Sakae Tamura (photographer)

[
thumb|right|TamuraTokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in 1995.] nihongo|Sakae Tamura|田村 榮|Tamura Sakae|1906–1987 was a Japanese photographer, prominent in the years before the war.

Born in Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, [Matsumoto claims — in “Sakka kaisetsu” (nihongo2|作家解説, About the photographers) — that he was born in Tokyo; this article instead follows the "Biographic Dictionary" and "Founding" as later and perhaps better informed works.] Tamura graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography (nihongo2|東京写真専門学校, "Tōkyō Shashin Senmon Gakkō"; now Tokyo Polytechnic University) and entered Oriental (nihongo2|オリエンタル写真工, "Orientaru Shashin Kōgyō") in 1928 and became editor of "Photo Times." He was an active contributor to the magazine "Geijutsu Shashin Kenkyū" and in the group Nihon Kōga Kyōkai (nihongo2|日本光画協会), created in 1928 and related to Nihon Kōga Geijutsu Kyōkai (nihongo2|日本光画芸術協会). He was a leading figure in the New Photography Research Society (nihongo2|新興写真研究会, "Shinkō Shashin Kenkyūkai"), formed in 1930.

Tamura's work was influenced both by pictorialism and by New Photography.

Tamura is particularly known for his portraits, and "Shiroi hana" (nihongo2|白い花, White flower, 1931) is the best known of these and widely anthologized. [Handsome reproductions of two different versions appear as plate 52 of Matsumoto, ed., "Collection" (reddish), and plates 32 and 93 of "Founding" and Tucker, ed., "History" respectively (much more neutral).] Okatsuka says that it expresses a certain lyricism but “displays a more sophisticated sense of maturity” than the works of his contemporaries Masataka Takayama and Jun Watanabe. [Akiko Okatsuka, in "Founding," 20.]

Books by Tamura

*"Seibutsu shashin no utsushikata" (nihongo2|静物写真の写し方). Tokyo: Sōgeisha, 1952. A guide to photographing still-lifes.
*"Sakuga no daiippo" (nihongo2|作画の第一歩 [On the cover, a nonstandard glyph is used for 画: 二 enclosing 田.] ). Tokyo: Genkōsha, 1954. A guide to the practice of photography.

Notes

ources

*Kaneko Ryūichi. “The Origins and Development of Japanese Art Photography.” Pp. 100–42 of Tucker, ed., "History." Pp. 110–13, 137. en icon
*Matsuda Takako. “Tamura Sakae”. In Tucker, ed., "History," p. 363. en icon
*Matsumoto Norihiko. (nihongo2|松本徳彦), ed. "A Collection of Japanese Photographs 1912–1940." Tokyo: Shashinkosha , 1990. ja icon Despite its English-only title, the book is in Japanese only. It is a lavish production (if unpaginated), not offered for sale and instead presumably distributed to customers.
*"Nihon kindai shashin no seiritsu to tenkai" (nihongo2|日本近代写真の成立と展開) / "The Founding and Development of Modern Photography in Japan." Tokyo: Tokyo Museum of Photography, 1995. en icon ja icon
*"Nihon no shashinka" (nihongo2|日本の写真家) / "Biographic Dictionary of Japanese Photography." Tokyo: Nichigai Associates, 2005. ISBN 4-8169-1948-1. ja icon Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.
*"Taidan: Shashin kono gojūnen" (nihongo2|対談：写真この五十年, Discussions: The last fifty years of photography). Edited by the staff of "Asahi Camera." Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1974. ja icon Ihei Kimura interviews Tamura in chapter 7, "Shinkō shashin tezukuri no aji" (nihongo2|新興写真手作りの味).
*Tucker, Anne Wilkes, et al. "The History of Japanese Photography." New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-300-09925-8. en icon