Shigeru Tamura (photographer)

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For a younger photographer of the same name, see Akihide Tamura.

Shigeru Tamura (田村茂, Tamura Shigeru; 28 February 1909 – 16 December 1987) was a Japanese photographer notable for his work in fashion and photojournalism.

Tamura was born in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. Shigeru was an assumed name; Tamura's personal name was probably Torashige.^[1] He studied photography, graduating in 1929. With Yoshio Watanabe, in 1935 he set up a studio for advertising and other photography in Ginza, Tokyo. He was highly successful as a fashion photographer, notably in work for the magazine Fujin Gahō from 1937. Together with Ken Domon and others, he set up the Young People's Photojournalism Research Society (Seinen Hōdōshashin Kenkyūkai) in 1938.

Tamura emerged from the war as a photographer of social issues in Japan, approaching them from a pacifist and left-wing angle. He also traveled, producing books on the Arab world and North Vietnam. In 1963 he set up the Japan Realist Photographers Association (Nihon Riarizumu Shashin Shūdan).

In the 1970s Tamura documented the topography and cultural patrimony of Japan. He died in 1987.

[edit] Note

1. ^ The reference books agree that his original name was 田村寅茂, but none yet seen specifies the reading of 寅茂. Its most obvious reading is Torashige.

[edit] Books by Tamura

• Gendai Nihon no hyakunin (現代日本の百人). 1953.
• Arabu no shinjitsu (アラブの真実). 1958.
• Kita Betonamu no shōgen (北ベトナムの証言). 1967.
• Minna ga eiyū (みんなが英雄).
• Nihon no fūdo to bunka (日本の風土と文化). 1976.
• Tamura Shigeru no shashin jinsei (田村茂の写真人生). 1986.

[edit] Sources and links

• (Japanese) Nihon shashinka jiten (『日本写真家事典』, 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers). Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000. ISBN 4-473-01750-8
• (Japanese) Shashinka 100nin: Kao to sakuhin (『写真家100人：顔と作品』) / 100 photographers, profiles and photographs. Special 20th anniversary supplement to Camera Mainichi, 1974.
• Shigeru Tamura at PhotoGuide Japan