[Kuroda, Kiyoteru; Seiki]
(b Kagoshima Prefect., June 29, 1866; d Tokyo, July 15, 1924).
Japanese painter. He is best known for introducing the plein-air palette of French Impressionism to Japan. He was the most successful and politically influential advocate of Western-style painting (Yōga; see Japan §VI 5., (iv)) in Japan at the turn of the century. Born into a wealthy aristocratic family, Kuroda was adopted by his uncle Viscount Kuroda Kiyotsuna (1830–1917) and educated in French and English in preparation for a career in the Foreign Service. In his teens he studied pencil sketching and watercolours under Hosoda Shūji (fl 19th century), a minor follower of the Western-style painter Takahashi Yūichi.
In 1884 Kuroda was sent to Paris to prepare for a career in law. It was then that his interest in art was reawakened, not only by the city of Paris itself but also by his contact and friendship with other Japanese such as Fuji Masazō (...
