119:. The family in Toyotsu owned a coal mine, so Masayoshi grew up privileged and entered Ueno Art College in Tokyo to pursue his artistic ambitions. But during University, the family's coal mine was destroyed due to a natural disaster that financially ruined the family, forcing Masayoshi to begin working as an art teacher soon after graduating. Forced to give up his ambitions as a painter, Masayoshi picked up photography and taught himself photo development and retouching techniques, which he later taught at the Tokyo Photography Academy.
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was an incident that was indicative of that egalitarian spirit. A photo of a puppet lying on a table that Otsuka took sparked a fierce debate between Kimura Ihee and Nobuo Ina. Ihee said that the photograph was blurry and reprimanded Otsuka for presenting such a photo to the group. Ina defended Otsuka's photo saying that the blurriness was the photograph's tone. The debate did not abate until days later, and Kimura apologized to Otsuka's father, Masayoshi, for criticizing Otsuka's photograph.
195:. It was there that they developed a technique for making life-size prints of human models for department store advertisements, as mannequins were not yet widely used at the time. Ostuka struck gold as he became flooded with orders from various department stores; he became so busy that he had to hire students from Ueno Art College to help him.
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distilling the essence behind any given scene or situation. Therefore, he allowed himself, despite being fully away from the suffering going on below, to shudder at the sheer beauty of the conflagration. Becoming one with his camera, he accepted without judgment whatever impression the spectacle made on his senses.
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At these meetings, 20 or so photographers would come together and share photos. The participants would often have intense debates about the modernity of their photographs. As the youngest regular member of the group, the lively egalitarian environment of open discussions heavily influenced him. There
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He wrote many stories of his own volition and avoided battlefronts when possible, unlike his contemporaries. However, it is not clear if he was viewed suspiciously by the
Japanese military police, who detained Otsuka for two nights. They questioned him about the content of his reporting and his lack
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Otsuka said about these meetings: “Everyone was in earnest, and said exactly what they felt. Seniority counted for nothing. At that time, a student like myself would normally have been expected to remain silent in such company, but no one there ignored me, and I could speak out whenever I wanted to.
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Otsuka's photographic production picked up pace during these years. In addition to his newspaper photographs, he took portraits and street photographs that captured the reality of post-war Japan, focusing on images that captured social trends and phenomena. His reputation only grew as he became the
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He said: “It was highly unusual for a civilian like myself to be involved in such work, but in those days, the army could do whatever it wanted. I learned that I had been chosen because I was the lightest photographer the army could find. The
Shinshitei was made to carry only two people, the pilot,
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Although Otsuka had been promised employment at the Asahi newspaper upon graduation, the newspaper told him that he would have to wait and that he would have to find a temporary job. He decided to create a small photography studio named Ginza
Commercial Photography Research Center with his friends,
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performances. Still, his father would not allow him to pursue it and forced him to enroll as a photography student at the Tokyo
Industrial Art High School in 1929. During his student days as one of the six photography students in his class, he began working for many different clients as the demand
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When the Asahi Camera photography magazine restarted publication after the war in 1949, Otsuka worked with the magazine. This collaboration was radical at the time, as many newspaper photographers would have considered it a blow to their ego to stoop down and present their photographs on the same
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In my mind, this response reflects Otsuka’s ability, even when finding himself in the thick of the action, to distance himself from the war enough to view it with the objectivity of an impartial observer, an ability born out of his unyielding thirst for the truth, his insistence at all times on
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A year later, Otsuka finally joined Asahi in 1934 and was sent to the company's Osaka branch. He was posted not as a photographer but as a reporter in the social affairs department. There, he learned to write news stories and take documentary photographs. He never used a staff photographer and
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Otsuka was a photographer who worked in various photographic styles. He was not tethered to specific photographic techniques or motifs. He was a leader in the Tokyo-based photojournalism that focused on social issues. But he was also a well established portrait photographer. He worked for the
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During these years, he continued his photography. He covered Osaka's post-war recovery effort and did stage photography, taking pictures of the Tokyo Ballet and Komaki Ballet companies. He took photographs of the various
European performers that visited Japan. He also photographed
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Gen grew up in a home full of photographic equipment with a darkroom. As
Masayoshi would work on retouching photographs using cutting-edge techniques, he forced Gen to help. He would have to hand pump the pressure for the air-brushing that his father would do, and he hated it.
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in Tokyo, Japan. His father, Otsuka
Masayoshi, was a pioneer of photographic retouching. After graduating secondary school in 1929, his father encouraged him to study photography at Tokyo Industrial Arts High School (currently part of Chiba University). He graduated in 1933.
254:, died in these fires. Even after his parents' death, he took pictures of the cities that burned from the nightly air raids. Reflecting on his ability to continue to take photographs despite his tragedy and the national tragedy unfolding, photography critic Teruo Okai said:
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commissioned Gen to take face shots for
Mainichi Newspaper. Through his father's various connections in the burgeoning photography societies, Gen found employment at the Asahi newspaper when he graduated in 1933.
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pages as amateurs. Ihee Kimura was the editorial advisor, and the magazine began to include works by foreign photographers and have columns on the latest global photography trends. Photographers such as
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In 1945, Otsuka was promoted to deputy chief of the
Photograph Department of the Asahi Osaka office. In 1948 he was sent to Tokyo as deputy chief of Asahi's Publications Photography Department.
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meetings were essential to modern
Japanese photography. The experience profoundly influenced him as a photographer and the various styles and techniques he employed throughout his long career.
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As the strategic bombing of Japan shifted to napalm carpet bombing, Otsuka would watch the scene from above as cities were engulfed in flames. His parents, who had escaped to
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reconnaissance plane, to chase, photograph, and identify American bombers. These agile planes would climb up to 10,000 meters to photograph the B-29s, often drawing fire.
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There was never any master/pupil kind of atmosphere, no condescension – which is how it should be, since a good photo is a good photo no matter who took it.”
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and the squad leader, and so if they wanted to carry another person, they needed someone light… It was, for all intents and purposes, a draft order."
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covered various topics such as police, general interest, army-related, and travel stories. But only a few years into his career as a reporter, the
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During the war, Otsuka traveled all over China for 55 months. He had several series about the everyday life of Chinese people, like
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160:. Although he was young, these older photographers recognized his developing talent. The magazine included some of his work.
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began to bomb Japan in 1945, he returned to Osaka. He was ordered to join a reconnaissance squad using the Shinshitei,
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As a student, he had the opportunity to join meetings held by members who founded the photography magazine,
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in 1944, where he taught photographic and darkroom techniques to the staff of Mainichi Shinpo. But as
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of coverage of the war efforts, although they let him go after he promised to change his ways.
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Gen Otsuko : MEM Booth at The Photography Show, Pier 94, New York, NY, April 5-8, 2018
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Although many of these members diverged stylistically from each other in the future, the
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Otsuka Gen was born in Tokyo, but his father, Masayoshi, was originally from the town of
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405:. Teruo Okai, Ryūichi Kaneko (1st ed.). Tōkyō: Heibon-Sha. pp. 99–127.
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Other members included Hiromu Hara, Hikaru Yamanouchi, Koji Nishikigori,
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In 1942, Otsuka was transferred to the Asahi Bangkok branch going to
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Gen was interested in dance when he was younger and often went to
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Modern Museum of Art (MoMA), New York, United States
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497:"Gen Otsuka (The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection)"
340:Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, editor.
319:J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, United States
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306:All Japan Association of Photographic Societies
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322:Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
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278:Koshien high school baseball tournament
342:328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers
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213:Here and there along the Yangtze
443:. MEM. Tokyo: MEM. p. 99.
402:Tracks: The World of Gen Otsuka
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227:briefly before being sent to
117:Toyotsu in Fukuoka prefecture
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304:chief administrator of the
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60:Japanese Modern Photography
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140:Influence of Koga Meetings
361:. Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000.
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477:The Museum of Modern Art
217:Autumn on the Continent.
201:Second Sino-Japanese war
525:collection.topmuseum.jp
550:Japanese photographers
300:featured prominently.
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133:The Mainichi Newspaper
355:Nihon shashinka jiten
312:Permanent collections
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16:Japanese photographer
437:Otsuka, Gen (2018).
399:Ōtsuka, Gen (1996).
473:"Gen Otsuka | MoMA"
521:"東京都写真美術館 電子所蔵品目録"
111:Father's Influence
450:978-4-909598-01-1
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89:photographer
82:, 1912-1992)
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35:Tokyo, Japan
32:May 10, 1912
560:1992 deaths
555:1912 births
286:Shoji Otake
150:Ihee Kimura
544:Categories
530:2022-06-02
506:2022-06-02
482:2022-06-02
459:1077292646
326:References
191:including
128:Takarazuka
79:Ōtsuka Gen
67:Gen Ōtsuka
23:Gen Otsuka
348:『日本写真家事典』
229:Singapore
207:War years
96:Kita ward
49:Education
421:37244145
290:Jun Miki
252:Wakayama
86:Japanese
57:Movement
203:began.
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296:, and
225:Saigon
156:, and
233:Seoul
148:like
146:Koga,
455:OCLC
445:ISBN
417:OCLC
407:ISBN
363:ISBN
215:and
180:Koga
73:大束 元
44:1992
41:Died
29:Born
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