Also known as Uemura Tsuneko, Uemura Shoen was born in Kyoto and studied at the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting. Among her teachers were Suzuki Shonen (1849-1918), Takeuchi Seiho (1864-1942), and Kono Bairei (1844-1895). She was a frequent prize winner in the Bunten exhibition, belonged to the Japan Art Academy, and the Art Committee of the Imperial Household. She was the first woman to receive the Order of Cultural Merit. Uemura's favored subject mattter was of historical personages or Kyoto bijin (beauties) done in a traditional Japanese style that also incorporated Western influences. Her evocative paintings depict the elegance and serenity of the Meiji and Edo period women she painted.