About this Item
[Yokohama n.d. ca. 1880's, Kusakabe]. Lacquer photo album, brown leather spine, inset illustration of Wind God, woman & rickshaw puller, 36 x 27 cm., 50 hand-colored photos, all edge gilt, very clean, & solid, 26.5 x 21 cm, tissue guards. . *** **** *** . . BY THE EARLY JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHER KUSAKABE IN YOKOHAMA . . . A PICTORIAL GUIDE TO JAPANESE & THEIR WAY OF LIFE . . . AND GUIDE TO FAMOUS SIGHTS . . .WITH THE COLLABORATION OF THE EMINENT NAGASAKI PHOTOGRAPHER . . . UENO HIKOMA . * This stunning album contains some fifty individually numbered & English captioned photographic studies of Japan. Comprehensive coverage of the early Meiji Period [1868-1912] photographic images. . Showing the way of life, costume, culture, life style, clothing, farming, rice culture, planting, rice paddy, various kinds of craftsmen, carpenters, umbrella & lantern makers, native architecture, Buddhist temples, bamboo groves, people from all walks of life, musicians, entertainers, tattooed men, women & men, Rickshaws and Rickshaw men, travelers, tea shop, gardens, rivers, waterfalls, Mt. Fuji, beautiful landscape, famous places of stunning natural geographical beauty and many others. . *** THE IMAGES: A very good variety of subjects, by and large these early photographs are strong images, clear, many are very unusual and unique subjects covering a broad scope of examples. . *** THE PHOTOGRAPHER: KUSAKABE Kimbei [1841-1934]: . Kimbei was a very well-known prominent Japanese photographer, who served the foreign community in Yokohama, operating from ca. 1881-1913. He gained his skills by working for both of the most famous foreign photographers ever to come to Japan: Felix Beato and Raimulnd von Stillfried. . Per Bennett, ".no studio comes close to matching Kusakabe's for the consistent quality and variety lf its output." Bennett p.203 PHOTOGRAPHY IN JAPAN 1853-1912. . Kimbei created lovely photographic albums with scenery, studio images of posed Japanese men and women and a wide variety of other fascinating subjects in his souvenir albums. His work was of a high quality and of the most interesting nature. . The foreign community of Yokohama were inspired by his photographic albums of hand-tinted photos, mostly found in beautiful and stunningly attractive lacquer albums. These were keepsakes, brought back to the homeland, as a souvenir of a journey and stay in Japan. . Kusakabe was a very unique Japanese photographer who understood Western photographic principals, but stuck to his native Japanese style and tradition of capturing native Japanese subjects with great skill. . Kusakabe most likely apprenticed with both Beato and Stillfried as a photograph colorist. In 1885 he managed to acquire a number of Beato and Stillfried negatives which were reprinted and sold in his albums. Kusakabe being located on the main street in Yokohama had many foreign clients who purchased his albums. . His landscapes captured what 19th century Japan was truly like. His portraits also reflected a "natural" beauty and quality not found in the work of other Japanese photographers who posed 'stiff' portraits and dull studio scenes of the time, even though many were posed with a kind of humor in mind ! . Kusakabe also sold photographs by the famous Nagasaki photographer Ueno Hikoma. He often added them to his albums. We suspect the Nagasaki and southernmost areas of Japan found in these albums were by Hikoma. . There is common confusion regarding the works of both Kusakabe Kimbei and those of Kashima Seibi [1866-1924]. . Kashima was known as the photographer of a book by Angus: JAPAN: The Eastern Wonderland, & volume seven of the PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHER. He is often & wrongly referred to as "Kajima." He also had a studio and his images were often re-used by K. Ogawa as Kashima helped finance Ogawa's collotype [photo] business. See Bennett below for more biographical and other details on these photographers. . *** PHOTOGRAPHER UNENO HIKOMA [1838-1904: . Hikoma was a pioneer Japa. Seller Inventory # 39034001
Contact seller
Report this item
