In honor of World Ocean Day today, we’re posting hand-colored lantern slides depicting oceans by Japanese photographer Enami Nobukuni from the Fine Arts Library’s collection of early photography of Japan.
Enami Nobukuni (1859-1929), who adopted the trade name T. Enami, was the most widely published photographer of the Meiji period. A student of and then assistant to Ogawa Kazumasa, he opened a studio in Yokohama in 1892 near Tamamura Kozaburo. Enami worked in all popular formats, including large format prints in souvenir albums, lantern slides, and stereographs. To date, he has been identified as the photographer of the largest number of original hand-colored albumen prints used in the 1897-1898 multi-volume work Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese. After his death, his son Tamotsu operated the studio until it was destroyed in World War II.
General view of Matsushima one of the three great Japanese views Enami, T., 1859-1929, Japanese [photographer] Hand-colored lantern slide. 3.25 x 4 in. Part of Etz-Trudell Collection of Hand-Colored Lantern Slides of Japan, India, and Korea HOLLIS Catalog record ca. 1898 Repository: Harvard Fine Arts Library, Special Collections HOLLIS number: olvwork372201
Unidentified ocean with hills in background Enami, T., 1859-1929, Japanese [photographer] Hand-colored lantern slide. 3.25 x 4 in. ca. 1925 Repository: Harvard Fine Arts Library, Special Collections HOLLIS number: olvwork372206