(born Ikeda City, Osaka, 1938)
Moriyama apprenticed at the Takeji Iwamiya Studio in Osaka before moving to Tokyo in 1961. While working as an assistant to master photographer Hosoe Eikoh from 1961 to 1964, Moriyama was exposed to the work of leading photographers during a period of intense social and creative ferment. Since then, he has consistently sought to challenge photographic conventions. Moriyama later joined the short-lived yet influential Provoke group (1968–70), emerging as one its most recognized members. Known for his use of the high-contrast, grainy, and blurry style, he has spent much of his career roaming the cities and highways of Japan and capturing gritty images with a handheld camera.
Since the mid-1960s, Moriyama has been actively publishing and exhibiting his work. He gained exposure internationally in the 1970s and 1980s, notably in the exhibitions New Japanese Photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (1974), Neue Fotografie aus Japan at the Municipal Museum of Graz (1976), and Black Sun: The Eyes of Four at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1985). His work has been included in numerous other solo exhibitions and major surveys of Japanese photography throughout his nearly six-decade career. Learn more about his work.
Images © Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation
