Takeji Iwamiya

Takeji Iwamiya (岩宮 武二, Iwamiya Takeji, 1920 – 1989) was a Japanese photographer particularly known for his depiction of architecture, gardens, and Japanese crafts.[1]

Career

Iwamiya was born on 4 January 1920 in Yonago, Tottori, the second son of parents running a shop selling traditional confectionery. An uncle of his ran a commercial photography studio, and this triggered the boy's interest in photography; but as a high school student he was keenest on baseball. After graduation from high school he worked Hankyu Department Store in Umeda (Osaka), where he entered the Mitsuwa photography club (ミツワ写真クラブ, Mitsuya shashin kurabu), led by Bizan Ueda and Nakaji Yasui. Following success in a photographic contest arranged by Asahi Shinbun, Iwamiya was invited to join the Tampei Photography Club and went on to become an assistant of Yasui's. He joined the Nankai Hawks in 1939 but left after half a year and in 1941 was sent to Manchukuo as a photographer.

Iwamiya returned to [mainland] Japan before the end of the war, and after the war opened a photofinishing shop serving a US base at Sannomiya (Kobe). While recuperating from tuberculosis in 1954, he photographed a mannequin factory nearby in Osaka; these photographs won the gold medal in the second Fuji Photo Contest, and were exhibited in the Matsushima Gallery (松島ギャラリー, Matsushima gyararī) in Ginza (Tokyo), as Iwamiya's first solo show. He also exhibited in West Germany, and at around this time got to know Ken Domon, who exerted a great influence on him. In 1955 he set up Iwamiya Photos (岩宮フォトス, Iwamiya fotosu) for commercial photography. Iwamiya's photographs of Sado island were exhibited at the Osaka Fuji Photo Salon and elsewhere in 1956; these would later appear in book form.

Two of Iwamiya's apprentices went on to be famous photographers in their own right. Seiryū Inoue joined Iwamiya's studio in 1951 and was encouraged by Iwamiya in his photographic work in Kamagasaki. Daidō Moriyama joined Iwamiya's studio in 1959 and was taken under Inoue's wing until Moriyama's departure for Tokyo in 1961.

From 1962, Iwamiya brought out a considerable number of books, mostly depicting Japanese crafts and architecture; several won awards. In 1966 he became a professor of Osaka University of Arts.

Iwamiya died in Osaka on 26 June 1989.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Selection of other exhibitions

Works in permanent collections

Works by Iwamiya are in the permanent collections of the following institutions:

Books showing Iwamiya's works

References

  1. ↑ Unless otherwise noted, biographical information is from one or other of Akiko Okatsuka (岡塚章子) Nihon shashinka jiten (日本写真家事典) / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers (Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000; ISBN 4-473-01750-8), p.53; "Iwamiya Takeji", Nihon no shashinka (日本の写真家) / Biographic Dictionary of Japanese Photography (Tokyo: Nichigai Associates, 2005; ISBN 4-8169-1948-1), pp. 56–58. Despite the English-language alternative titles, both books are entirely in Japanese.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 List of exhibitions, Sengo shashin / Saisei to tenkai (戦後写真・再生と展開) / Twelve Photographers in Japan, 1945–55 (Yamaguchi: Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, 1990), pp. 205–206.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 List of exhibitions of Iwamiya's works, Osaka Contemporary Art Center. Accessed 5 March 2009.
  4. ↑ "Alphoto", written in katakana as in the title of this exhibition, is a line of photographic chemicals from Fujifilm. The title perhaps refers to this.
  5. ↑ The source specifies the title (in Japanese script) as Arufoto; see the previous note.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 The source does not specify the name of the gallery.
  7. 1 2 3 Name inferred from the Japanese script.
  8. ↑ Town not specified in source.
  9. ↑ Reading of 墨象 unknown.
  10. ↑ Name inferred from the Japanese script; town not specified.
  11. 1 2 "Takeji Iwamiya: Photo and Drawing Exhibition", Osaka Contemporary Art Center. (in Japanese) Accessed 7 March 2009.
  12. ↑ Page about the exhibition (in Japanese) Accessed 7 March 2009.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 CV of Iwamiya, Osaka Contemporary Art Center. (in Japanese) Accessed 11 March 2009.
  14. ↑ As denoted by Iwamiya's inclusion within Nihon shashinka jiten, without a disclaimer.
  15. ↑ Norihiko Matsumoto (松本徳彦), ed., Nihon no bijutsukan to shashin korekushon (日本の美術館と写真コレクション, Japan's art galleries and photography collections; Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2002; ISBN 4-473-01894-6) (in Japanese). P. 161.
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