__NOTOC__ was a Japanese photographer known for photographing children and the life of

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

and environs. Usui was born in Nagoya on 12 December 1916; the actor

Shigeru Amachi was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 120 films from 1953 to 1984. Career Amachi joined the Shintoho studio as one of its "New Face" actors of 1951 and established himself in action and jidaigeki films. He gained fame for the nihilist ...

(born Noboru Usui) was a younger brother. He started photography around 1933 — when he bought a Rokuoh-sha Pearlette (a '' besutan'' camera, or copy of the Vest Pocket Kodak) — and from 1934 subscribed to '' Photo Times,'' whose regular contributor Sakae Tamura inspired and influenced him. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Usui worked to set up a series of amateur photography groups in Nagoya. One of these was Shūdan 35 (), whose members in 1952 included the young Shōmei Tōmatsu. Between 1950 and 1955 Usui won the annual award in ''

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'' three times, his works there being highly praised by

Ken Domon is one of the most renowned Japanese photographers of the 20th century. He is most celebrated as a photojournalist, though he may have been most prolific as a photographer of Buddhist temples and statuary. Biography Domon was born in Sakata, Y ...

, whose realist approach Usui followed enthusiastically. Usui went on to win contests judged by Domon and held by '' Photo Art'' in the late 1950s. Usui was not content to stick with realism: some of the photographs from his staged series of the 1980s ''Arsène Lupin'' appeared in ''

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'' and the self-published book of them is well regarded. Usui won ''Aichi-ken Geijutsu Bunka Shōreishō'' (), a cultural award from Aichi Prefecture, in 1994. At around this time, he — like

Shōji Ueda __NOTOC__ was a photographer of Tottori, Japan, who combined surrealist compositional elements with realistic depiction. Most of the work for which Ueda is widely known was photographed within a strip of about 350 km running from Igumi (on ...

and several other photographers of his era — again came to enjoy photography with a '' besutan'' camera or lens. He died in December 2010 at the age of 93.臼井薫
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Books by Usui

* no ki no shita'' (, Under the tobira tree). Nagoya: Kaoru Usui, 1973. * (). Nagoya: Kaidō Shuppan Iinkai, 1984. Black and white photographs of ''

kaidō were roads in Japan dating from the Edo period. They played important roles in transportation like the Appian Way of ancient Roman roads. Major examples include the Edo Five Routes, all of which started at Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Minor exam ...

'' (Japan's ancient roads). * () / ''Arsène Lupin.'' Nagoya: Kaoru Usui, 1985. * (). Nagoya: Usui Kaoru Shashin no Mise, 1987. Photographs of

. * (). Nagoya: Usui Kaoru Shashin no Mise, 1988. * (, My photographic history of Shōwa: From 1935 to 1970). Nagoya: Usui Kaoru Shashin no Mise, 1991. Black and white photographs of this 35-year period within the

Shōwa period Shōwa may refer to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufacturer, affiliated with the Honda keiretsu Japanese eras * Jōwa (Heian ...

. * (). Nagoya: Kyōdo Shuppansha, 1993. . Photographs of and text about children from the late 1940s until the mid sixties; captions and texts in Japanese only. *(Joint work.) (). Nagoya: Kyōdo Shuppansha, 1993. . * (, All is vanity: Works in three parts for the Aichi Prefecture ''Geijutsu Bunka'' award). Nagoya: Kaidō Shuppan Iinkai, 1996. Color photographs, including a set taken with a ''besutan'' lens. * (). Nagoya: Kyōdo Shuppansha, 1998. . *With Toshirō Maruo (). ''Amachi Shigeru'' (). Tokyo: Wides, 1999. . Photographs of

. * (). Seto, Aichi: Seto City Art Museum, 2000. Catalogue of an exhibition held at Seto City Art Museum; photographs of Seto from 1955–64, especially landscapes and children. * (). Gifu: Gifu Shinbunsha, 2002. .

Notes

References

*''Nihon shashinka jiten'' () / ''328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers.'' Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000. . Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese. *''Shashinshū o yomu: Besuto 338 kanzen gaido'' (, Reading photobooks: A complete guide to the best 338). Tokyo: Metarōgu, 1997. . There is a pocket review of ''Arsène Lupin'' on p.163. {{DEFAULTSORT:Usui, Kaoru 1916 births 2010 deaths Japanese photographers People from Nagoya