Who painted this?

January 27, 2009 12:45 PM

Translation filter: Can you help me ID this artist signature?

A few years ago I bought a painting on Ebay that I love love. I do not, however, know who the artist is, as it is signed in Kanji or Kana/Hiragana. Can anyone out there tease out a name for me?
Image of signature

posted by esunshine to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Best answer: Japanese translator here. Probably "Chousei" or possibly "Nagao." The problem with names in Japanese is that they can literally be pronounced any way. It could be legally pronounced "Barack Obama loves John McCain" (or as close to that as Japanese syllables will get you), and you have no way of knowing it isn't without asking the person in question.
posted by zachawry at 4:57 PM on January 27, 2009

Best answer: In Mandarin Chinese, the words would be pronounced "chang sheng" or "zhang sheng" (the first word has two possible sounds).

A quick google got me artists like 曾長生 (Pedro Tseng), 林长生, and 钟长生.

But are you sure that is the name of the artist? Because the red seal you see below the words could be the artist's signature, while the words could represent the title of the artwork. The words 長生 are rendered in traditional Chinese; in simplified Chinese they would read 长生 -- as a phrase it means "long life" or "longevity".
posted by hellopanda at 9:04 AM on January 28, 2009

Response by poster: Wow, I'm doubly confused! Thank you both for your helpful answers. I am unsure about anything related to this painting - particularly which parts of the inscription would be the signature or the title. All that I can say with certainty is that it is relatively newish - prob. 60s or 70s; subject matter is in Bahia de Palmas, CA. Thank you again for your cracks at translation - it is greatly appreciated!!
posted by esunshine at 6:16 PM on January 28, 2009