Kishin Shinoyama
Oxford Grove Art:
Top
Kishin Shinoyama
(b Tokyo, 3 Dec 1940). Japanese photographer. He studied photography at Nihon University, Tokyo, also working at this time as a freelance photographer for the Light Publicity Company (1961-3). He made his real d?but as a photographer with his one-man shows Tanjo ('Birth') at the Nikon Salon in 1968 and Nudes, held at the Matsuzakaya Department Store, Tokyo, (1970), a series of nude portraits set against large-scale backgrounds of nature. After leaving Light Publicity in 1968, he began a successful career photographing subjects which ranged from portraits of pop stars to travel photographs of the Silk Road, capturing them with a fine expressive technique. His unique character and appearance made him a mass media star and he popularized the phrase gekisha ('agitated shot'). His photographs of body tattoos (see 1979 exh. cat., pp. 117-21) combine an artistic eye with documentary photography, while recording particularly Japanese subject-matter.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
Oxford Companion to the Photograph:
Top
Kishin Shinoyama
Shinoyama, Kishin (b. 1940), Japanese art and advertising photographer. While studying photography at Nihon University, he began his career at Light Publicity (1961-3). Freelance from 1968, he made his name with his second book, Nude (1970), which pioneered a new style of artistic nude photography. Although working on various subjects, including travel and body tattoos, he is best known for his celebrity portraits and nudes, the latter including Gekisha (Agitated Shot), a series using amateur models. His other books include Hareta-hi (Sunny Day; 1975), Shinorama Nippon (1989), Tokyo Mirai Seiki (1992), BALTHUS (1993), and House of Mishima Yukio (1995).
— Mariko Takeuchi
