Iwata Nakayama

Iwata Nakayama (中山 岩太, Nakayama Iwata, 1895–1949) was a renowned Japanese photographer.

Biography

He was born in Yanagawa, in Fukuoka(Japan). His father was an inventor who had a patent of a fire extingusher in Japan. Iwata migrated to Tokyo and was educated in a private school Kyohoku-Chugakkou. After graduated that school, he entered Tokyo University of the Arts as a first student of its photography course. Learned artistic and commercial techniques there, he moved to U.S. in 1918 as an oversea student of California State University sent by Japan government. However he quitted studying and began to work at a photo studio run by 菊池東陽 Kikuchi Touyou in New York. Having got practical skills, he established his own studio 《Laquan Studio》 in New York.

He succeeded as an artisan, and traveled around Europe with his wife Masako(正子) and his son Iwao(巖）. Stayed in Paris and he came to know Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy and their works(But he wrote that he didn't follow their style). And he and his family went back to Japan in 1927.

After getting back to Japan, he began to work as a professional photographer in Kobe and drove Japanese Avant-garde Photo Arts. He associated Ashiya Camera Kurabu(芦屋カメラクラブ) and educated some his juniors. And released some works in magazines; Asahi Camera（アサヒカメラ),Nihon Shashin Nenkan（日本写真年鑑） and so on. Farther more, he made one of the first commercial montage photography in 1930.

In 1932, he and his company; Nojima Yasuzo and Ina Nobuo　published their monthly magazine Kouga (光画). This magazine was a critical turning point of Japanese artistic photography. Nakayama was a pioneer of Japanese avant-garde photography and inspired many Japanese photographers through his those works.

During World War Ⅱ, he couldn't work to the full. His works became more and more abstract. The War over, he resumed his professional work and creating new artistic pieces, but in 1949, he suddenly died(54 years old). It was just a few days after he was selected as a trustee of Japanese Photography Association.

References

• Nihon shashinka jiten (日本写真家事典) / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers. Kyoto: Tanksha, 2000. ISBN 4-473-01750-8. Template:Ja icon Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.
• Modern Photography Iwata Nakayama Retrospective/96-97 (モダン・フォトグラフィ　中山岩太展) Kyoto: Kōrinsha, 1996. Template:Ja icon Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.