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Return to Photography in Japan Between the Wars (1920–1940)
| Yasuo Hirai - Translation of inscription verso, "Maiko, taken by Yasuo Hirai" |
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Contact: Charles Schwartz
Email: cms@cs-photo.com
Phone: 212-534-4496
Company: Charles Schwartz Ltd.
Company: 21 East 90th Street
Company: New York, NY 10128 USA
URL: http://www.cs-photo.com
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| Ref.#: 9290 |
| Price: $4,500 |
| Medium: Vintage Gelatin Silver Print |
| Image Date: 1936 |
| Print Date: 1936 |
| Dimensions: 11.75 x 9 in. (298 x 229 mm) |
| Photo Country: Japan |
| Photographer Country: Japan |
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| Description: Hirai was born in either 1914 or 1915. It is not known how he learned photography, but in 1935 he joined Shiseido's shashin-bu, or photography department, as a staff photographer. In 1966 he was appointed director of Shiseido Gallery. This gallery, located in Tokyo's Ginza district, was founded in 1919 by Shinzo and Roso Fukuhara, and remains one of the premier art galleries in Tokyo.
A protege and personal aide to Shinzo Fukuhara, Hirai often accompanied Shinzo and his brother Roso on photo excursions around Japan. This print shows a maiko, or apprentice geisha, dressed in an elaborate kimono, taken in Kyoto. Roso Fukuhara also photographed the same maiko in the same costume, presumably at the same time.
This print comes from the estate of a former executive of the Shiseido Company and was discovered in Tokyo in 2004, the result of an estate sale. 1 |
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