Ueno Hikoma
Ueno Hikoma ( Japanese 上 野 彦 馬 ; born October 15, 1838 in Nagasaki ; † May 22, 1904 ) was one of the first Japanese photographers . He is known for his excellent portraits , in which he captured a number of important Japanese and foreigners, and for his excellent landscape shots , especially of the city of Nagasaki and its surroundings. He is one of the most important personalities of the 19th century in the history of Japanese photography. He was very successful both commercially and artistically and has significantly influenced numerous other Japanese photographers.
origin
A number of Ueno Hikoma's ancestors had worked as portrait painters.
Ueno's father was Ueno Toshinojō (also known as Ueno Shunnojō, 1790-1851), a merchant who was in the service of the Shimazu clan . For a long time he was credited with being the first Japanese to make a daguerreotype in 1841 , but this has since been refuted. Ueno Toshinojō actually imported a daguerreotype camera for Nariakira , the daimyo of the Shimazu clan, probably the first of its kind in Japan.
Life
Ueno Hikoma first studied classical Chinese literature and continued his education from 1852 at a medical college, where he studied chemistry with the Belgian Johannes LC Pompe van Meerdervoort. Pompe van Meerdervoort owned a camera and - although he had little experience as a photographer - gave Ueno Hikoma lessons in the use of this camera. However, it was only through contact with the Swiss photographer Pierre Rossier that Ueno decided to pursue a career in this profession himself.
In 1862 Ueno opened a photo studio in Nagasaki , which existed until the end of the 19th century. He also started importing cameras. After a long start-up period, Ueno Hikoma quickly became known. He was mentioned several times in travel guides and literary works, including in Edmond Cotteau's Un touriste dans l'Extrême-Orient from 1884 and in Pierre Loti's 1887 novel Madame Chrysanthème . Among those portrayed by him was the then Russian Crown Prince, who later became Nicholas II.
In his studio Ueno trained several important Japanese photographers of the 19th century, including Uchida Kuichi (1844–1875), Tomishige Rihei (1837–1922) and Ueno Yoshima . He had a long and fruitful collaboration with the Japanese photographer Felice Beato . He was so commercially successful that he opened a branch in Vladivostok in 1890 and branches in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 1891 .
Ueno showed his photographs at at least two world exhibitions , namely in Vienna in 1873 and in Chicago in 1893 . In the latter, he was awarded a medal “for good taste and artistic skill”.
price
Since 2000, the “Ueno Hikoma Prize”, an advancement award for young photographers, has been awarded at the Kyushu Sangyo University photo competition.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Biography of Ueno Hikoma in englishclass ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ueno Hikoma |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 15, 1838 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nagasaki |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 22, 1904 |