Ogawa Kazumasa (1860-1929)
Asagao – Morning Glory - Ipomée
Collotype with lithographic over printing in colour from the serie Some Japanese Flowers
Epreuve de collotype colorées issue de la série Fleurs Japonaises
Circa 1896-1900
H. 23 x W. 28 cm (image only)
400 € (including custom made off-white mount 40 x50 cm)
Born in Saitama prefecture, Ogawa Kazumasa apprenticed with the photographer Yoshiwara Hideo and opened his own portrait studio at the age of 17. In 1882, after two years spent in Tokyo, he embarked for the United States, living in Boston and Philadelphia. There, he acquired photography techniques including carbon printing and collotype. In 1884, he came back to Tokyo and opened a photographic studio and became soon the foremost photographic publisher in Japan. He revived in 1889 the first photography magazine Sashin Shimpo, and played a central part in the creation of the Japan Photographic Society. It is between 1894 and 1896 that Ogawa Kazumasa produced a series of hand painted collotypes featuring Japanese native flowers.