Kansuke Yamamoto (山本 悍右, Yamamoto Kansuke, 30 March 1914 – 2 April 1987) was a Japanese photographer and poet. He was a prominent surrealist born in Nagoya, Japan.
Biography
Birth
He was born in Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. He was the oldest son of Goro Yamamoto (1880–1941), who was the founding member of Aiyu Photography Club. Goro was running a photo studio and a shop selling cameras in Nagoya.
Encounter with Surrealism
"Dokuritsu(Independent)"January 1932 Published by Independent Photography Research Association Cover photo by Kansuke Yamamoto
He encountered surrealism and dadaism through the poetry magazine "cine´" published by Yamanaka Chiruu who was promoting surrealism in Japan. At the age of 15, he started to write poems. He graduated from the Nagoya Second Commercial School in 1929. That year, he started writing poetry. He left Meiji University School of Arts and letters in Tokyo, where he majored in French Literature before graduation and then went back to Nagoya. In 1931, at the age of 17, he published his works in the Journal "Dokuritsu(Independent)", which was published by "Dokuritsu Shashin Kenkyu Kai(Independent Photography Research Association)".
Kansuke Yamamoto as a Surrealist
"The Night's Fountain" Vol.1 1 November 1938 Edited and published by:Kansuke Yamamoto Photo by Kansuke Yamamoto"VOU" Vol.30 1940 Cover photo by Kansuke Yamamoto
The oldest of his existing works is called "Aru Ningen no Shisou no Hatten・・・Moya to Shinshitsu(The Developing Thought of a Human...Mist and Bedroom)", which was published in a magazine in 1932.
In 1936, he changed his Chinese characters from 勘助(Kansuke) to 悍右(Kansuke). In 1938, he started a surrealist poetry magazine called "Yoru no Funsui(The Night's Fountain)". But the next year, the publication was forced to be discontinued by the authoritative pressure due to the Peace Preservation Law.
In 1939, he formed a group called "Nagoya Photo Avant-Garde" with Tajima Tsugio, Minoru Sakata, Shimozato Yoshio, and Yamanaka Chiruu, etc. The group applied surrealism into their photographs and their avant-garde photography gathered national attention by some magazines like "Photo Times" and "Camera Art". He became a member of "VOU" in 1939, belonging until it was dissolved in 1972. He also formed "VIVI" (1948–1950), "Bijyutsu Bunka Association, Division of Photography" (1949–1954), "Mado(Windows)"(1953–1958), "Honoo (Flame)" (1955–1961), "Subjective Photography Federation of Japan" (1956), "ESPACE" (1956–1958), "Arukishine" (1958), "Avant-Garde Association of Poets" (1958) and "Nagoya Five" (1963–1964).
He often created works which indicated liberty, antiwar and anti-government in surrealistic ways.
Later life
From around 1965 to 1975, he coached the younger generation as an adviser of Chubu Photography Federation of Students.
He also donated his body to science via Nagoya UniversitySchool of Medicine upon his death and no funeral was held, in accordance with his living will.
1960 "Subjective Photography" / Konica Gallery(Konica Minolta Plaza), Tokyo, Japan
1963 "Shusen Kai"
1963 – 1964 "Nagoya Five" / Fuji Photo Salon(FUJIFILM Photo Salon), Tokyo, etc.
1968 "VERB" / Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
1978 – 1982 "The Exhibition of The Committee of The Chubu Headquarter of The All-Japan Association of Photographic Societies" / Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
1983 "Pictures of Yamamoto Kansuke" / New French School, Nagoya, Japan
2022 "Going Global: Abstract Art at Mid-Century" / Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, United States.
2022 "Avant-Garde Rising The Photographic Vanguard in Modern Japan" / Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
2022 Paris+ par Art Basel / Grand Palais, Paris, France
Solo exhibition catalogues
"YAMAMOTO Kansuke : Conveyor of the Impossible", John Solt and Kaneko Ryuichi, East Japan Railway Culture Foundation, 2001
"YAMAMOTO KANSUKE" STEPHEN WIRTZ GALLERY SAN FRANCISCO 2006
Japan's Modern Divide: The Photographs of Hiroshi Hamaya and Kansuke Yamamoto (2013); Edited by Judith Keller & Amanda Maddox, with contributions by Kotaro Iizawa, Ryuichi Kaneko, Jonathan Reynolds; published by The J. Paul Getty Museum
"Kansuke Yamamoto", Ryuichi Kaneko, Taka Ishii Gallery, 2017
Books by Kansuke Yamamoto
"Butterfly" 1970 Author: Kansuke Yamamoto
Kansuke Yamamoto, "Yoruno Funsui", 1938–
Kansuke Yamamoto, "Batafurai (Butterfly)", Nagoya Miniature Books Publishing, 1970
『Kansuke Yamamoto』 Photographs and texts. Published by : Fine-Art Photography Association Tokyo 2017
Selected works
The Developing Thought of a Human... Mist and Bedroom, 1932, Kansuke Yamamoto, collage, and gelatin silver print. Collection of Nagoya City Art Museum.
Title unknown, 1933, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 25.2 × 30.0 cm. Private collection.
Title unknown, 1938, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 18.7 × 24.5 cm. Collection of Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck.
Title unknown, 1938, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 15.9 × 24.6 cm. Collection of Nagoya City Art Museum.
Title unknown, 1939, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 24.4 × 29.6 cm.
Untitled, ca. 1930s, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 43.8 × 36.2 cm. Collection of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser.
Buddhist Temple's Birdcage, 1940, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 25.7 × 17.9 cm. Collection of The Art Institute of Chicago.
Variation of "Buddhist Temple's Birdcage", 1940, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 30.2 × 24.8 cm. Collection of Nagoya City Art Museum.
The silver platter and the pigeon in the cage, / We suddenly have spring rain like typefaces today. / Cioran, / I may talk to you again someday, 1979, Kansuke Yamamoto.
Under rose flowers of exploding black gunpowder / Girl flutters her braided hair running to the plaza / Dawn laughs out loud swaying its shoulders, 1983, Kansuke Yamamoto.
Japan's Modern Divide: The Photographs of Hiroshi Hamaya and Kansuke Yamamoto (2013); Edited by Judith Keller & Amanda Maddox, with contributions by Kotaro Iizawa, Ryuichi Kaneko, Jonathan Reynolds; published by The J. Paul Getty Museum
"Kansuke Yamamoto", Ryuichi Kaneko, Taka Ishii Gallery, 2017
Books
Nagoya City Art Museum, Supervised by Hiroshi Kamiya and Minako Tsunoda, Edited by Kazuo Yamawaki, Toshihide Yoshida, Katsunori Fukaya, Satoshi Yamada, Joe Takeba, Minako Tsunoda, Akiko Harasawa and Yuko Ito, "Selected Works from the Collection of Nagoya City Art Museum", Nagoya City Art Museum, 1998
Kazumiki Chiba, ‘YAMAMOTO Kansuke : Conveyor of the Impossible’,"Exhibition Catalogues in the Age of Cross – Cultural and Cross-Genre Studies", Edited by Eiko Imahashi, 2003
Kotaro Iizawa, "From Eyes to Eyes, Walking Through Photo Exhibitions, 2001–2003", Misuzu Shobo, 2004
Tetsuya Taguchi, "World of Kansuke Yamamoto, A World-class Photographer", Doshisha, 2005
Satomi Fujimura, "An Introduction to the History of Photography, Section Two: CREATION, The Opening of Modern Age”, Shinchosha, 2005
Teruo Ishihara, "RAVINE – Poem & Prose Little Anthology", Silver Paper Pub. Kyoto, 2011
Kotaro Iizawa, Nobuo Ina, John Szarkowski and Etsuro Ishihara, "The Tales of Syashin (the first volume)：Words by Japanese Photographers 1889–1989", aurastudio, 2012
Kotaro Iizawa, "Deep Insight! 100 Super Masterpieces of Japanese Photographs", Pie Books, 2012
Majella Munro, "Communicating Vessels: The Surrealist Movement in Japan 1925–70”, Enzo Arts and Publishing Limited, 2012
Nobuzo Kinoshita, "The Lives of Prodigy of Tokai", Edited by Shoko Komatsu, Fubaisha, 2013
Japan's Modern Divide: The Photographs of Hiroshi Hamaya and Kansuke Yamamoto (2013); Edited by Judith Keller & Amanda Maddox, with contributions by Kotaro Iizawa, Ryuichi Kaneko, Jonathan Reynolds; published by The J. Paul Getty Museum
