江戸の佐倉藩の屋敷に生まれました。工部美術学校でイタリア人画家フォンタネージに学び、日本の農村や働く人々を、落ち着いた茶色の色調で描きます。代表作《収穫》は重要文化財です。のちにフランスへ留学し、帰国後は京都で美術学校の先生となり、梅原龍三郎や安井曾太郎などを育てました。
Asai was born at the Edo residence of the Sakura domain. At the Technical Fine Arts School, he studied with the Italian painter Antonio Fontanesi. He painted Japanese farm villages and working people in calm brown tones. His masterpiece Harvest is an Important Cultural Property. Later he studied in France. Back home, he taught art in Kyoto, where his students included Umehara Ryūzaburō and Yasui Sōtarō.
