Terushichi Hirai

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates was one of the most prominent Japanese photographers in the first half of the 20th century in Japan.

As an amateur photographer, he was very energetic in photography groups, such as Naniwa Photography Club (Template:Category handler, Naniwa Shashin Kurabu) and Tampei Photography Club.

In 1937, he founded Avant-Garde Image Group (Avant-Garde Zoei Shūdan, Template:Category handler) with Gingo Hanawa (1894–1957, Template:Category handler), Yoshio Tarui and Kōrō Honjō.

He was good at extremely imaginative, illusionary and surrealistic photography, perfectly using photomontages and color painting on prints. His works such as "Fantasies of the Moon" (Template:Category handler, 1938), "Mode" (1938, Template:Category handler, Mōdo) and "Life" (1938, Template:Category handler, Seimei) are unique and among the most important works for the history of Japanese photography before World War II.

References

• Kaneko Ryūichi. Modern Photography in Japan 1915-1940. San Francisco: Friends of Photography, 2001. Template:ISBN
• Tucker, Anne Wilkes, et al. The History of Japanese Photography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. Template:ISBN
• Template:In lang Exhibition Catalogue for The Founding and Development of Modern Photography in Japan (Template:Category handler), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (Template:Category handler), 1995 (no ISBN). This catalogue reproduces "Fantasies of the Moon", "Mode" and "Life".
• Template:In lang Kiyoshi Koishi and avant-garde photography (Template:Category handler) Nihon no shashinka (Template:Category handler, "Japanese Photographers"), volume 15. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1999. Template:ISBN

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