Ogawa Kazumasa Japanese flower prints

Ogawa Kazumasa was a Japanese photographer, printer and publisher who was a pioneer in photomechanical printing and photography in the Meiji era.

He was born in Saitama prefecture (now Greater Tokyo).

The Meiji era is the term used for the first half of the Empire of Japan. In Japanes, his name is also sometimes written as Kazumasa Ogawa where Ogawa is the surname.

Beautiful Japanese flower prints

This collection consists mostly of his exquisite hand-painted Japanese flowers and collotypes, which will bring an instant spring feeling into your home no matter the weather outside. The beautiful flower art prints are offset by the bold background colour, creating a soft and beautiful image that will look perfect in any contemporary home.

A little more about Ogawa Kazumasa

Ogawa is famously known for opening a photographic studio in Iidabashi, the first studio of its kind to open in Tokyo.

Following this, Kazumasa Ogawa opened a dry plate studio for photographers. This style of photographic printing is clear from the flowers in this collection of prints.

In 1891, Kazumasa Ogawa was one of the founding members of the Japan Photographic Society, which brought together amateur photographers from around Japan.

Due to his profile as a Japanese photographer, he was assigned to take 100 pictures of the most fashionable geisha in Tokyo, in order to celebrate the opening of the Ryōunkaku.