Kineo Kuwabara

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Kineo Kuwabara ( Japanese 桑 原 甲子 雄 ; born December 9, 1913 in Tokyo ; died December 10, 2007 ) was a Japanese photographer and publicist . He was best known for photographs of everyday life in Tokyo in the 1930s.

Born in Tokyo, Kuwabara, the son of a pawnbroker , attended Tokyo Municipal Dai-Ni High School from 1927 to 1931 . During this time he began to teach himself photography using a Leica camera . In 1940 he was a photographer in the Manchukuo region on behalf of the military . From 1948 to 1953 he was editor-in-chief of Ars Camera ( Japanese Ars カ メ ラ ), a Japanese specialist magazine for cameras. This was followed by other positions at photo and camera magazines such as Sankei Camera , Camera Geijutsu and Shyashin Hihyo before he became a professor at the Tama Art School in 1965 . He held this position until 1970 and was then professor at Tokyo College of Photography ( Japanese 東京 綜合 写真 専 門 学校 ) from 1972 . From 1954 to 1965, Kuwabara was President of the Japan Photo Critics' Association and Director of the Japan Photographic Association . He held the last office again from 1979.

In 1973 Kuwabara first became known to the general public through his exhibition Tokyo 1936 . This showed pictures in the Ginza district of Tokyo that the photographer had taken in Tokyo between 1936 and 1938. It was the first public presentation of photos from the 1930s in Japan. A book was published parallel to the exhibition. Today Kuwabara is considered one of the most important street photographers in Japan, who mainly showed everyday scenes. He often created a certain closeness between the people depicted and himself and thus the viewer. He once described it like this:

"Unable to escape from the domain of photography, my face can be seen in every one of my pictures: and that is my main concern and ideal in photographic art."

"Unable to escape the realm of photography, my face can be seen in any of my pictures: and that is my main concern and ideal in the art of photography."

Even during the politically tense 1930s ( "2-26 incident" ), his photos showed a certain carefree and lightness. In particular, Kuwubara's later photographs were color photographs, most of his works are in black and white.

Kuwabara died of old age on December 10, 2007 . His death was not known until February 2008.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1974: Tokyo 1936 , Ginza , Tokyo
  • 1975: Manchuria 1940 , Ginza , Tokyo
  • 1979: Canal Cities: Venice and Amsterdam , Olympus Gallery, Tokyo
  • 1981: Ufficio dell'Arte, Paris
  • 2014: Kineo Kuwabara's Photographs; Tokyo Sketches of 60 Years , Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Kuwabara in: George Walsh: Contemporary Photographers. Macmillan, London 1982, ISBN 0-333-31947-8 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c 'The Lost Metropolis': 1930s Tokyo street life - in pictures. The Guardian , May 17, 2019, accessed November 26, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Kuwabara, Kineo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 桑 原 甲子 雄 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese photographer
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Tokyo
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 2007