Yutaka Takanashi (高梨 豊) is a Japanese photographer who has photographed fashion, urban design, and city life, and is best known for his depiction of Tokyo.

Life and career

Takanashi was born on 6 February 1935 in Shirogane-chō, Ushigome-ku (now Shinjuku), Tokyo. In 1943 he was evacuated to Saitama (Saitama). In 1953 he graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan Aoyama High School and entered the photography department of Nihon University. His first camera was a Canon IVSb 35 mm rangefinder. In 1956 Takanashi's photographs won awards from Sankei Camera magazine. He graduated from university in 1957, and tried but failed to enter various news companies, settling for darkroom work in Ginza for the photographer Osamu Yagi (八木治). His university graduation work was published in the September issue of Sankei Camera. After meeting Kiyoji Ōtsuji, he entered Kuwasawa Design School in 1959, graduating in 1961. In May 1960 he had his first solo exhibition, of work from his series "Somethin' Else", in Ginza Garō. His second exhibition featured work from the same series, face-on images of buildings taken with a 4×5 large format camera. In 1961 Takanashi married Reiko Mizoguchi. Between 1961 and 1970 he worked at Nippon Design Center doing commercial photography. Takanashi was a member of the collective that produced Provoke magazine in 1968 and 1969. Takanashi had a tenured position at Tokyo Zokei University from 1980 until 2000 (a full professor from 1983), whereupon he retired but continued teaching there part-time. From 1992, Takanashi, Genpei Akasegawa and Yūtokutaishi Akiyama worked together in the group Raika Dōmei. Takanashi won the Annual Award of the Photographic Society of Japan twice, in 1984 and 1993.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Selection of other joint exhibitions

This list does not include the exhibitions of Raika Dōmei.

Permanent collections

Takanashi's works are held by:

Books by Takanashi

Other works with contributions by Takanashi

This list does not include the books published as by Raika Dōmei.

On Takanashi