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Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1914 (died 1987), Yamamoto was a poet who began writing poetry in 1930 after dropping out of the French literature department of Meiji University. In 1931, he started photography with the aim of “putting surrealism into practice in photography,” and in the same year, he formed the photography group “Dokuritsu Keiken Kenkyukai” in Nagoya with Mitsuya Okonogi and others to search for new photographic expression. The following year, inspired by the “Overseas Surrealist Works Exhibition” held in 1937, he published the surrealist poetry magazine “Night Fountain” (the fourth issue ended in 1939 due to police censorship). In 1938, he formed the photographic group “Seikosha” with Geno Yoshitake and others, and published the journal “Carnet Bleu”. In 1939, he joined the “Nagoya Photo Avangarde,” which was formed as an independent organization of the photography division of the “Nagoya Avangarde Club” led by Sussei Yamanaka and Yoo Shimogo, but left the group in 1940 (the group was renamed the “Nagoya Photographic Culture Association” and dissolved in 1941). In 1947, he formed the avant-garde photographers' group “VIVI” with Keiichiro Goto, Minayoshi Takada, and Yoshifumi Hattori; in 1949, he became a member of the Photography Club of the “Bijutsu Bunka Kyokai”; in 1970, he published Butterfly” was published in 1970. Major solo exhibitions include “Surrealist Kosuke Yamamoto” at Tokyo Station Gallery (2001). Major international exhibitions include “Japan's Modern Divide: The Photographs of Hiroshi Hamaya and Kansuke Yamamoto,” The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2013).