Born 1923
Twisted Object
1949
Black and white photograph
36x43cm
Courtesy Taka Ishii Gallery
Kiyoji Otsuji’s photography played a critical role in the mid-20th-century Japanese avant-garde’s investigations into the relationships between human beings and objects, between tradition and its fragmentation. The works in his earliest photo series, ‘Pitiful Objects’ (1949), were intense studies of metal or organic objects, manifesting what he called the ‘spiritual nucleus’ of their material existence. His documentation in the 1950s of groups such as Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop), an interdisciplinary artistic movement of which he was a member, covered everything from stage design to rehearsal sessions to final performances, providing intimate records of their ephemeral choreographed stagings. A renowned professor and critical writer, Otsuji profoundly influenced subsequent generations of Japanese photographers through his analysis of photography as a medium. (KB)
