Masataka Takayama
Masataka Takayama (高山 正隆, Takayama Masataka; 15 May 1895 - 14 April 1981) was one of the most prominent Japanese photographers in the first half of the twentieth century.
Masataka Takayama
- Born
- Masataka Takayama was born on 15 May 1895. · Tokyo.
- Died
- Masataka Takayama died on 14 April 1981.
- Nationality
- Japan · Empire of Japan
- Occupation
- photographer
- Languages
- Japanese
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Masataka Takayama (高山 正隆, Takayama Masataka; 15 May 1895 - 14 April 1981) was one of the most prominent Japanese photographers in the first half of the twentieth century.
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wikidata · Q6782693
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Career
Takayama was born in Tokyo, Japan. As an amateur photographer, he published many of his works in the magazine Geijutsu Shashin Kenkyū, beginning in the 1920s. He remained an active photographer even after World War II. He was talented at pictorialist (art) photography and took many photographs using a soft focus lens and deformation and "wipe-out" techniques. Takayama usually used a Vest Pocket Kodak camera manufactured by Eastman Kodak camera, which was a very compact folding model taking 127 film equipped with a single-element lens. These cameras and Japanese derivatives such as the Rokuoh-sha Pearlette and Minolta Vest) were popular in Japan at the time for snapshot use, which were called vestan cameras as a portmanteau: "ves" was taken from "vest" and "tan" from tangyoku. Takayama's works are thus said to belong to the "ves-tan" (besutan) school.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1895
Masataka Takayama was born on 15 May 1895.
1981
Masataka Takayama died on 14 April 1981.
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Masataka Takayama was born in Tokyo.
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Tokyo.
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Bibliography printed in the source article · 3
- Kaneko Ryūichi. Modern Photography in Japan 1915-1940. San Francisco: Friends of Photography, 2001.
- Exhibition Catalogue for The Founding and Development of Modern Photography in Japan (日本近代写真の成立と展開展), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (東京都写真美術館), 1995 (NO ISBN)
- Masataka Takayama and Taishō Pictorialism (『高山正隆と大正ピクトリアリズム』) Nihon no shashinka (日本の写真家, "Japanese Photographers"), volume 5. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten (岩波書店), 1998. https://web.archive.org/web/20061026212331/http://www.iwanami.co.jp/.BOOKS/00/7/0083450.html
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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