OGAWA, Kazumasa.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Geisha of Kyoto and Osaka. Attractive souvenir produced by the great Japanese photographer Ogawa Kazumasa (1860-1929), a popular edition of a work originally issued in collotype c.1895. Always a popular topic in Japanese visual arts, the present collection followed Ogawa's famous record of the geisha of Tokyo, perhaps originally published as a celebration of the opening of the Ryounkaku, Tokyo's first skyscraper and a popular amusement centre. In 1884 Ogawa had established the first photographic studio in Tokyo, a little later setting up the first photographic plate manufacturing business, he was one of the founding members of the Japan Photographic Society, the first Japanese member of the Royal Photographic Society, and the editor of Japan's only photographic journal of the day.An excellently preserved copy of this slightly fragile publication, contemporary ownership inscription on the verso of the title page of one Wilhelm Sand who also provides a translation of the title into German.

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