Kaburaki Kiyokata
鏑木清方
- Birth Year
- 1909
- Death Year
- 1990
- Date
- 1951 (printed in 1960)
- Technique, Material, Format
- gelatin silver print
- Dimension
- 35.4 x 27.7 cm
- Category
- Photograph or Moving Image by JapanesePhotographer/Artist
- Inventory Number
- 84-PHJ-336
This portrait is of Kaburaki Kiyokata, a Nihonga (modern Japanese-style painting) artist. The location is Kiyokata’s atelier, where he sits quietly in a room surrounded by painting materials. Photographer Domon Ken reported having a strange experience during this shoot. After taking one shot and then preparing for the next, he would find that Kiyokata seemed to suddenly appear just as he prepared to release his shutter. Even though Domon knew the artist was in the studio the whole time, it felt as if he "melted into the air in the atelier," seemingly vanishing each time he took his eyes off him. Even the photographer and his assistants, who had worked with many artists previously, said the experience left them with a "strange impression."
(OSAWA Sayoko)