Untitled, 2007

Kishin Shinoyama  

Kishin Shinoyama (1940–2024) is among the greatest Japanese photographers of the post-war period. After beginnings at the advertising agency Light Publicity, he became independent in 1968 and established himself with his audacious nude series, notably "Birth," which embeds bodies in the natural landscape. He represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in 1976 with the series "Meaning of the House" and gained international recognition through his intimate portraits of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, taken in New York a few months before Lennon's death, including the cover of the album Double Fantasy. For more than five decades, Shinoyama has photographed the great figures of his time, from Yukio Mishima and Momoe Yamaguchi to AKB48, whose series "JUMP & CRY" (2007) inaugurated a long collaboration. His traveling retrospective "The Power of Photography — THE PEOPLE by KISHIN" was shown in 25 locations in Japan and attracted more than 750,000 visitors. His works are featured in important collections in Japan and abroad.