Suzuki's original name was Okamoto Keizō(岡本圭三) and he was born inIzu.[2] From an early age he enjoyed drawing and painting, and at thirteen or fourteen he set off for Yokohama determined to become an artist.
He became a student of the artistCharles Wirgman, a friend and former partner of the photographerFelice Beato.[3] On seeing a photograph of a wrestler, Okamoto was so taken with the detail and image quality of the novel medium that he decided to become a photographer.[4]
Suzuki learned photography at the Yokohama photographic studio ofShimooka Renjō, where he worked for a number of years from 1870, and where he met his future father-in-law,Suzuki Shin'ichi I who was also apprenticed to Shimooka.[5] In 1873 Okamoto married Suzuki's daughter Nobu (のぶ), and — by the custom known asmuko-iri (婿入り) — moved into the Suzuki family, adopting the father's name. (The older photographer thereupon changed his own name.)[6]
In 1876 Okamoto, now Suzuki, left Shimooka's studio, perhaps to work in a photographic studio inNagoya, and then underYokoyama Matsusaburō,[7] and in 1879 went toSan Francisco, where he studied negative retouching and other skills underI. W. Taber, thereby perhaps becoming the first Japanese photographer to study abroad.[8]
On his return to Japan, Suzuki became the successful operator of his father-in-law's new branch studio in Kudanzaka, Tokyo. His photographs, often largehand-colouredalbumen prints, won prizes at international exhibitions in Europe and Japan and he was commissioned to photograph such persons of rank as the Hawaiian KingKalākaua in 1881, theCrown Prince Tōgu (東宮) in 1888 (for which he was paid $50), and the JapaneseEmpress Dowager in 1890.[9]
In the same year, Suzuki was commissioned by the Japanese government to produce photographic albums of views along theTōkaidō to be presented toTsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia (later TsarNicholas II). When the Tsarevich's visit to Japan was cut short following anattempt on his life, the albums were instead presented to Russia and Greece.
Similar photographic albums were given to senior officials in the United States and Europe.[10] In spite of this success, there is no record of the Suzuki studio in Tokyo after 1903.[11] Since 1893, the Yokohama studio established by his father-in-law had been operated by I. S. Suzuki — that is,Izaburō, the son of Suzuki Shin'ichi I — and it continued operation until 1908.[12]
After theRusso-Japanese War, Suzuki made an unfortunate investment in the transport industry, and the family was ruined.[13] Suzuki died some time later, in 1912.
^Bennett,OJP, 291. In hisPhotography in Japan, Bennett cites Isawa for the "1855" birthdate, but notes that Saitō Takio gives "1859".PiJ, 172.
^Bennett,PiJ, 169, 172. Isawa gives his birthplace asGunma-gun, Gunma and Bennett cites Saitō Takio as givingSeta-gun, Gunma. (Both are present-day equivalents, districts and prefectures postdating Suzuki's birth.) Isawa, 21; Bennett,PiJ, 172.
^Isawa, 21; Bennett,PiJ, 172. Wirgman and Beato were partners from 1864 to 1867. Wirgman made illustrations derived from Beato's photographs while Beato photographed Wirgman's sketches and other works. Clark, Fraser, and Osman, 97.
^To鈴木真, but no reference yet seen specifies the reading of真. Probably it was simply Shin; conceivably it was Makoto or something else.
^Nagoya and Yokoyama: as stated inNihon no shashinka. This information does not appear in other sources that are in other ways more informative on Suzuki than the short article inNihon no shashinka (which for example does not give even an approximate year of birth or death). He may also have studied photography under Yokoyama as early as 1873, or Yokoyama's student may have been Suzuki Shin'ichi I, the records are not specific. Yokoe, 183; Bennett,PiJ, 83.
^Taber also photographed King Kalākaua, during a six-week trip to theHawaiian Islands in 1880. Taber's photographic stock also includes views of Japan that may have been supplied by Suzuki. Isawa, 22; Palmquist and Kailbourn, 539; Bennett,PiJ, 173.
Bennett, Terry.Old Japanese Photographs: Collector's Data Guide. London: Quaritch, 2006.ISBN0-9550852-4-1 (hard)
Bennett, Terry.Photography in Japan: 1853–1912. Rutland, Vt: Charles E. Tuttle, 2006.ISBN0-8048-3633-7 (hard)
Clark, John, John Fraser, and Colin Osman. "A revised chronology of Felice (Felix) Beato (1825/34?–1908?)". InJapanese Exchanges in Art, 1850s to 1930s with Britain, Continental Europe, and the USA: Papers and Research Materials. Sydney: Power Publications, 2001.ISBN1-86487-303-5 (paper)
Isawa, Y. 'Sketches of the Lives of a Few of the Leading Professional Photographers in Japan', in 'Photographers and Photography in Japan' by W. K. Burton; reproduced fromThe Practical Photographer (September 1896, vol. viii, no. 81), in Bennett,OJP.
Kaneko Ryūichi. "Suzuki Shin'ichi".Nihon shashinka jiten (日本写真家事典) /328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers. Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000.ISBN4-473-01750-8. P.186.(in Japanese) Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese. The article is primarily aboutSuzuki Shin'ichi I.
Nihon no shashin: Uchinaru katachi, sotonaru katachi 1: Torai kara 1945 made (日本の写真 内なるかたち・外なるかたち 1 渡来から1945まで) /Japanese Photography: Form In/Out 1: From Its Introduction to 1945. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1996. Exhibition catalogue. Text and captions in Japanese and English. A group portrait of students of a women's college of education appears as plate 55.
Nihon no shashinka (日本の写真家) /Biographic Dictionary of Japanese Photography. Tokyo: Nichigai Associates, 2005.ISBN4-8169-1948-1. P.224.(in Japanese) Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.
Palmquist, Peter E., and Thomas R. Kailbourn.Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000.ISBN0-8047-3883-1 (hard)
Yokoe, Fuminori. 'Part 3-3. Yokoyama Matsusaburo (1838-1884).' InThe Advent of Photography in Japan/Shashin torai no koro, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, and Hakodate Museum of Art, Hokkaido, eds. (Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; Hokkaido: Hakodate Museum of Art, 1997).
(in Japanese)1875 in photography. Contains specific biographical information on Okamoto that does not appear elsewhere (and has not been incorporated withinthis article). However, no source for this is specified.
