Ogawa Kazumasa

Japanese, 1860 - 1929

Biography“Ogawa Kazumasa (1860–1929) was one of the key giants of the early Japanese photography world. Active from around the second half of 19th century to the early 20th century, Ogawa was a leading photographer and photographic print maker known for his ability to adopt cutting edge techniques in a period of rapid developments.

Ogawa was the first Japanese to produce collotype prints in the country in 1888, four years after returning from Boston having learnt the most advanced photographic techniques there. By the following year in 1889, he opened Ogawa Photography Printers (Ogawa Shashin Seihansho) to produce a number of high quality collotype prints. Many who share interest in Japanese art history may have heard of Kokka, a distinguished art journal started by Okakura Tenshin in 1893 and continues to be in circulation to this day. Ogawa was responsible for producing photographs and illustrated prints for Kokka for some time from the journal’s first issue. In fact, the superior quality of his collotypes made Ogawa indispensable to produce prints that expressed not only the subtle qualities of sculpted forms, but also the gentle ink gradations of ink paintings. …

Ogawa, famous for his collotype prints that captured the fine and delicate details, was the first photographer to be conferred with the Imperial Household Artist title in 1910. He was admired not only in Japan but also overseas, and received awards and decorations from Sweden, Siam (present day Thailand), Italy and France.
In Britain, he was welcomed as a member to the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain in 1889, and in 1895 as the first Japanese fellow to its newly established fellowships.”

From: Hirano Akira, Photography Albums by Ogawa Kazumasa. Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. https://www.sainsbury-institute.org/library-treasures/photography-albums-by-ogawa-kazumasa/#Hirano-issue17-note2. Accessed May 28, 2022.

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