30.7×16.6㎝　bottom right：32.8×16.6cm
full length　155.3×29.8㎝
（left side） painting top left：30.8×16.5cm　bottom left：32.6×16.7cm
full length　155.8cm×29.8cm
Medium: ink with colors on silk
Description: What makes this work particularly intriguing is that it does not depict birds at rest; instead, each bird is captured in a fleeting moment of flight.
Unlike the vividly colored flower-and-bird paintings associated with the Nagasaki school, this composition employs soft, subdued tones, creating a gentle and refined impression.

Mori Kinseki (1843–1921) was a Nanga (literati-style) painter and copper engraver active in Osaka from the Meiji to Taishō periods.
Born in Arima, Settsu Province, he began studying Nanga under a local painter at the age of fourteen. After the Meiji Restoration, he moved to Tokyo, where he studied Western-style painting under Takahashi Yūichi..

He was also renowned as a copper engraver and produced illustrations for works such as Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon.
Over time, he received numerous awards at exhibitions including the Domestic Industrial Exposition and the Japan Art Association Exhibition, eventually gaining recognition as a leading master of his field.