Yabu Meizan was a Japanese artist and workshop owner known for painting on porcelain.
14 Facts About Yabu Meizan
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Yabu Meizan's studio produced high-end Satsuma ware, primarily for the export market.
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Yabu Meizan is regarded as the "prince" of this medium and today his works are sought after by collectors.
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Yabu Meizan was born on January 20,1853, in Nagahori, Osaka.
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Yabu Meizan had 17 men and boys at work, all decorating.
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Yabu Meizan makes the designs and watches them carefully in executing the work.
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Yabu Meizan actively marketed his work internationally as well as domestically, taking an active role in organising the presentation of Japanese wares at world's fairs.
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Yabu Meizan's success inspired another workshop to use his name and imitate his style, without matching his subtlety or detail.
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Yabu Meizan's career declined during World War I as the war and economic turmoil made it difficult to run an export business.
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Yabu Meizan's works are characterised by minute decoration applied using copper plate designs.
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Yabu Meizan's decorations used Chinese and Buddhist subjects until the 1890s, when he adopted more Japanese symbolism, such as fishermen or fighting samurai.
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Yabu Meizan would draw from or copy popular prints by artists including Hiroshige.
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From 1885 to 1916, Yabu Meizan displayed his art works at a number of national exhibitions and world's fairs, winning multiple medals.
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Works by Yabu Meizan were included in exhibitions drawn from the Khalili Collections at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, in 1994 and 1995, in the Wilmington Arts Centre, Delaware, in 1999, Portland Art Museum in 2002, and in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, in 2006.