First edition. 7 vols. Several photographic plates and illustrations. Japanese text. 8vo. Original printed wrappers, some annotations and underlining in vol. 4&5, minor wear, minor browning to cover of vol. 7, but overall a very good set. Tokyo, Tokyo College of Photography, April 1973-August, 1974.
Shashin Hihyo started as a bi-monthly (quarterly after the fourth issue) magazine of photo-criticism. It was published under the supervision of Kuwahara Kineo and Shigemori Koen, who were both teaching at the Tokyo College of Photography. Each issue related to a specific contemporary topic (vol. 1: Concept Photo; vol. 2: Development of Off-Magazine photos; vol. 3: Contemporary photography - Where is it going? etc) that would be discussed by photographers and critics. Shigemori feared that the culture of photo criticism was dominated by commercial photo-magazines like Camera Mainichi and Asahi Camera. He advocated a platform where critics and scholars could exchange new ideas for looking at photography based on concerns of contemporary photographers like Tsuchida Hiromi, Araki Nobuyoshi, Kawada Kikuji, Tomatsu Shomei, and Watanabe Kanendo. As such the magazine provides interesting insights into the photographic scene of the 1970s. Only 3 sets in OCLC.
