# Asai Chū

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**Asai Chū** (浅井 忠) was a [Japanese](/source/Japanese_people) painter, noted for his pioneering work in developing the *[yōga](/source/Y%C5%8Dga)* (Western-style) art movement in late 19th century and early twentieth-century [Japanese painting](/source/Japanese_painting).

## Biography

Asai was born to an ex-[samurai](/source/Samurai) class household in [Sakura](/source/Sakura,_Chiba), in the [Kantō region](/source/Kant%C5%8D_region) of Japan, where his father had been a retainer of the [Sakura Domain](/source/Sakura_Domain). He attended the domain school, where his father was principal, and left home in 1873 to pursue [English language](/source/English_language) studies in [Tokyo](/source/Tokyo). However, he became interested in the arts, and enrolled as a pupil of Kunisawa Shinkuro in western [oil painting](/source/Oil_painting) classes. In 1876, he enrolled as one of the first students in the *Kobubijutsu Gakkō* (the Technical Fine Arts School), where he was able to study under the Italian [foreign advisor](/source/O-yatoi_gaikokujin) [Antonio Fontanesi](/source/Antonio_Fontanesi), who had been hired by the [Meiji government](/source/Meiji_government) in the late 1870s to introduce western [oil painting](/source/Oil_painting) to Japan.

In 1889, he established the *Meiji Bijutsukai* (Meiji Art Society), the first group of Western-style painters in Japan, and in 1898, he became a professor of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (present day [Tokyo University of the Arts](/source/Tokyo_University_of_the_Arts). However, in 1900 he resigned his post and travelled to [France](/source/France), where he spent the next two years refining his techniques in the [impressionist](/source/Impressionism) school.

On his return to Japan in 1902, Asai obtained a position as professor at the *Kyoto Kōtō Kōgei Gakkō* (present-day Kyoto School of Arts and Crafts of the [Kyoto Institute of Technology](/source/Kyoto_Institute_of_Technology)), and founded the *Kansai Bijutsu-in* (the Kansai Arts Institute).

Asai taught numerous students who later became famous in the Japanese art world, including [Sōtarō Yasui](/source/S%C5%8Dtar%C5%8D_Yasui) and [Ryuzaburo Umehara](/source/Ryuzaburo_Umehara). He also tutored the noted poet [Masaoka Shiki](/source/Masaoka_Shiki) in the techniques of western art, and was the model for a character in [Natsume Sōseki](/source/Natsume_S%C5%8Dseki)'s novel *Sanshirō*.

A number of Asai’s works have been recognized by the Japanese government's [Agency for Cultural Affairs](/source/Agency_for_Cultural_Affairs) as [Important Cultural Properties](/source/Important_Cultural_Properties_of_Japan).

## Noted works

- Spring Ridge (春畝, *Shunbo*), 1903, Tokyo National Museum, National Important Cultural Property
- Harvest (収穫, *Shukaku*), 1904, Tokyo University of the Arts, National Important Cultural Property.[1]

## References

1. ["東京藝術大学大学美術館収蔵品データベースページリニューアルのお知らせ"](http://db.am.geidai.ac.jp/object.cgi?id=3500). *geidai.ac.jp*

- Keene, Donald. *Dawn to the West*. Columbia University Press; (1998). ISBN 0-231-11435-4
- Mason, Penelope. *History of Japanese Art*. Prentice Hall (2005). ISBN 0-13-117602-1
- Miyoshi, Masao. *Postmodernism and Japan*. Duke University Press (1986) ISBN 0-8223-0896-7
- Sadao, Tsuneko. *Discovering the Arts of Japan: A Historical Overview*. Kodansha International (2003). ISBN 4-7700-2939-X
- Schaarschmidt Richte. *Japanese Modern Art Painting From 1910*. Edition Stemmle. ISBN 3-908161-85-1
- Shiki, Masaoka. *Masaoka Shiki: His Life and Works*. Cheng & Tsui (2002). ISBN 0-88727-364-5
- Weisenfeld, Gennifer. *MAVO: Japanese Artists and the Avant-Garde, 1905–1931*. University of California Press (2001). ISBN 0-520-22338-1

## External links

- [National Diet Library biography](https://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/225.html)
- [Chiba Museum of Art](https://www.chiba-muse.or.jp/ART/asai_sp/index.html)

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