# Kansuke Yamamoto (artist)

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

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 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 University School of Medicine upon his death and no funeral was held, in accordance with his living will.

## Works

* Nagoya City Art Museum
* Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
* Santa Barbara Museum of Art
* The J. Paul Getty Museum(J. Paul Getty Trust)
* The Art Institute of Chicago
* Smithsonian's Freer | Sackler, Washington DC
* AICHI PREFECTURAL MUSEUM OF ART

## Exhibitions

* 1936 Personal Exhibition / Maruzen Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
* 1939 "The Blue Wonder Association Exhibition" / Maruzen Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
* 1948 – 1950 "VIVI" / Maruzen Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
* 1949 "Modern Art" / Mitsukoshi Gallery, Nihonbashi, Japan
* 1949 – 1954 "Bijyutsu Bunka Art Association Exhibition" / Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum etc.
* 1952　"Photographers of Figurative art" / Aoyanagi-Hirokoji-Ten, Nagoya, Japan
* 1953 "Mado(Windows)" / Nagoya, Kobe, Japan
* 1953 "Abstraction and Fantasy: How to Understand Non-figurative (Non-realistic) Painting" / National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
* 1956 – 1961 "Honoo(Flame)" / Konica Gallery(Konica Minolta Plaza), Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, Japan
* 1956 "International Subjective Photography" / Takashimaya Gallery, Nihonbashi, Japan
* 1956 Personal Exhibition / Matsushima Gallery, Ginza, Japan
* 1956 Personal Exhibition / Maruzen Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
* 1957 Personal Exhibition / Konica Gallery(Konica Minolta Plaza), Fukuoka, Japan
* 1957 – 1976 "VOU Exhibition" / Kunugi Gallery, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan etc.
* 1957 "Modern Art Photography Group" / Kunugi Gallery, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
* 1958 "ESPACE" / Maruzen Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
* 1958 "Exhibition of Japan Subjective Photography" / Fuji Photo Salon(FUJIFILM Photo Salon), Tokyo, Japan
* 1958 "The Vanguard of Photography and Poetry" / Mimatsu Publishing, Inc. Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
* 1960 "The Sense of Abstraction" / The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York CityA.
* 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
* 1986 "Avant-Garde Photography, Italy and Japan / The Contemporary Art Gallery, Seibu Department Stores, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan
* 1986 "VOU" / Rhode Island School of Design Museum
* 1988 "The Art of Modern Japanese Photography" / Two Houston Center
* 1988 "Surrealist Kansuke Yamamoto Exhibition" / IMAGINATION MARKET Q&P, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
* 1988 "The 150 years of Fine Art Photography – France, Japan, America" / Tsukashin Hall, Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan
* 1988 "Fine Art Photography in Japan 1920's – 1940's" / Konica Plaza(Konica Minolta Plaza), Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
* 1988 "Japanese Photography in 1930s" / The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Japan
* 1989 "Avant-Garde Photography of Nagoya" / Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan
* 1990 "The Silent Dialogue: Still Life in the West and Japan" / Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
* 1990 "Surrealism in Japan" / Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan
* 1990 "Modernism in Nagoya 1920's – 1930's" / INAX　Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
* 1995 "The Founding and Development of Modern Photography in Japan" / Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
* 1995 "The Age of Modernism" / Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
* 1995 "Collage, A Method of Contemporary Art" / Nerima Art Museum, Japan
* 2001 "Modern Photography in Japan 1915–1940" / Ansel Adams Gallery, San Francisco, U.S.A.
* 2001 "Yamamoto Kansuke: Conveyor of the Impossible" / Tokyo Station Gallery, Japan
* 2003 "The History of Japanese Photography" / The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston etc.
* 2004 "Provincial Fine Arts" / Nagoya　City Art Museum, Aichi, Japan
* 2005 "How Photography changed People's Viewpoints" / Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
* 2006" Kansuke Yamamoto" / Stephen Wirtz Gallery、San Francisco, U.S.A.
* 2006 "Curators' Choice from The Collection of Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography" / Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
* 2006 "Collage and Photomontage" / Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
* 2006 "The World of Yamamoto Kansuke" / Doshisha University, Tokyo office
* 2007 "The New Modern: Pre- and Post-War Japanese Photography" / Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, U.S.A.
* 2007 "Master the Museum's Collection" / Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan
* 2007 "Living in the Material World -'Things' in Art of the 20th Century and Beyond" / The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
* 2008 "Surrealism and Photography" / Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
* 2009 "20 Years of Nagoya City Art Museum" / Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan
* 2010 "World of Surrealism by the Collection" / Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan
* 2012 "Drawing Surrealism" / Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, U.S.A.
* 2012 "Japan ・ Object 1920's – 70's" / Urawa Art Museum, Saitama, Japan
* 2013 "Drawing Surrealism" / The Morgan Library & Museum, New York CityA.
* 2013 "Japan's Modern Divide: The Photographs of Hiroshi Hamaya and Kansuke Yamamoto" / The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
* 2014 "Enjoy the Art World −with your loved one" / Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan
* 2015 "1940s -Rediscovery of 20th Century Japanese Art" / Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Japan
* 2015 Paris Photo 2015 / Grand Palais, Paris, France
* 2016 Art Central Hong Kong, Hong Kong
* 2016 "Kansuke Yamamoto" / Taka Ishii Gallery New York, New York City
* 2016 Art Basel (Taka Ishii Gallery), Basel, Switzerland
* 2016 Frieze London, Frieze Art Fair (Taka Ishii Gallery), London, England
* 2016 Paris Photo 2016(Taka Ishii Gallery) / Grand Palais, Paris, France
* 2016 " BLACK SUN/RED MOON" / RATIO 3, San Francisco, U.S.A.
* 2016 "Japanese Photography from Postwar to Now" / San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), San Francisco, U.S.A.
* 2017 "Kansuke Yamamoto" / Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / Film, Roppongi, Tokyo
* 2017 Group Exhibition "Japanese Surrealist Photography" / Taka Ishii Gallery Tokyo, Roppongi, Tokyo
* 2017 Art Basel Hong Kong (Taka Ishii Gallery) / Hong Kong
* 2017 "Kansuke Yamamoto" / Taka Ishii Gallery New York, New York City
* 2017 SP-Arte (Taka Ishii Gallery) / Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
* 2017 Art Basel (Taka Ishii Gallery) / Basel, Switzerland
* 2017 Frieze London, Frieze Art Fair (Taka Ishii Gallery), London, England
* 2017 Paris Photo 2017(Taka Ishii Gallery) / Grand Palais, Paris, France
* 2018 "THE MAGAZINE and THE NEW PHOTOGRAPHY: KOGA and JAPANESE MODERNISM." / Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
* 2018 "SHAPE OF LIGHT 100 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND ABSTRACT ART" / Tate Modern, Tate Britain, London, England
* 2018 "Kansuke Yamamoto" / Taka Ishii Gallery New York, New York City
* 2018 "Kansuke Yamamoto" / Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles
* 2019 Homage to the Bauhaus / Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, England, UK
* 2019 "Aichi Art Chronicle 1919-2019" /Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi
* 2019 "Japanese Photography – 1930s - 1970s" / Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich
* 2021 "The Movement Of Modern Photography In Nagoya 1911-1972" / Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan
* 2021 "From the museum collection 2021: second period" / Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art
* 2021 “Surrealism Beyond Borders” / Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
* 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
* 2023-'24 Surrealism and Japan / Kyoto, Tokyo, Mie
* 2024 Paris Photo 2024 (Michael Hoppen Gallery booth)
* 2024-'25 KANSUKE YAMAMOTO / Michael Hoppen Gallery, London
* 2025 BUTSUDORI :The Photographic Expression of "Object"　Shiga Museum of Art

## 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

* 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.
* Self-Portrait, 1940, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 46. × 56.4 cm. Private collection.
* Title unknown, ca. 1940s, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 25.2 × 17.7 cm.
* View with a Ship Passing Through, 1941, Kansuke Yamamoto, Collage, 24.5 × 30.3 cm. Private collection.
* Stapled Flesh, 1949, Kansuke Yamamoto, gelatin silver print, 31.1 × 24.8 cm. Collection of Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
* A Chronicle of Drifting, 1949, Kansuke Yamamoto, Collage, 30 × 24.8 cm. Collection of The J.P.Getty Museum.
* Self-Portrait, 1949, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 25.2 × 17.9 cm. Private collection.
* Scenery with Ocean, 1949, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 27.0 × 18.4 cm.
* Dream Passage, 1949, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 30.0 × 24.9 cm.
* Floating City, 1950, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gollage, 15.7 × 22.4 cm. Private collection.
* Isamu Noguchi, 1950, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 23.4 × 18.2 cm.
* Gorgeous Departure, 1950, Kansuke Yamamoto, 27.8 × 22.7 cm.
* Reminiscence, 1953, Kansuke Yamamoto, gelatin silver print. Collection of Anne and David Ruderman.
* Relaxation Season, 1953, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 27.5 × 22.9 cm. Private collection.
* Sleepy Sea, 1953, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 27.6 × 31.0 cm.
* Giving Birth to a Joke, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 42.5 × 55.6 cm. Private collection.
* Rose and Shovel, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 31.9 × 34.9 cm. Private collection.
* The Distance between the Landscape and the Dusk, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Chromogenic print, 31.9 × 34.9 cm.
* Beautiful Passerby 1956,Kansuke Yamamoto, Chromogenic print
* My Thin-Aired Room, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 34.9 × 42.9 cm.
* My Thin-Aired Room, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 35.2 × 42.2 cm.
* My Thin-Aired Room, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 35.4 × 43 cm.
* My Thin-Aired Room, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 35.2 × 42.9 cm.
* The Man Who Went Too Far, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print.
* Cold Person, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 43.8 × 36.2 cm. Collection of Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck.
* From the series of "Obaku", 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto.
* The Origin of History, 1956, Kansuke Yamamoto, Chromogenic print, 52.5 × 47.8 cm.Collection of J. Paul Getty Museum.
* The Closed Room, 1958, Kansuke Yamamoto, Gelatin silver print, 35.9 × 45.0 cm.
* A Forgotten Person, 1958, Kansuke Yamamoto, Chromogenic Print, 46.2 × 33.0 cm. Collection of J. Paul Getty Museum.
* (The hard, cobalt desert...), 1958, Kansuke Yamamoto.
* My Bench, 1963, Kansuke Yamamoto.
* I’d Like to Think While in the Body of a Horse, 1964, Kansuke Yamamoto, Chromogenic Print, 46.2 × 33.0 cm. Collection of J. Paul Getty Museum.
* Suddenly in the Morning, 1958, Kansuke Yamamoto.
* Magnifying Glass, Rendezvous, 1970, Kansuke Yamamoto.
* Butterfly, 1970, Kansuke Yamamoto.
* 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.