1 Photographic print (Album 1, page 17, hand coloring, image 26.5 x 20.7 cm.; on mount 26 x 33.5 cm)
Type:
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Photographs
Place:
Asia
Japan
Kamakura-shi (Japan)
Date:
[1860 - ca. 1900]
Scope and Contents:
View of Kamakura Daibutsu (bronze statue of Buddha).
Photographer unidentified.
Biographical / Historical:
Born to a family of textile merchants in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Kusakabe Kimbei moved to Yokohama in 1859. Although unclear, Kusakabe apprenticed under either Felice Beato and/or Raimond von Stillfried (Bennet, T. (1996) Early Japanese Images. Charles E. Tuttle Company: Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan.) Kusakabe managed a studio in Yokohama, first at Bentendori until 1881, then later at Honcho. His photo studio was well received by many, including foreigners.
Local Numbers:
R309 (Rosin Number).
FSA A1999.35 309
General:
Forms part of Rosin album number 1. Page 17.
Title taken from label affixed to bottom of mount.
Short description detailing the dimensions of the Daibutsu is printed on label affixed to bottom of mount.
This album, with covers of lacquer and ivory, was produced by a shop which used photographs by Beato, Von Stillfried, Kimbei, and others, without including their descriptions or numbers. Each photograph is described by a label affixed below the print. The work is almost certainly by A. Farsari, who owned the stock of all of these photographs in the 1880s. Kimbei kept some stock he had purchased from Von Stillfried in his own shop. Confusion and uncertainty regarding attribution of 19th century Japanese photography is well-discussed in published material.
Henry and Nancy Rosin Collection of Early Photography of Japan. FSA.A1999.35. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Purchase and partial donation.