Shigeru Tamura

Who was Shigeru Tamura?

Shigeru Tamura was a Japanese photographer notable for his work in fashion and photojournalism.

Tamura was born in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. Shigeru was an assumed name; Tamura's personal name was probably Torashige. He studied photography at the Oriental School of Photography; graduating in 1929. With Yoshio Watanabe, in 1935 he set up a studio for advertising and other photography in Ginza, Tokyo. He was highly successful as a fashion photographer, notably in work for the magazine Fujin Gahō from 1937. Together with Ken Domon and others, he set up the Young People's Photojournalism Research Society in 1938.

Tamura emerged from the war as a photographer of social issues in Japan, approaching them from a pacifist and left-wing angle. He also traveled, producing books on the Arab world and North Vietnam. In 1963 he set up the Japan Realist Photographers Association.

In the 1970s Tamura documented the topography and cultural patrimony of Japan. He died in 1987.