was a Japanese nature
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 ...
.
Life and career
Tominari was born on August 17, 1919, in
Shimonoseki
is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsushim ...
,
Yamaguchi Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). Y ...
. Graduating in 1942 from Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō (, now
Tokyo University of the Arts
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 ...
), by the 1960s he had begun to specialize in plant photography. He also painted.
[Kazuko Sekiji (), "Tominari Tadao", in ''Nihon shashinka jiten'' () / ''328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers'' (Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000; ), p.223. ]
In 1975 Tominari established a photography company 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 ...
, Tokyo. For the following three years he photographed for an encyclopedia, published by
Asahi Shinbun-sha
is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...
, of the plants of the world: ''Asahi hyakka: Sekai no shokubutsu.'' He contributed to fifty photographically illustrated guides to plants and similar works.
He was awarded the 1990 Japan Picture Book Awards Grand Prize for his photo collection . He died at the age of 73 on September 25, 1992, in Tokyo.
Collections
Seventeen of Tominari's photographs are in the collection of 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 ...
.
Search results
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. Accessed March 11, 2013.
Books with photography by Tominari
*''Hana no techō: No no hana'' (). Tokyo: Kodansha, 1968. Photography by Tominari.
*''Kisetsu no hana: Utsukushii hana no miryoku'' (). Tokyo: Jitsugyō-no-Nihon-sha, 1968.
*''Nihon no kaboku'' (). Tokyo: Kodansha, 1971. Photography by Tominari.
*''Gendai tsubaki-shū: Tominari Tadao shashin'' (). Tokyo: Kodansha, 1972.
*''Tsutsuji, satsuki, shakunage'' (). Tokyo: Kodansha, 1974. Photography by Tominari.
*''Genshoku sansai'' (). Tokyo: Ie-no-hikari Kyōkai, 1974. Photography by Tominari.
*''No no kusa to ki to'' (). Tokyo: Yama-to-keikoku-sha, 1978. . By Tominari.
*''Kiyose: Kusaki hana'' (). 7 vols. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1979–80. Photography by Tominari.
*''1982-ki'' (). Tokyo: Tokyo Editorial Center, 1982. . By Tominari.
*''Kigi hyakkasen'' (). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbun-sha, 1989. . Photography by Tominari.
*''Fuyume gashōdan'' (). Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten, 1990. . Co-photographed by Tominari.
*''Neichā wārudo: Chikyū ni ikiru'' () / ''Nature World: Life on Earth.'' Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1997. Catalogue of an exhibition of the work of various photographers, with texts and captions in Japanese and English.
References
External links
Tadao Tominari
at J'Lit Books from Japan
Japanese photographers
1919 births
1992 deaths
People from Shimonoseki
Nature photographers
{{Japan-photographer-stub