January 10, 2022 David Wertheim

Uemura Shoen

Born Uemura Tsune, the artist is particularly known for her bijin-ga (illustrations of beautiful women) in the nihonga style. She would capture the modern statuses of women in Japan at the the time, and received numerous awards in recognition of her work, and became the first female to receive the Order of Culture as well as being hired as the Imperial Household's official artist (previously only one other official woman took this position).