It’s difficult to find a definitive answer as to whether his surname is Konan or Tanigami. I have come to the conclusion his surname is most likely Tanigami because it is a common surname in Japan. So there has likely been some confusion where surnames are listed first in artist name lists. This has probably led to many people calling him Tanigami Konan.
So I will refer to him as Konan Tanigami unless I can find definitive evidence proving his name is the other way around.
Konan was born in Hyogo Prefecture in1879 and died in 1928. He was a painter and print maker in the nihonga period. He was the first Japanese artist to paint Western flowers and is known for his vivid colours and realistic flower paintings. He is best known for his kacho-e, which in English means “bird-and-flower pictures.” His known work includes five print albums of Western flowers that were published by the Kyoto-based Unsodo around 1917-1918. The albums were titled “A Picture Album of Western Plants and Flowers” (Seiyo Soka Zofu), the series is arranged by season. Two volumes are devoted to the spring flowers, two for summer and the final volume for the fall and winter. His most famous works were a series of 24 peony prints that were selected for exhibition at the Teiten (imperial exhibition) in 1917. More of His floral designs were published in three volumes as A Book of Flower Shapes and Forms in 1923 and 1926. Japanese art was a simple style which consisted of a small number of subjects with little background components. This gives more emphasis to the subjects portrayed in the works. When these prints were published was a time of change in the Japanese printing technology which was changing from traditional wood block prints to the more modern western techniques of lithography and photo mechanical printing. Artists and printers in Japan were losing income due to this new technology so decided to target the western markets by changing their style to be more like the Impressionist movement in France around that time.
So if you want to brighten up your space with some Japanese prints his art would make an excellent choice.
