Tsuneko Sasamoto | |
---|---|
Sasamoto in 1952 | |
Born | (1914-09-01)1 September 1914 Tokyo, Japan |
Died | 15 August 2022(2022-08-15) (aged 107) |
Occupation(s) | Photojournalist, photographer |
Known for | Japan's first female photojournalist |
Honours | Lucie Award for Lifetime Achievement |
Tsuneko Sasamoto (笹本 恒子, Sasamoto Tsuneko, 1 September 1914 – 15 August 2022) was Japan's first female photojournalist.
Early life
Sasamoto was born in Tokyo, Japan. She went to a college of home economics, but quit because of her ambition to become a painter. After dropping out, she attended an institute of painting without telling her parents, and a dressmaking school.
Career
Sasamoto started her career as a part-time illustrator on the local news pages in Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun (now Mainichi Shimbun, one of the newspapers in Japan). At 26, she got promoted to a probationary employee in 1940 when she joined the Photographic Society in Japan, officially becoming the first female photojournalist in Japan. She stated that Margaret Bourke-White was a major influence in why she became a photographer. Sasamoto photographed subjects from General Douglas MacArthur during the American occupation of Japan to striking coalminers and protesting students.
She published a photo book in 2011 called Hyakusai no Finder, or Centenarian’s Finder. In 2014, Sasamoto had an exhibit of her work from her 2011 book called Hyakusai Ten, or, Centenarian’s Exhibition. In 2015, Sasamoto published another book, Inquisitive Girl at 101. She broke her left hand and both legs in 2015 but continued to photograph. Prior to her death, Sasamoto was working on a project called Hana Akari (Flower Glow) in honor of her friends who had died.
Sasamoto turned 100 in September 2014, and died of natural causes on 15 August 2022, at the age of 107.
Awards
2016: Lucie Award for Lifetime Achievement
References
- "Japan's First Female Photojournalist is Still Shooting at the Age of 101". Petapixel.com. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
- 東京都写真美術館 (2000-01-01). 日本写真家事典: 東京都写真美術館所蔵作家 (in Japanese). 京都市: 淡交社. ISBN 4473017508. OCLC 44769689.
- ^ "At 101, Japan's First Female Photojournalist Reflects On Her Career". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- ^ "Pioneer photojournalist blazed trails for women". The Japan Times. The Japan Times. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- "Meet Japan's First Female Photojournalist". Retrieved 2016-09-06.
- Birmingham, Lucy (2014-09-02). "Tsuneko Sasamoto: 100 Years, 100 Women". artscape Japan. Dai Nippon Printing. Retrieved 2014-09-19.
- "Pioneering Japanese woman photojournalist dies, aged 107". Reuters. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- "2016 Lucie Awards". Lucies.org. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
External links
- Author page at Amazon
- Interview with Tsuneko Sasamoto (in Japanese)
- Nihon shashinka jiten (日本写真家事典) / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers. Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000. ISBN 4-473-01750-8. (in Japanese)