Lot 24
Lot 24
Lot Details
Hiromu Kira
1898 - 1991
The Thinker
toned gelatin silver print, framed, circa 1930
image: 10 ¼ by 13 ⅜ in. (26 by 34 cm.)
frame: 17 ½ by 20 ½ in. (44.5 by 52.1 cm.)
Condition Report
Please note the colors and shades in the online catalogue illustration may vary depending on screen settings.
This toned gelatin silver print is in generally very good condition. Upon examination in raking light, the following are visible: some deposits of original retouching in the upper left portion of the image; some matte areas at the left and lower edges; some very faint mottling along the lower edge, possibly foxing; and silvering in the darkest areas and edges.
Black paper and adhesive remnants along the upper edge on the reverse of the photograph indicate that it was previously mounted. Kira’s exhibition prints are often found on double mounts, with the primary support being black or gray-brown card.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colors and shades which are different to the lot's actual color and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation. The condition report is a statement of opinion only. For that reason, the condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS ONLINE CONDITION REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE/BUSINESS APPLICABLE TO THE RESPECTIVE SALE.
Literature
Vanity Fair 36, No. 1 (March 1931), p. 42.
'Hiromu Kira, Still Life Photography,' Camera Craft, August 1928 (vol. XXXV, no. 8), p. 353.
Dennis Reed, Japanese Photography in America, 1920-1940 (Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Los Angeles, 1985), pl. 64
Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 2008, p. 157, fig. 130.
Britt Salvesen, See the Light--Photography, Perception, Cognition: The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013), p. 104
Catalogue Note
Prints of this image are scarce and only one other example is believed to have been offered at auction. Two prints have been located in institutional collections: the Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Hiromu Kira was among a group of Japanese-American photographers on the West Coast of the United States who comprise a small but interesting chapter in the history of the medium. Organized loosely around the camera clubs in such cities as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, they were influential both as photographers and collectors. Among the earliest buyers of Edward Weston's work, for instance, were members of the Japanese Camera Pictorialists of California, centered in Los Angeles's Japantown.
Kira came to America from Japan when he was a teenager and eventually settled in Seattle. In 1924, he helped to found Seattle's camera club, where he was a leading light in Pictorialist photography. A move to Los Angeles in 1926, and exposure to the photographs of Weston and others, coincided with a new direction in his work. The Thinker was made while Kira was working at T. Iwata's Camera shop in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Kira and a customer went shooting together, stopping at the Hollywood Dam and making what would become Kira’s most memorable Modernist composition.