shashasha

Although his career as a photographer spanned the 1940s to the 1990s, Kiyoji Otsuji (1923-2001) was best known to his contemporaries as a critic and as an educator and mentor to photographers such as Yutaka Takanashi, Shigeo Gocho and Naoya Hatakeyama. Without publishing a single photobook during his lifetime, Otsuji's pioneering and experimental photography remained in the background of his many activities.
In over 300 pages and divided into five chapters, “The Photography of Otsuji Kiyoji” focuses on the vast photographic oeuvre that Otsuji produced throughout his life, from the surrealist photographs of his early years to his snapshots, conceptual pieces, architectural and documentary series, and other works. An introduction by Rei Masuda and in-depth essays by Naoya Hatakeyama and Lena Fritsch provide further context for Otsuji's life and work.

“Although his work is underexhibited and underexplored, Otsuji left a significant mark on the history of Japanese photography. Not only was he an innovative artist but also a writer, and a teacher at academic art institutions … His imaginative practise challenges the limited image that many of my European colleagues have of Japanese photography, associating it only wth now well-known masters who have been active since the late 1960s and ‘70s, such as Daido Moriyama, Nobuyoshi Araki or Ishiuchi Miyako. Otsuji adds a different and relevant voice, innovatively linking pre-war with post-war avant-garde photography.”
― from Lena Fritsch’s text “Experimental, Theatrical, Underexplored – Kiyoji Otsuji’s Photography”