Yasuzo Nojima

Photographer. Born in Urawa, Saitama Prefecture (now Saitama City). His father was the founder of Tokyo Nakai Bank. He contributed greatly to the establishment and promotion of photography as an art form in Japan from the 1910s to the 1930s. He started taking photographs at around the age of 17. In 1909 (Meiji 42), while studying at Keio University's Department of Finance (now the Faculty of Economics), he joined the Tokyo Photography Research Society, a leading amateur photography group. He began exhibiting at the society's annual exhibition, and attracted attention early on for his heavy style of work using the rubber printing method (a photographic printing method in which an image is burned onto a support such as paper coated with a mixed emulsion of gum arabic, potassium dichromate, and various pigments, making it easy to control the texture and color tone of the image and highly durable) with themes such as landscapes and people. In 1911, he dropped out of university due to contracting tuberculosis. The following year, he formed the "Four-person Society" with members of the Tokyo Photography Research Society, and actively held study sessions (which continued until 1912 (Taisho 4)). His nude work "Woman by a Tree," produced in 1912, is particularly renowned as an early masterpiece. In the same year, he opened the Mikasa Photo Studio in Ningyocho, Nihonbashi, Tokyo, as the owner (in 1920 he took over management of the newly established Nonomiya Photo Studio in Kudan, Kojimachi). In 1927, he also opened the Kabutoya Gallery in Jinbocho, Kanda, Tokyo, and devoted himself to supporting contemporary art, holding solo exhibitions of up-and-coming Western-style painters such as Sekine Shoji and Nakagawa Kazumasa.

In the 1930s, Nojima was influenced by the trend of modernism in photography that had spread from Europe and America, and he made a major change in his style. He abandoned his previous pictorial printing techniques and started working with gelatin silver prints (a now common black-and-white printing method that uses gelatin and silver salt emulsion-coated photographic paper). He took many powerful female images, including a series of nudes and portraits of a woman known as "Model F," using bold close-ups and abstract spatial compositions. In parallel with this change in his style, in 1932 (Showa 7), he launched the photography magazine Koga with his own funding. Photographers Iwata Nakayama and Ihei Kimura joined as members, and photography critic Nobuo Ina joined from the second issue. He promoted the creation of a groundbreaking magazine that featured the work of photographers in Tokyo and Kansai who were working on various experimental projects at the time, as well as articles introducing new trends in photographic expression overseas. The magazine ceased publication with its 18th issue in December 1958, but it remains highly regarded today as one of the highest quality photography magazines in history.

After Koga ceased publication, he retired from the front lines of photography and instead taught the next generation of photographers at the Keio University Camera Club, his alma mater, and at the Ladies Camera Club, which he founded in 1937.

[Kinichi Ohirakata]

"Nojima Kozo Posthumous Works Publishing Committee, ed., Nojima Kozo Posthumous Works (1965, Japan Photo Center)" ▽ "Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, edited and published, "Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, Collection Catalogue IV Nojima Kozo" (1997)" ▽ "Japanese Photographers 4 Nojima Kozo" (1998, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Izawa Kotaro, Return to Photography - The Age of 'Photography' (1988, Heibonsha)" ▽ "Nojima Kozo and His Surroundings" (Catalogue, 1991, Shibuya City Shoto Museum of Art)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

写真家。埼玉県浦和（現さいたま市）生まれ。父は東京中井銀行の創業者。1910年代から30年代の日本で、芸術としての写真という表現領域の確立と推進に大きく寄与した。17歳ごろから写真を始める。慶応義塾大学理財科（現経済学部）に在学中の1909年（明治42）、有力なアマチュア写真家団体東京写真研究会へ入会。年1回開催の同会年次展に出品するようになり、風景や人物などを主題としたゴム印画法（アラビアゴム、重クロム酸塩カリウムと各種の顔料の混合乳剤を塗布した紙などの支持体に画像を焼付ける写真印画法で、画面のテクスチュアや色調をコントロールしやすく、耐久性にも優れている）による重厚な作風で早くから注目を集めた。11年結核を患(わずら)い大学を中退。翌12年に東京写真研究会の会員たちと「四人会」を結成し、勉強会などを活発に行った（15年（大正4）まで継続）。15年制作のヌード作品「樹による女」は、初期の傑作として特に名高い。同年オーナーとして東京・日本橋人形町に三笠写真館を開設（20年麹町(こうじまち)九段に新設した野々宮写真館の経営へ転じる）。また19年には東京・神田神保町に兜(かぶと)屋画廊を開設、関根正二、中川一政(かずまさ)ら新進の洋画家たちの個展を催すなど、同時代の美術を支援する活動にも力を注いだ。

　1930年代に入って、野島は欧米から伝播してきた写真表現上のモダニズムの潮流に感化を受け、作風を大きく変化させた。それまでの絵画主義的な印画技法を捨て、ゼラチン・シルバー・プリント（ゼラチンと銀塩の乳剤を塗布した印画紙を用いる、現在一般化している白黒写真印画法）での制作に転じ、「モデルF」として知られる女性を撮ったヌードやポートレートの連作をはじめ、大胆なクローズ・アップや抽象的な空間構成によって力感溢れる女性像を数多く撮影した。こうした表現上の転換と並行して、32年（昭和7）、自らの出資で写真雑誌『光画』を創刊。同人として写真家の中山岩太(いわた)、木村伊兵衛が参加。2号目より写真評論家伊奈信男も加わる。当時さまざまな実験作に取り組んでいた東京や関西の写真家たちの作品や、海外の新しい写真表現の動向を紹介した記事を掲載する画期的な雑誌作りをすすめた。同誌は33年、通巻18号目にあたる12月号で休刊となったが、史上有数の質の高い内容をもった写真雑誌として今日も評価を得ている。

　『光画』休刊以降、写真家としては第一線を退き、母校の慶応義塾大学カメラクラブや、37年に創設したレディス・カメラクラブなどのサークルで後進の指導にあたった。

［大日方欣一］

『『野島康三遺作集』刊行会編『野島康三遺作集』（1965・日本フォトセンター）』▽『京都国立近代美術館編・刊『京都国立近代美術館・所蔵作品目録IV　野島康三』（1997）』▽『『日本の写真家4　野島康三』（1998・岩波書店）』▽『飯沢耕太郎著『写真に帰れ――「光画」の時代』（1988・平凡社）』▽『「野島康三とその周辺」（カタログ。1991・渋谷区立松濤美術館）』

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