Yamashita Shintarō

Yamashita Shintarō
Self-portrait (1904)
Native name	山下新太郎
Born	(1881-08-29)August 29, 1881 Arakawa, Tokyo, Japan
Died	April 11, 1966(1966-04-11) (aged 84) Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Education	Tokyo School of Fine Arts
Awards	Person of Cultural Merit, Order of the Rising Sun (3rd Class) Legion of Honour (Chevalier)

Yamashita Shintarō (山下新太郎) (29 August 1881 – 11 April 1966) was a Japanese yōga painter.

Born in Tokyo, the eldest son in a family of picture framers, Yamashita Shintarō's schooling included English and Classical Chinese. He went on to study under Fujishima Takeji and Kuroda Seiki at Tokyo School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1904. After learning French at the Tokyo School of Foreign Languages, in 1905 he travelled via America to France, where he studied with Raphaël Collin and Fernand Cormon and at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1907 he visited Spain, copying The Surrender of Breda by Velázquez, before returning to Paris via Granada and Seville. In 1908 "By the Window" was exhibited at the Salon; Reading and After Reading appearing the following year. In 1909 he travelled through Switzerland and Italy, visiting Milan, Venice, Florence, and Naples, Menton and Marseille. After returning to Paris, he painted Woman at her Shoes. The following summer he returned via the Suez Canal to Japan.

Shortly after returning he married. Later that year he exhibited for the first time at the Bunten, contributing Reading, After Reading, and Woman at her Shoes, winning third prize with Reading. He repeated the feat the following year with By the Window, which was acquired by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture. His first daughter was born in 1912 and first son in 1914. That same year, together with Ishii Hakutei () and Arishima Ikuma, he founded the Nikakai () or "Society for Progressive Japanese Artists". He then travelled to Korea with Yuai Ichirō () and was commissioned by the Chosen Government Railway to paint murals for the Chosen Hotel (), which he completed on a second trip the following year. Boys' Festival, featuring his eldest son aged ten months, was exhibited at the "Nikaten" exhibition at the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi later in 1915.