SHIBUNKAKU ONLINE SHOP | Murakami Kagaku

Nihonga painter, born in Osaka. Kagaku graduated from Kyoto Municipal School of Painting. Though successful at the Bunten, Kagaku doubted the merit of the selection criteria and eventually ceded his submissions. Together with Tsuchida Bakusen, Ono Chikkyō, Sakakibara Shihō, and Nonagase Banka, Kagaku founded Kokuga sōsaku-kyōkai art association in 1918, an organization that would hold its own annual salons, the Kokuten. The controversy surrounding his Nude (1920) contributed to Kagaku distancing himself from the art world. Due to declining health, he moved to Ashiya near Kobe and led a recluse life, concentrating on Buddhist themes. Many of his works are deeply spiritual and meditative in tone.