An Artistic Nature: Kōno Michisei’s Self-Portrait (1917)

Kōno Michisei’s (1895–1950) Self-Portrait (1917) is celebrated as a masterpiece of Taishō-period (1912–1926) painting in Japan but remains little-known overseas. This article seeks to reintroduce and contextualize this rare example of a Japanese oil painting in an American collection with an exploration of the artist’s conception of his self-portrait between the dynamic currents of Taisho period yōga (Western-style painting) and his own worldview. Kōno stood on the fringes of the Tokyo avant-garde as artists sought to overcome the naturalism advocated by the academy in pursuit of an art more true to the individual. After years of studying prints of the old masters amid the rural environs of his hometown, Nagano, and inspired by a uniquely spiritual outlook, in Self-Portrait, Kōno synthesized the grand portrait mode of Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) with his own conception of artistic beauty to create a highly idiosyncratic expression of the self.