[Cherry blossoms]

Artist Kazumasa Ogawa (Japanese, 1860–1930)

Date1897

MediumCollotype print with applied color

DimensionsImage: 10 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches (26.7 x 18.4 cm);
Sheet: 15 1/2 x 11 inches (39.4 x 27.9 cm)

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Henry D. Rosin

Terms

Photographs
Collotype
Cherry blossoms
Flower petals
Flowers
Leaves
Paper
Japanese

Object number85.080.404

Label CopyOgawa Isshin, also known as Ogawa Kazumasa, learned English and photography from the age of fifteen, and later apprenticed under photographer Shimooka Renjo while serving as an interpreter for the Yokohama police. He moved to Boston for two years beginning in 1882, where he gained further training in dry plate and collotype techniques. Upon his return to Japan, he established successful businesses in Tokyo, including a printing factory specializing in collotypes. This image comes from the series of fifteen collotypes of Japanese flowers that were used as frontispieces to Brinkley’s multivolume Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese. ("American Sojourns and the Collecting of Japanese Art," curated by Ellen Avril and presented at the Johnson Museum June 25–December 18, 2016)

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