Trending Photo News No. 13: Reexamining Kishin Shinoyama's death from an overseas perspective

A giant of photography has fallen. It's been about a month and a half since the news of the death of Japan's most renowned photographer, Kishin Shinoyama, arrived on January 5th. In the meantime, many people have written tributes and articles, and I myself just contributed a tribute to WWD JAPAN on January 7th. (See "Editor Masanobu Sugatsuke's View of Kishin Shinoyama: 'Gekisha' of People and Times with a Large-Format Camera.")

So how did people in the photography world overseas react to Shinoyama's death? He had several photobooks published by overseas publishers, and he attracted increasing attention overseas in his later years. Here, we take a fresh look at Kishin Shinoyama, a giant of photography who is difficult even for Japanese people to grasp, from an overseas perspective, and offer a new tribute.

Ian Luna, an editor at Rizzoli, a leading New York art book publisher, explains how he first discovered Shinoyama: "I had a copy of 'Double Fantasy,' an album of Shinoyama's photographs of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, hanging in my house."

He is responsible for the much talked about book YUKIO MISHIMA: THE DEATH OF A MAN/ OTOKO NO SHI (Rizzoli, 2020), which compiles the photographs of Yukio Mishima taken just before his suicide, which were said to be the most closely guarded of all the photographs Shinoyama took.

"My father had a number of anthologies of Japanese photography from the 1970s, and when I borrowed one of them, I saw Kishin Shinoyama's work for the first time. I've been interested in him ever since."

Patrick Remy, a world-renowned photo editor in Paris, is working on "FASHION EYE/ SILK ROAD," one of a series of photobooks about Shinoyama's travels with Louis Vuitton. Remy looks back on his first meeting with Shinoyama.

"I had seen Shinoyama's name in Japanese magazines since the 1980s. Then I came across his beautiful photo book, "Okinawa Girls" (Shinchosha, 1997), in a bookstore in Paris. I loved the photographs and the printing itself, and the book itself was beautiful—it was truly wonderful. After that, I found several other wonderful books by Shinoyama in bookstores in New York."

Michael Hoppen, a London-based photography gallerist and well-known collector, met Shinoyama while traveling in Japan and was deeply impressed.

"Around 2007-2008, I was introduced to Shinoyama by the editor Shigeo Goto. We spent a few days together in Tokyo and he showed me his vast oeuvre. I was amazed to see that all of Shinoyama's famous black-and-white series from the 1970s had been perfectly preserved. As a result, I was able to exhibit his wonderful vintage prints at my gallery on several occasions."

Hoppen describes Shinoyama's personality as follows:
"He was always energetic and would tell me stories about his past photo shoots around the world. He traveled a lot, had a good understanding of Western culture, and was a very curious person who was interested in other cultures. Then, when he still wasn't sure whether he would be able to work with me, he invited me to lunch. It was there that I tried turtle dishes for the first time in my life, and I felt like I was being tested at that dinner party. We got along well and it was decided that we would hold an exhibition about him."

Incidentally, Remy says that when he thinks of Shinoyama, the first thing that comes to mind is food.
"In 2013, I invited Shinoyama to a photography festival I was hosting in Deauville, southern France. He brought two Japanese female models and a team of more than four people and began shooting in Deauville. I was there to witness the shoot, and it was the best. What impressed me most was Shinoyama's voracious appetite for food!"

Luna recalls Shinoyama's energy during the editing process of Yukio Mishima 's photo book.
"Because we were working during the COVID-19 pandemic, I had a Zoom meeting with Shinoyama. He spoke vividly and energetically about the events of his last few months with Mishima, as if they had happened yesterday. I felt that the friendship between Shinoyama and the late Mishima was genuine."

Shinoyama has produced a world-record-level collection of photographs by a single photographer, but which of his works will be most highly rated by those involved overseas? Remy from Paris points to several titles.
"When I first got to know Shinoyama's work, I realized he had many different sides to him. His still life work, "Food" (Ushio Publishing, 1993), is a masterpiece, and "Sunny Day" (Heibonsha, 1975) is also excellent."

Hoppen, based in London, cites Nude (Mainichi Shimbun, 1970), which contains a nude work of twins, as his most highly acclaimed work.

"This photobook has the potential to be the most timeless of Sasayama's works. It will forever remain a representative work of Japanese photography."

The photo collection that Luna of New York most highly praises is the complete 8-volume Silk Road series (Shueisha, 1981-1982).

"The Silk Road series, which depicts an epic journey across Asia from Nara to the Bosphorus in Turkey, was the most striking. It's a celebration of humanity, and I'm moved by the images of the Buddhas of Bamiyan and Palmyra, which no longer exist. This work is a modern-day Marco Polo, recapturing the vast yet intimate beauty of the Asian continent for Asians, a work that goes in the opposite direction."

These three foreigners' different perceptions of Shinoyama show his enormous multifaceted nature. So how should we position Kishin Shinoyama in the history of photography in Japan and around the world? Hoppen says that Shinoyama's photographs have a strong desire.

"Shinoyama was an undeniable innovator and will go down in history as someone who was able to incorporate his artistic desires into his photographic work."

Luna also praises Shinoyama's great presence.

"No one would disagree that Shinoyama is a giant of portrait photography in postwar Japan."

However, Remy laments that Shinoyama's achievements have not yet been fully appreciated.

"I have several books on the history of Japanese photography, and in them there is almost no mention of Shinoyama. That's a shame. Shinoyama has published some wonderful books, but he is considered too commercial. And what's most unfortunate is that what he achieved is not properly appreciated, because he contributed to introducing Japanese photography to the world long before star photographers like Nobuyoshi Araki and Daido Moriyama."

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