KUWABARA Kineo

KUWABARA Kineo 桑原 甲子雄 (1913.12.9-2007.12.10) Tokyo. Best known for his street photos of Tokyo taken in the 1930s. Also served as editor of a number of camera magazines.

Major themes Tokyo street photos

Education Graduated junior high.

Career Self-taught photographer. Chief Editor of Ars Camera, Tokyo 1948-53; Sankei Camera, Tokyo 1954-59; Camera Geijutsu, Tokyo 1960-65; The Photo Image, Tokyo 1969-73; Shashin Hihyo, Tokyo 1974-76. Professor at College of Tama Art School, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Pref. 1965-70. Professor at Tokyo College of Photography from 1972. President Japan Photo Critics Association 1954-65. Director, Japan Photographic Association 1954-65 and since 1979. Based in Tokyo.

Less a photographer and more of a commentator on photographers, Kuwabara was an amateur photographer in the 1930s. He used a Leica camera. His scenes of 1930s everyday life in mainly Tokyo have proven to be a valuable documentary record of those years.

After the war, he was involved mainly in editor jobs at major photo magazines. His prewar photos (about 20,000) were kept in a closet until he met ARAKI Nobuyoshi in 1964. They met through work on a magazine which Kuwabara edited. They became good friends (they both attended the same high school) and Kuwabara showed his prewar negatives to Araki who was astounded.

Araki took the negatives and made contact prints. This led to Kuwabara's first one-man exhibition, Tokyo 1936, at Nikon Salon, Ginza in 1973, made quite a stir and his photographer side was thereby discovered. He published a book of his photos, "Tokyo in the 11th Year of Showa" in 1974.

Awards Annual Prize, Japan Photographic Association 1975.

Book reviews Tokyo 1934-1993