was a Japanese

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

, photography theorist, and educator. He was active in the avant-garde art world in Japan after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, both creating his own experimental photographs, and taking widely circulated documentary photographs of other artists and art projects. He became an authority in Japanese photography, extensively publishing commentaries and educating future generations of photographers.

Biography

Early life: 1923–1945

Ōtsuji was born in the

Kōtō is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward located in Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Kōtō City in English. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 488,632, and a population density of 12,170 pers ...

ward of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

on July 27, 1923. He first became interested in photography when he purchased back issues of the photography periodical ''Photo Times'' from a used book store. Through ''Photo Times'' he first encountered avant-garde photography from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and was deeply inspired by the photography criticism of

Shūzō Takiguchi was a Japanese poet, art critic, and artist. He was the central figure of orthodox Surrealism in pre- and postwar Japan. Devoting his life to exemplifying the movement in its orthodox form. Starting in the 1950s, he began offering new experime ...

and Abe Nobuya. In 1942, Ōtsuji enrolled in the art department at the Tokyo Professional School of Photography (today

Tokyo Polytechnic University is a private university in Honchō, Nakano, Tokyo. Its nickname is ''Shadai'' (写大). It was formerly known as Tokyo College of Photography (, ''Tōkyō Shashin Daigaku''). The university was founded as Konishi Professional School of Photogra ...

). In 1943, in the middle of his studies, he was drafted into the army and trained as an aircraft mechanic. He later graduated from the Tokyo Professional School of Photography in 1944.

Early career: 1945–1952

In 1945, after World War II, Ōtsuji returned to

and began work as a photographer at Takabayashi Studio, a photography studio run by Takabayashi Takafusa and Takabayashi Yasushi. In 1946, he met the artist Yoshishige Saitō, who invited him to join the magazine ''Katei Bunka'' (Home Culture)''.'' Ōtsuji worked as a staff photographer for ''Katei Bunka'' for one year. In 1947, he opened his own photography studio in

Sendagaya is an area within Shibuya ward, one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo. Introduction Sendagaya is nestled in an urban green area in Shibuya ward between Shinjuku ward and Shinjuku Gyo-en (Shinjuku Imperial Gardens) to the north (an area in Senda ...

. In 1949, Ōtsuji joined the modernist exhibition societ
Bijutsu Bunka Kyōkai
("Art and Culture Association") and showed his photograph ''Itamashiki Buttai'' ("Painful Object"). The same year, he and other alumni from the Tokyo Professional School of Photography began to publish the magazine ''Fotogurafii'' ("Photography"), to which Ōtsuji contributed several written essays on photography. Ōtsuji's early individual works are often viewed as a re-exploration of prewar

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

photography in Japan. For example, his work ''Aishi ni tsuite'' ("About Feet") (1949) captures a raw chicken positioned upside down with its legs dramatically crossed in mid-air, thus offering a strange, almost lifelike view of the dead animal. Another early series of photographs, shot in the leading Bijutsu Bunka member Nobuya Abe's studio in 1950, depict the future Jikken Kōbō member Hideko Fukushima and other women, both clothed and nude, posing within a geometric network of strings, thus appearing like dolls or puppets. Following these examples, for the rest of his career, Ōtsuji's individual work continued to explore the presence of objects (もの, ''mono'') – ready-made or found objects – and to capture their ephemerality with his camera. Additionally, Ōtsuji continued to take on contract jobs, including photographing the pianist

Alfred Cortot Alfred Denis Cortot (; 26 September 187715 June 1962) was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his poeti ...

during his visit to Japan.

Work with avant-garde groups: 1953–1959

In 1953, Ōtsuji collaborated with the avant-garde art collective Jikken Kōbō on a project for the weekly graphic magazine ''Asahi Picture News,'' a serialized section of ''

Asahi Graph , also known as ''The Asahi Picture News'', was a Japanese weekly pictorial magazine that ran from 1923 until 2000. ''Asahi Graph'' started on 25 January 1923 as a daily feature from Asahi Shinbunsha (publisher of ''Asahi Shimbun'' and soon also ...

.'' Each artist constructed a three-dimensional assemblage containing the letters "A," "P," and "N" and Ōtsuji photographed the object. Each photograph was printed as a small header in the top corner of the ''Asahi Picture News'' double-page spread. After this project'','' Ōtsuji joined the group as an official member. He contributed photographs made into autoslide projections for the 5th Experimental Workshop Presentation in 1953, and continued to photograph the group's events and rehearsals until they split up in 1957. In 1953, Ōtsuji also joined Gurafikku Shudan ("Graphic Group"), a group of photographers and designers, with whom he exhibited photography and collaborated on publications and other projects.大辻清司武蔵野美術大学美術館・図書館所蔵作品目錄 = ''Ōtsuji Kiyoji: Photographs in the Collection of the Musashino Art University Museum & Library,'' 326. In 1955, Ōtsuji screened the experimental film ''Kine Calligraph'' at the 2nd Graphic Group Presentation. The film, produced with

Yasuhiro Ishimoto was a Japanese-American photographer. Biography Ishimoto was born on June 14, 1921 in San Francisco, California, where his parents were farmers. In 1924, the family left the United States and returned to his parents' hometown within present-day ...

and Saiko Tsuji, with a score by

Tōru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental phil ...

, involved painting directly onto film to create purely abstract effects. It was an early example of

abstract film Abstract may refer to: * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract of title a summary of the documents affecting title to parcel of land * Abstract (law), a summary of a legal document * Abstract (summary), in academic publishi ...

in Japan. From 1956 to 1959, Ōtsuji worked as a part-time photographer for the art magazine ''Geijutsu Shinchō,'' contributing photographs for articles covering

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. His photographs ranged from portraits of artists to documentation of performances, putting him in contact with some of the most prominent figures in the Japanese art world. He notably photographed works by

Gutai The was a Japanese avant-garde artist group founded in the Hanshin region by young artists under the leadership of the painter Jirō Yoshihara in Ashiya, Japan, in 1954. The group, today one of the most internationally-recognized instances o ...

members at the 2nd Gutai Art Exhibition in 1956, as well as

Tatsumi Hijikata was a Japanese choreographer, and the founder of a genre of dance performance art called Butoh. By the late 1960s, he had begun to develop this dance form, which is highly choreographed with stylized gestures drawn from his childhood memories of ...

’s performances of

Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founders ...

, among other major events. Throughout the 1950s, Ōtsuji continued to experiment both with photographic expression and with the photographic apparatus. In 1956, he took a series of close-up photographs of Lake Ōnuma, focusing on such images as slanted lines left behind on its frozen surface by ice skates. With none of the surrounding landscape depicted, the icy surface resembled gestural abstraction. He built his own camera and even devised a cinematic device called an "autoscope" that was used to project images at the Sekiya Industries booth at the Japan International Trade Fair in Tokyo in 1957.

Teaching, publishing, and writing: 1960s–1970s

Ōtsuji began to spend more time teaching in the 1960s. From 1960 to 1970, Ōtsuji was a lecturer at the

Tokyo College of Photography The was set up in Nakano, Tokyo in 1958, as Tokyo Photo School (, ''Tōkyō Foto Sukūru''); its current name dates from 1960. During the 1960s, it moved to Hiyoshi (Yokohama), where it has remained. Notable graduates * Tadasuke Akiyama * Tak ...

. This was his first teaching position. He also lectured at the

Musashino Art University or is a private university in Kodaira, Western Tokyo, founded in 1962 with roots going back to 1929. It is known as one of the leading art universities in Japan. History In October 1929, was founded. In December 1948, it became , and in ...

in the 1960s, and was appointed a professor at Tokyo Zōkei University from 1967 to 1976. Ōtsuji became a professor at

University of Tsukuba is a public university, public research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Ibaraki, Japan. It is a top 10 Designated National University, and was ranked Type A by the Japanese government as part of the Top Global University Pro ...

in 1976, where he taught until 1987.Obinata, Kin'ichi, ed. (2016). ''大辻清司武蔵野美術大学美術館・図書館所蔵作品目錄 = Ōtsuji Kiyoji: Photographs in the Collection of the Musashino Art University Museum & Library''. Tokyo: Musashino Bijutsu Daigaku Bijutsukan + Toshokan. pp. 327–330. Around 1965, Ōtsuji began to frequently contribute essays and articles to photography magazines such as ''

Camera Mainichi is a Japanese monthly magazine of photography that started in June 1954 and ceased publication in April 1985.Mari Shirayama, "Major Photography Magazines", pp. 378–385 of Anne Wilkes Tucker, ed., ''The History of Japanese Photography'' ...

, Camera Jidai, S D: Space Design,'' and ''Shashin Hihyō,'' among others. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he also continued to experiment with his individual works and publish them, often alongside his texts. In the 1970s, his published works became increasingly theoretical. A series of photographs for ''

Asahi Camera was a Japanese monthly photographic magazine, published from April 1926 until July 2020, when it was discontinued due to declining circulation. History and profile The first issue was that for April 1926.During the twentieth century, Japanese mon ...

,'' "Ōtsuji Kiyoji Experimental Workshop of Photography" (1975), featured both essays and photographs that considered the theoretical issues surrounding photography as a process and discipline. His series ''Hitohako no kako'' ("Past of One Tin Can''"'') was created for his first solo exhibition in 1977, and featured a 23-photograph sequence showing a can of memories being unpacked and individual elements examined by the camera – including old photographs. The series can be seen as a prolonged meditation on the object, which had interested him since his early career. Although no longer working on the staff of ''Geijutsu Shinchō'', Ōtsuji continued to take on contract work for the magazine and others, including ''S D'' and ''Bijutsu Techō.'' He also began photographing artwork for books and

exhibition catalogue There are two types of exhibition catalogue (or exhibition catalog): a printed list of exhibits at an art exhibition; and a directory of exhibitors at a trade fair or business-to-business event. Art or museum exhibition catalogues Catalogues for ...

s, and continued to do so until late in his career. In 1968, he famously coined the term ''konpora,'' derived from ''kontenporarī fotogurafī'' (contemporary photography), which he used to describe a certain type of

documentary photography Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional pho ...

newly present in Japan that had affinities with the work of Western documentary photographers

Robert Frank Robert Frank (November 9, 1924 – September 9, 2019) was a Swiss photographer and documentary filmmaker, who became an American binational. His most notable work, the 1958 book titled ''The Americans'', earned Frank comparisons to a modern-da ...

and

Garry Winogrand Garry Winogrand (January 14, 1928 – March 19, 1984) was an American street photographer, known for his portrayal of U.S. life and its social issues, in the mid-20th century. Photography curator, historian, and critic John Szarkowski called Wino ...

. Exemplified by two photo books published in 1971 – ''Hibi (Day to Day)'' by Ōtsuji’s student

Shigeo Gochō Shigeo (written: 茂雄, 茂生, 茂男, 茂夫, 成雄, 成男, 重雄, 重男, 重夫, 繁雄, 繁男, 晟郎, 殖生 or 滋雄) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese swimm ...

, and ''A Sentimental Journey'' by Araki Nobuyoshi – ''konpora'' photography’s clear, steady images were a contrasting response to the 'are-bure-boke' ( 'grainy/rough, blurry, out-of-focus') style of documentary photography published in '' Provoke.'' Instead of '' Provoke''’s negative,

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

attitude, ''konpora'' photographers attempted to capture the world dispassionately, with simple, straightforward snapshots of commonplace, ordinary subjects. By the 1970s, Ōtsuji’s authority in the Japanese photography world had solidified, and in addition to publishing frequently, he was asked to become a regular guest in a series of roundtable discussions published in ''

'' titled "Roundtable: On Talked-About Photographs," where he was joined by other prominent photographers. He participated in these discussions in 1974, from 1976 to 1978, and again in 1985. Ōtsuji's students include

Yutaka Takanashi is a Japanese photographer who has photographed fashion, urban design, and city life, and is best known for his depiction of Tokyo. Life and career Takanashi was born on 6 February 1935 in Shirogane-chō, Ushigome-ku (now Shinjuku), Tokyo."Chron ...

Shinzō Shimao is a Japanese photographer. Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, editor. . Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000. He is a student of photographer Ōtsuji Kiyoji, and husband to Tokuko Ushioda Tokuko Ushioda (潮田登久子, ''Ushioda Tokuko,'' b. 194 ...

Tokuko Ushioda Tokuko Ushioda (潮田登久子, ''Ushioda Tokuko,'' b. 1940) is a Japanese photographer whose ''Bibliotecha'' series won the Domon Ken Award, the Photographic Society of Japan’s Photographic Society of Japan awards, Lifetime Achievement Award, a ...

and

Naoya Hatakeyama is a Japanese photographer. His work explores human intervention with the landscape and natural materials, including the life of cities and the built environment. Life Hatakeyama was born in Japan Rikuzentakata, Iwate, in 1958. He graduated f ...

Later career: 1980s–2001

After leaving

in 1987, Ōtsuji was a professor at Kyushu Sangyō University until 1996. He spent the later decades continuing to publish his photographs and essays widely, but his contract work decreased and he began to show his own works in such prominent venues as the

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography The is an art museum concentrating on photography. As the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, it was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo. The museum also ...

, the Chiba City Museum of Art,

Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo The is an art gallery in Meguro, Tokyo, Japan. The building was opened in November 1987. Designed by Nihon Sekkei (), it is of reinforced concrete construction, with one basement floor and three floors above ground, and has floor space of 4059 s ...

, and others. In the last few years of his life, an initiative was established to preserve his negatives, and he received recognition through several major solo exhibitions and the publication of the photo book ''Kiyoji Ōtsuji'' (Japanese Photographers 21) by

Iwanami Shoten is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409. Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was Natsume Sōseki's novel ''Ko ...

in 1999.Obinata Kin'ichi, "The Creation of Song Without Words – Kiyoji Otsuji’s 1956," 大辻清司武蔵野美術大学美術館・図書館所蔵作品目錄 = ''Ōtsuji Kiyoji: Photographs in the Collection of the Musashino Art University Museum & Library,'' 330–331.

Selected solo and group exhibitions

* 9th–12t
Bijutsu Bunka
Exhibitions,

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum The is an art museum in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of Japan's many museums which are supported by a prefectural government. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Museums"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', pp. 671-673. The current structure, designed by Kunio M ...

, 1949–1952 * Ogawa Yoshikazu and Ōtsuji Kiyoji Two-Man Show, Takemiya Gallery, Tokyo, 1952 * ''The 5th Experimental Workshop Presentation'', Daiichi Seimei Hall, Tokyo, 1953 * 1st–3rd Graphic Group Exhibitions, Matsuya Department Store, Ginza, 1953, 1955–1956; 4th Graphic Group Exhibition, Konishiroku Gallery, Tokyo, 1956 *

From Space to Environment was a postwar Japanese exhibition of contemporary art and design that was held on the eighth floor gallery of the Matsuya Department Store in Ginza, Tokyo, from November 11–16, 1966. It was organised by the multidisciplinary group Environment ...

, Matsuya Department Store, Ginza, Tokyo, 1966 * Past of One Tin Can, Prism, Tokyo, 1977 * Exhibition Ōtsuji Kiyoji, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, 1987 * Ōtsuji Kiyoji 1948–1987 Exhibition, University of Tsukuba Gallery, Tsukuba, 1987 * The Age of Modernism,

, 1995 * Ōtsuji Kiyoji Portfolio, Mole, Tokyo, 1997 * Kiyoji Ōtsuji Retrospective: Experimental Workshop of Photography, National Film Center,

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo The in Tokyo, Japan, is the foremost museum collecting and exhibiting modern Japanese art. This Tokyo museum is also known by the English acronym MOMAT (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). The museum is known for its collection of 20th-centu ...

, 1999 * Kiyoji Ōtsuji and Fifteen Photographers
Tokyo Zōkei University Yokoyama Memorial Manzu Art Museum
Tokyo, 1999 * Kiyoji Ōtsuji: Shūzō Takiguchi & Yoshishige Saitō on Photo,

Museum of Modern Art, Toyama The is a museum in Toyama, Toyama. It is one of Japan's many museums which are supported by a prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Museums"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', pp. 671-673. The museum, which opened in 1981, stands within Jōnan ...

, 2003 * Kiyoji Ōtsuji: Photographs as Collaborations, Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo, 2007 * APN Research,

Kunsthalle Bern The Kunsthalle Bern is a ''Kunsthalle'' (art exposition hall) on the Helvetiaplatz in Bern, Switzerland. It was built in 1917–1918 by the Kunsthalle Bern Association and opened on October 5, 1918. Since then, it has been the site of numerous e ...

, 2012 * Kiyoji Ōtsuji "Photographic Archive": The Traces of the Photographer and the Art of His Era 1940–1980,

Museum & Library, Tokyo, 2012
Gutai: Splendid Playground

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

, New York, 2013 * Jikken Kōbō: Experimental Workshop, Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, 2013 * Ōtsuji Kiyoji, Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, 2013
For a New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968–1979

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

, 2015
Japanese Photography from Postwar to Now

SF MoMA The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary a ...

, San Francisco, 2016

Collections and archives

Ōtsuji’s photographic archives are held by the

Museum & Library. Prints of his photographs are also held in the collections of the

, the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, and M+ Hong Kong.

Sources

* Obinata Kin’ichi, ed. 大辻清司武蔵野美術大学美術館・図書館所蔵作品目錄 = ''Ōtsuji Kiyoji: Photographs in the Collection of the Musashino Art University Museum & Library.'' Tokyo: Musashino Bijutsu Daigaku Bijutsukan + Toshokan, 2016. * The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, ed. 大辻清司写真実験室 = Kiyoji Ohtsuji retrospective--experimental workshop of photography. Tokyo: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Kindai Bijutsukan, 1999. * Nakamori Yasufumi, ed. ''For a New World To Come: Experiments in Japanese art and photography, 1968–1979.'' Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otsuji, Kiyoji Japanese photographers 1923 births 2001 deaths Surrealist artists

Biography

Early life: 1923–1945

Early career: 1945–1952

Work with avant-garde groups: 1953–1959

Teaching, publishing, and writing: 1960s–1970s

Later career: 1980s–2001

Selected solo and group exhibitions

Collections and archives

Sources

Further reading

References