Maggs Bros.

Fuchikami Hakuyo (1889-1960) is one of the key figures in early art photography standing between (or bridging) pictorialism and Modernist Photography. Having studied photography in Saga and Nagasaki, he opened a photographic studio in 1919. In June 1922 he launched the important magazine ‘Hakuyo’ which became famous for its beautifully collotype plates by key figures in the early Modernist movement. In the same year he founded the Japan Photographic Art Association which embraced a national membership, although many were based in the Kansai Region. In 1928 Fuchikami moved to Manchuria where he worked in the publicity department of the South Manchuria Railway Company. There he also published a photography magazine called Hikaru Oka (Shining Hills) which was the journal of the Manchuria Photographic Artists Association (Manchu Shashin Sakka Kyokai). It is interesting that his surviving family should have chosen the same name Hikaru Oka-sha for the publisher of this privately printed publication.

This posthumous tribute [isakushu] was privately printed as a tribute to his life and work in an unspecified limited edition and it was not for sale. The book was edited by Unoki Satoshi who was a close friend and a colleague in Manchuria working for SMRC. The frontispiece features images of the photographer at work as well as the covers of his publications, followed by a selection of ten of his best works. The text is a mixture of reminiscences, poetry, as well as an essay entitled ‘Regarding Photographic Art [Shashin geijutsu ni tsuite]’. Interestingly, it also includes a reproduction of a signed letter by Edward Steichen, asking Fuchikami to provide him with some biographical details and information on his work.

Very rare. No copy in OCLC.