Kyoto Photo Society （キヨウト・ホト・ソサエテ）(1925-1960s) was an amateur group of photographers active in the Kyoto area. The ARS Camera Annual states that the organization was established in the 1925 by Motohiko Goto.
["List of photographic groups in Japan" in ARS Camera Annual 1926, p.17] Other members included
Noboru Ueki
was a renowned 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 photog ...
and
Yushi Kobayashi Yushi may refer to:
*Mount Yushi, a mountain in Dongyang Township, Guangfeng District, Shangrao, Jiangxi, China
*Yushi, Hunan, a town in Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan, China
*Yushi Subdistrict, in Xishi District, Yingkou, Liaoning, China
* ...
among others. Photography Historian
Ryuichi Kaneko notes that there were various photography clubs emerging in the Kansai Area such as the Nihon Kōga Geijutsu Kyōkai (Japan Photographic Art Association, 日本光画芸術協会),
Naniwa Photography Club The Naniwa Photography Club (浪華写真倶楽部) is an avant-garde amateur photography club that was established with the support of the Kuwata Photographic Materials company in 1904 in Osaka. It is the oldest amateur photography club in Japan. ...
, and the
Tampei Photography Club
The was a group based in Osaka from 1930 until 1941 that promoted avant-garde and, toward the end, socially concerned photography.
The group was founded around the photographer Bizan Ueda, among photographers who bought their supplies from the T ...
, but these focused around the Osaka-Kobe region. Although there were photographers from the Kyoto area who were members of these groups, the Kyoto Photo Society was the first amateur group of photographers from the Kyoto area. They are introduced together as the Kyoto Photo Society in the October 1939 issue of the ''Photo Times.''
After World War II, avant-garde photography was released from the restrictions of wartime censorship. Kaneko notes that while Japanese photography was more focused on documentary-style photorealism. Groups such as the Kyoto Photo Society made headways in the field of avant-garde photography. The group held exhibitions with other notable photography clubs and organizations such as the Association of Avant-Garde Photography, Nagoya Photo Avant-Garde, Hyogo Photographers Group, and Modern Photography Society.
The group naturally dissipates and key members of this group such as Noboru Ueki and Yushi Kobayashi become core members of the
Kyoto Photo Artists Association.
References
{{Reflist
Japanese photography organizations
Culture in Kyoto
Arts organizations established in 1925