Miyaki Katsumi

In 1893, Miyake met Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950), who would become a leading artist in the shin hanga movement, in Kyoto and “struck by Hiroshi’s considerable skill,” encouraged him to study in Tokyo.3 In discussing Miyake’s influence on Hiroshi, Yasunaga Koichi wrote: “Not only did the encounter have a strong impact on Hiroshi, but Miyake became the one artist who had a lasting influence on Hiroshi’s early development as a watercolorist. Hiroshi, who always stubbornly went his own way and rarely complemented anybody, said in later life, 'I was absolutely impressed by the watercolors of Miyake at that time.’”4 

In 1897 Miyake traveled to the United States, where he attended Yale University School of Art. The following year he continued his studies in England and Paris. Like many Japanese artists, he was charmed by Paris and after his second visit in 1919 he wrote: “I thought that a painter who can live in Paris is the happiest human being. Other Japanese painters in Paris, beginning with Mr. Asai [Asai Chū (1856-1907)], were also all living as if they were Frenchmen. They also adored everything in Paris, and, although it sounds scandalous, they behave as if they had completely forgotten their Japanese nationality.”5 

Returning to Japan in 1899, Miyake became a member of the White Horse Society (Hakubakai), dedicated to promoting plein-air French academic painting, exhibiting at their shows as well as with the Meiji Fine Art Association (Meiji Bijutsukai). In 1899, the magazine Bijutsu gahō 美術画報 (Fine Arts Magazine) noted, "Painting in Japan is still in its infancy and especially that of water colors. Recognizing this fact, the artist of this picture [see below] went to Europe with the object of acquainting himself more fully with Western water color painting. The training he received in Europe and particularly in England has so improved his painting as to give a new life to this art in Japan."6

By 1902, Miyake’s work was widely known to the art world. Fine Arts Magazine (Bijutsu gahō) called him “the most skillful artist of European water color painting” in Japan and featured a reproduction of his watercolor painting Pont Royal ポン・ローヤル, shown below.7

Western-style watercolor painting found a ready audience in Japan who embraced its similarities to Nihonga, Japanese-style painting and by 1905, Miyake’s work was extensively “published in the popular magazines, such as Stars (Myōjō 明星), The World of Junior High Students ( Chūgaku sekai 中學世界), along with his own magazine Mizue (みずえ), published along with watercolorists Oshita Tojiro (1870-1911) and Maruyama Banka (1867-1942)."8

In 1907, Miyake showed at the 1st Bunten Exhibition and he continued to show at the Bunten and its successor exhibitions the Teiten and Shin Bunten, eventually being appointed a judge at Teiten.  In 1912, the year after the demise of the Hakubakai, he helped found another association of Western-style painters, the Kōfūkai (光風会), also contributing to its magazine Kōfū.

Miyake was active as an amateur photographer and co-founded the Tokyo Photographic Research Society in October 1904.  He would go on to publish the very popular introduction to photography Shashin no utsuhikata (How to Take Photographs) in 1906 and serve as adviser to the magazine Camera which “was launched to promote amateur hobby photography” in 1921.9 

In 1919, Miyake authored a multi-volume instruction manual for watercolor painting titled 描法解説 水彩新畫集 (Explaining the Technique of New Watercolor Painting).  The cover for volume 4 is shown below.

“In 1926, Kokki took up residence in Manazuru, a town with a view of the Sagami Bay. He repeatedly praised the beauty of the Oriental Riviera in his paintings. After that, he distanced himself from various painting circles. He spent the rest of his life painting realistic landscapes using traditional British watercolor techniques.”10

In 1951, three years before his death, he was officially recognized for his contributions to Yōga (Western-style painting) and appointed a member of the Japan Arts Academy (Nihon Geijutsu-in) with the honor of receiving the Imperial Prize (Onshi-sho).11

In 1938, Miyake wrote his autobiography titled Omoi izuru mama ni (Just as I Remember It). Only excerpts have been translated into English.

Two Examples of the Artist's Watercolor Paintings

1 Japan Society Proceedings

2 "Alfred Parsons, RA, PRWS (1847-1920) and the Japanese Watercolour Movement," Watanabe Toshio appearing in Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Renaissance Books, Folkestone, pp. 284-291, 2015

3 Complete Woodblock Prints of Yoshida Hiroshi, Tadao Ogura, Abe Corporation, 1996, p. 23.

4 Japanese Legacy: Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists, Laura W. Allen, Kendall H. Brown, Eugene M. Skibbe, et. al., The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2002, p. 24. 

5 Searching For a Cultural Diplomacy, Jessica C E Gienow-Hecht; Mark C Donfried, Berghahn Books, 2013, p. 192.

6 Fine Arts Magazine (Bijutsu gahō), Vol. VI, No. 2., July 1899. [page no longer accessible 11-13-23]

7 Fine Arts Magazine (Bijutsu gahō), Vol. XII, No. 5., December 5, 1902.

8 "Li Shutong and the Evolution of Graphic Arts in China" by Su-Hsing Lin appearing in East Asian Journal, Vol. II, 2007, p. 91

9 The History of Japanese Photography, Anne Tucker, Kōtarō Iizawa, Naoyuki Kinoshita, Yale Univ. Press, 2003, p. 376.]

10 https://yugawara.kokosil.net/en/place/00001c00000000000002000000370159 [page no longer accessible 11-13-23]

11 For more information on the Japan Art Academy see their website http://www.geijutuin.go.jp/en/ [last accessed 11-13-23]

12 To see a black and white e-copy of this print book go to http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/850979 [last accessed 11-13-23]

Sample Signatures and Seals of the Artist

last revision:

11/13/2023

8/12/2020

Prints in Collection

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