Kamisaka Sekka (1866–1942) was one of the most prominent artists in twentieth-century Japan. Although he was born in a Samurai family, he eventually chose to become an artist. During his trip to Glasgow World’s Exposition in 1910, he was exposed to Art Nouveau, which later influenced his works. Upon returning to Japan, he started to blend Western art with traditional Japanese art by applying western styles and methods to Japanese subject matter.

He taught at the newly opened Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, experimented with Western tastes, styles, and methods, and incorporated them into his otherwise traditional Japanese-style works. While he sticks to traditional Japanese subject matter, and some elements of Rimpa painting, the overall effect is very Western and modern. He uses bright colors in large swaths, his images seeming on the verge of being patterns rather than proper pictures of a subject; the colors and patterns seem almost to “pop”, giving the paintings an almost three-dimensional quality.