Only a few days are left for the exhibition of Kimura Ihei (Ihee) at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. The exhibition concentrates on Ihei’s work after 1945.

Kimura Ihei was one of the leading Japanese photographers of the 20s century. He was a master of ‘street photography’ and using a small Leica since 1930 he became famous for his “snapshot spontaneity”. In 1932 he was cofounder of the legendary avant-garde photo magazine KÔGA. Ihei captured the life in the streets of Tokyo and especially Akita prefecture. Another important body of work is his stage photography and portraits of famous artists. In the 1950s Ihei travelled to Europe. His series “Paris” could be seen during this years Rencontres de la photographie in Arles/France

The use of a colour film for street photography was quite uncommon during that time.