Hisae Imai (今井 寿恵, Imai Hisae, 1931–2009) was a Japanese photographer who specialized in the photography of horses.[1]

Hisae Imai
Born(1931-07-19)July 19, 1931
Tokyo, Japan
DiedFebruary 17, 2009(2009-02-17) (aged 77)
Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Known forPhotography

Biography

edit

Born in Tokyo in 1931, Imai graduated from Bunka Gakuin (文化学院) in 1952. Her father owned a photography studio in the Matsuya department store in Ginza, and after graduation she was encouraged to go into photography as well.[2] She had her first solo exhibition in 1956 and went on to win several awards such as the Newcomer's Award from the Photographic Society of Japan and the Camera Geijutsu Art Award.[3]

In 1962 Imai was in a car accident that left her temporarily blind for a year and a half, which left her unable to create photographs.[3] After the accident, Shuji Terayama invited her to watch a horse race with him. She was very moved by the horses, and after meeting the racehorse Nijinsky in 1970, she took up photography again.[2] From the 1970s onward, most of her numerous solo exhibitions were of photographs of horses.[1]

Imai died in a hospital in Shinjuku on 17 February 2009.[2]

Permanent collections

edit

Imai's photographs are represented in the permanent collections of:

Further reading

edit
  • Toda, Masako (2022). Hisae Imai. akaaka-sha. ISBN 978-4-86541-144-7.

Notes

edit
  1. ^ a b c "フォトグラファー(写真家)". fotonomagic | フォトノマジック (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "今井寿恵 :: 東文研アーカイブデータベース". www.tobunken.go.jp. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Imai Hisae | Artists". The Third Gallery Aya. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  4. ^ 日本写真家事典 (Nihon shashinka jiten) / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers) (Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000; ISBN 4-473-01750-8). (in Japanese)
  5. ^ "Hisae Imai - MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art.