Tomatsu, Shomei

Tomatsu was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in 1930 , and two years later, as a result of the divorce of his parents, he actually lost his father, remaining with his mother, who took over the upbringing of the child. In 1950, Tomatsu began taking up photography, after completing his studies at the Economics Department of the Faculty of Law and Economics at Aichi University in 1954, to work at Ivani Syasin Bunko ( Japanese 岩 波 写真 文庫 ) , a division of Ivanami Publishing House. After retiring from Ivanami in 1956 , Tomatsu began his career as an independent photographer. His work began to appear regularly in photography magazines. Fame was brought to him by a series of photo portraits of the representative of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan from Fukui Prefecture , for which he was awarded the prize of the "Japan Association of Photocritics " for debutants. This series was the starting point for the formation of Tomatsu's own artistic style.

In 1958, Tomatsu began work completed only around 1980 (Chewing Gum and Chocolate), which focused on documenting the consequences of the occupation and Americanization of Japan. Together with other young photographers, including Ikko Narahara , Kikuji Kavada , Akira Sato , Akira Tanno and Eiko Hosoe , Tomatsu created the creative association VIVO, which existed until 1961 . Despite the short duration of this cooperation, it is difficult to overestimate the influence of VIVO on contemporary Japanese photography. After the devastating typhoon and the loss of life of about 5,000 thousand floods that occurred on September 26, 1959 in Nagoya, Tomatsu visited his hometown, removing the effects of the disaster and resigned to the loss of the house where he spent his childhood. At the request of the Japan Council for the Suppression of the Use of Atomic and Hydrogen Weapons, Tomatsu traveled to Nagasaki to collect photographic material, which was to be included in a book that was part of the campaign against the use of nuclear weapons. In 1961, the book “hiroshima-nagasaki document 1961” , which was demonstrated through photographs of Hiroshima ( Ken Domon ) and Nagasaki (Tomatsu) , was published. Having completed the Council’s mission, Tomatsu nonetheless remained in Nagasaki and continued filming the hibakusha . At the end of the year, the Japan Photocritics Association recognized Tomatsu as the photographer of the year.

Exhibitions in recent years Tomatsu are geographically determined thematic in nature and are dedicated to certain areas, including Okinawa , Aichi (prefecture) , Kyoto and Tokyo . The core of these work cycles is the concept of a mandala .

He died on December 14, 2012 in Tokyo due to complications after pneumonia ^[5] .

Selected Facts from Life

• 1963 - Filming in Afghanistan .
• 1972 - Transfer to Okinawa .
• 1974 - Tomatsu's work was displayed at the New York Museum of Modern Art at the New Japanese Photography exhibition. Together with Nobuyoshi Araki initiated a series of master classes .
• 1975 - The Sun Pencil photo album was awarded the annual prize of the Japan Association of Photo Critics, and the following year, the prize of the Minister of Education of Japan.
• 1984 - Retrospective "SHOMEI TOMATSU Japan 1952-1981" at the Vienna Museum of Modern Art, etc.
• 1992 - Exhibition "SAKURA + PLASTICS" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York).
• 1998 - Relocation to Nagasaki.
• 1995 - Awarded the Order of the Blue Ribbon.
• 1999 - Retrospective "Chronicles of the Japanese Archipelago - 50th Anniversary of Shoemai Tomatsu's Creative Activities" at the Tokyo Museum of Photography.
• 2000 - Exhibition " Mandala of Nagasaki" (State Museum of Art of Nagasaki Prefecture).
• 2002 - "Exhibition of the works of Shômei Tomatsu - Okinawa Mandala" at the Urasoe Museum of Art (Okinawa).
• 2003 - Retrospective “Photograph of Shoemai Tomatsu 1972-2002” at the Tokyo State Museum of Modern Art.
• 2004 - Exhibition of the series of works “Skin of the Nation” in Washington and San Francisco .
• 2006 - "Aichi Mandala - Shoemai Tomatsu Landscapes" at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art.

• Seto, the city of ceramics (や き も の の 町 瀬 戸, 1954 )
• Floods and the Japanese (水 害 と 日本人, 1954 )
• War and Peace (戦 争 と 平和, 1955 )
• hiroshima-nagasaki document ( 1961 )
• Nagasaki, 11:02 (〈11 時 02 分〉 NAGASAKI, 1966 )
• Salam alaikum (サ ラ ー ム ・ ア レ イ コ ム, 1968 )
• Oh Shinjuku! (お お！ 新宿, 196 9)
• Pencil of the sun. Okinawa - sea, sky, island and people - and towards Southeast Asia (太陽 の 鉛筆 沖 縄 ・ 海 と 空 と 島 と 人 び と ・ そ し て 東南 ア ジ ア へ, 1975 )
• Tomatsu Shomei: Post-War Evidence (東 松 照明 の 戦 後 の 証明, 1984 )
• Abandoned Garden (廃 園, 198 7)
• Miscellaneous Sakura (さ く ら ・ 桜 ・ サ ク ラ, 1990 )
• Images of Japan (Visions of Japan, 1998 )
• Archipelago of Time (時 の 島 々, 1998 )
• Tomatsu Shomei: 1951-1960 (東 松 照明 1951-60, 2000 )
• Tomatsu Shomei: Tokyo Mandala (東 松 照明: Tokyo 曼陀羅, 2007 )

• Official site (Japanese)
• Spotlight: Shomei Tomatsu (1930-2012 )