“Cannes under the Waning Moon”

Ryuzaburo Umehara

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Artist Name: Ryuzaburo Umehara
Title: “Cannes under the Waning Moon”
Dimensions: 46.0 × 55.3 cm
Medium: Oil on canvas
Description: Ryuzaburo Umehara (1888–1986)

Born into a family of textile wholesalers in Kyoto, Umehara studied at Asai Chu’s painting school before traveling to France at the age of twenty. In Paris, he received direct instruction from Pierre-Auguste Renoir and deeply absorbed the master’s vivid yet warm sense of color.

After returning to Japan, Umehara moved beyond the conventions of Western realism, incorporating into oil painting the decorative qualities of Rinpa, a traditional Japanese school of painting, as well as the free and spirited brushwork of Nanga. Through his bold use of traditional Japanese mineral pigments and gold leaf, he developed a powerful and energetic style that transcended the boundaries between Eastern and Western art.

Together with his contemporary Sotaro Yasui, Umehara helped usher in a golden age of modern Japanese Western-style painting, often referred to as the “Yasui–Umehara Era.” He was awarded the Order of Culture in 1952 and remained an active painter throughout his life, continuing to create until his death at the age of ninety-seven.