Shiihara Osamu

Osamu Shiihara (1905–1974) began working with photography after graduating from the Western Painting Department of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now the Tokyo University of the Arts) in 1932. He joined the avant-garde Tampei Photography Club, which pioneered Modernist photography in Japan, and explored new forms of the photographic medium alongside figures such as Nakaji Yasui. The experimental works Shiihara produced in the 1930s and 1940s, using techniques such as solarization and multiple exposures, are perhaps the most characteristic of his individuality. He believed that the value of a work was determined by the optimal combination of subject and technique. In his photographs, he was able to bring out hidden aspects of his subjects through the use of various photographic techniques.

*This text was contributed by Mitsuhiro Wakayama.
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