Yasui Nakaji｜The Photography of Yasui Nakaji Yasui Nakaji

Yasui Nakaji(1903-1942) was one of the most prominent photographers in the first half of the 20th century in Japan, who started the “New Photography movement” with his colleagues from the Kansai district. He left an indelible impression on the pre-war golden age of modernist photography with his cutting-edge approach, working in many different styles from pictorialism to photomontage.

What is collotype?

In the 1880s, the collotype printing process was introduced to Kyoto and by 1905 Benrido had begun producing collotypes. Collotype is one of the earliest forms of printing techniques and was invented in France in 1855 by Alphonse Poitevin as a method for photographic fine art printing.  Due to the high level of print and archival quality, it has since been used primarily as a way to reproduce and preserve Japan’s National Treasures and cultural properties. Today Benrido Collotype Atelier remains as one of only a few studios left in the world capable of producing fine colour collotype prints.