福原路草

Rosō Fukuhara (福原 路草, Fukuhara Rosō, 1892–1946) was a Japanese photographer noted for a strikingly modern approach to pictorialism. He was born in Ginza on 16 January 1892, as Nobutatsu Fukuhara (福原 信辰, Fukuhara Nobutatsu), son of Arinobu Fukuhara (福原 有信, Fukuhara Arinobu), the head of Apothecary Shiseidō (which in 1927 would be incorporated as Shiseidō) and Toku Fukuhara (福原 とく, Fukuhara Toku). His three eldest brothers[1] died young, but another older brother, Shinzō, would also win great fame as a photographer and the last, Nobuyoshi (信義, b.1897) would win some fame too, under the name Tōru Namiki (並木 透, Namiki Tōru). Fukuhara studied French at Keio University (Tokyo) from 1911 to 1917. His photographic activities were amateur but rigorous; his photographs employed both shallow focus and rather incongruous juxtapositions to great effect. Half of a photograph by Fukuhara might be taken up by corrugated metal fencing. Fukuhara died on 29 September 1946 in Nagano.