was a Japanese photographer.

Career

Kurata was born in Chūō-ku,

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 ...

, 1945. He graduated from the

Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...

in 1968. He taught in secondary school and worked in oils, printmaking, and experimental movies. He practised under

Daidō Moriyama is a Japanese photographer best known for his black-and-white street photography and association with the avant-garde photography magazine ''Provoke (magazine), Provoke''. Moriyama’s rough, unfettered photographic style makes use of sharply t ...

in an independent photography workshop in 1976. Kurata won the fifth

Kimura Ihei Award The is a Japanese photography award. The award has been given every year since 1975 (except 1983) by the Asahi Shimbun Company, publisher of ''Asahi Shimbun'' and the magazine '' Asahi Camera'', in honor of the photographer Ihei Kimura was a J ...

in 1980 for his first book, ''Flash Up.'' For the

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

photographs here, Kurata used flash and a

medium format Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&nbs ...

camera, resulting in a detailed portrait of a world of ''

bōsōzoku is a Japanese youth subculture associated with customized motorcycles. The first appearance of these types of biker gangs was in the 1950s. Popularity climbed throughout the 1980s and 1990s, peaking at an estimated 42,510 members in 1982. Thei ...

,'' gangsters, rightists, strippers, transvestites, and so on: as Parr and

Badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...

point out, these are old subjects; but in his "highly polished, detailed" work, Kurata "has an unerring instinct for pictures that suggest stories". ''Photo Cabaret'' and ''80's Family'' continued in this direction. This Japanese work of Kurata's is anthologized in his later volume ''Japan.'' Kurata won the PSJ award in 1992. A long stay in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

in 1994 led to the book ''Toransu Ajia,'' which continued color work of the Asian mainland started with ''Dai-Ajia.'' In 1999 Kurata's book ''Japan'' won the Kodansha Publishing Culture Award () for a work of photography. Prints of Kurata's photographs are in the permanent collections of

ICP ICP may refer to: Business * ICP srl, Italian manufacturer of automotive equipment and kit aircraft *Ideal customer profile: see Qualified prospect * International Comfort Products Corporation, US air conditioning and heating company * Indonesi ...

(New York), the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

, and 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 al ...

. He died on 27 February 2020.

Solo exhibitions

* "Street Photo Random Tokyo 1975–79".

Nikon Salon is the name given to exhibition spaces and activities run by Nikon in Japan. The Ginza Nikon Salon (in Ginza, Tokyo) opened in January 1968 (with an exhibition of work by Ihei Kimura) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Nippon Kōgaku (later r ...

, Tokyo and Osaka, 1979.List of exhibitions, last (non-numbered) page, "Trans Asia, again!" (Tokyo: Place M, 2013). * "Photo Cabaret". Doi Photo Plaza, Shibuya, Tokyo, 1983. * "Street Photo Random Tokyo 2". Nikon Salon, Tokyo, 1986. * "Great Asia". Minolta Photo Space, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 1990. *"Quest for Eros" I. Mole, Tokyo, 1993. * "Trans Asia". Nikon Salon, Tokyo; Visual Arts School, Osaka, 1995. *"Tokyo: Theatrical Megalopolis". O. K. Harris Gallery, New York, 1995. * "Trans Market: Tokyo Kanda vegetable and fruit market". Nikon Salon, Tokyo and Osaka, 1996. * Japan from the 70s to the 90s. Kodak Photo Salon, Tokyo, 1999. *"Quest for Eros" II. Galleria Prova, Tokyo, 1999. *. Epsite, Tokyo, 2008. *. Gallery Punctum, Tokyo, 2009. *"Trans Asia, again!" Place M, Tokyo, 2013.

Publications by Kurata

Following a title in Japanese script, an italicized roman-letter title is one provided on or in the book itself; a non-italicized roman-letter title is a mere gloss of the original title. *''Flash Up: Street Photo Random Tokyo 1975–1979.'' Tokyo: Byakuya Shobō, 1980. Black-and-white photographs. Includes one essay in English but also several in Japanese only; the captions too are only in Japanese. *''Foto Kyabarē'' () / ''Photo Cabaret.'' Tokyo: Byakuya Shobō, 1982. . Black-and-white photographs of Japan. Text in Japanese only. *''Dai-Ajia'' (, Great Asia). Tokyo: IBC, 1990. . *''80's Family: Street Photo Random Japan.'' Tokyo: JICC Shuppankyoku, 1991. . Black-and-white and colour photographs of Japan. Text in Japanese only. *''Toransu-Ajia'' (, Trans-Asia). Tokyo:

Ōta Shuppan is a Japanese publishing company. With a number of controversial books that disturbed the Japanese society and its erotic manga comics, the company has established itself like a source of provocative "subculture" items. History Ohta Publishing ...

, 1995. . *''Japan'' () / ''Japan.'' Tokyo: Shinchōsha, Photo Musée, 1998. . The captions are in English. *''Kuesuto fō Erosu'' () / ''Quest for Eros.'' Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1998. . *''Trans Asia, again!'' Tokyo: Place M, 2013. . Zine, published on the occasion of an exhibition at Place M of the same title. *''Flash Up.'' Tokyo: Zen Foto Gallery, 2013. *''Toshi no zōkei'' (). Kamakura: Super Labo, 2015. .Super Labo's page about the booklet i
here

Notes

References

Links and sources

* Iizawa Kōtarō. ''Tōkyō shashin'' () / ''Tokyo Photography.'' Tokyo: Inax, 1995. . Despite the English subtitle, all in Japanese. Photographs by and essays on Kineo Kuwabara, William Klein,

Masatoshi Naitō is a Japanese photographer. According to Michael Hoppen Gallery, Naitō was born in Tokyo in 1938. He graduated from Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = ...

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 ...

Nobuyoshi Araki is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist professionally known by the mononym . Known primarily for photography that blends eroticism and bondage in a fine art context, he has published over 500 books.The number depends on such things ...

Ryūji Miyamoto Ryūji Miyamoto (宮本隆司, ''Miyamoto Ryūji'', born 1947) is a Japanese photographer, best known as the “ruins photographer”.Ryūji Miyamoto, “Miyamoto Ryūji no intabyū: ‘Toshi no muishiki’ wo toru” (An interview with Miyamoto ...

, Kyōichi Tsuzuki, and Yurie Nagashima, as well as Kurata.
Profile
at TPO Photo School.

*Ono, Philbert.
Kurata Seiji
. Brief note at PhotoGuide Japan. *Parr, Martin, and Gerry Badger. ''The Photobook'' 1. London: Phaidon, 2004. . * ''Sanjūroku fotogurafāzu: Kimura Ihei Shashinshō no sanjūnen'' (, 36 photographers: 30 years of the Kimura Ihei Award). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbun, 2005. . With sample photographs from each of the award-winners. * ''Shashinshū o yomu: Besuto 338 kanzen gaido'' (, Reading photobooks: A complete guide to the best 338). Tokyo: Metarōgu, 1997. . P.172. Review of ''80's Family.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurata, Seiji 1945 births 2020 deaths Japanese photographers People from Chūō, Tokyo Tokyo University of the Arts alumni Street photographers