Soryu Tamura
Born in the town of Sonobe in the Funai District. Known as a child protege, Tamura picked up his first paintbrush at the age of three. In 1854, he entered the Taigado Seiryo, a private art school and began his studies in Nanga ('Southern painting'). From there, he took interest in three dimensional effects created by shaded illustrations, which instilled an interest in Western painting. By 1871, he was hired as a painter and a translator at Awatachi Hospital, where he was introduced to oil painting by a German doctor, Langeck. In 1872, he visited an art school run by Wirgman , an illustrator for the London News. Through this meeting, he was later hired at the Kyoto Prefectural School of Art as an instructor from 1881. Tamura also put out a series of works at the Exhibition for the Promotion of Domestic Industry and the Kyoto Exhibition during this time. After leaving his post at the art school, he began a private art school near Gion Kawara in 1889. In 1901, he founded the Kansai Society of Art and in 1905, he founded the Kansai Institute of Art. As head of the Institute, he contributed greatly toward the appreciation of Western art in Kyoto. He also painted Japanese paintings under the name Gessho.



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