Kishin Shinoyama
篠山 紀信
Shinoyama at Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, 2015
Born	Shinoyama Kishin (1940-12-03)December 3, 1940 Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Died	January 4, 2024(2024-01-04) (aged 83) Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Known for	Photography
Spouse	Saori Minami ​ (m. 1979)​

Kishin Shinoyama (篠山 紀信, Shinoyama Kishin, December 3, 1940 – January 4, 2024) was a Japanese photographer. He is well-known for having photographed the covers for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's albums, Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey. Before his marriage to Saori Minami in 1979, he took a majority of the photographs for her album covers with CBS/Sony.

Life and work

Shinoyama graduated from Nihon University. He worked with the Light Publicity agency while still a student, and freelanced after graduation.

Shinoyama put out a large number of books of photographs of girls, dressed, mostly undressed, and nude.

On November 10, 2009, Shinoyama's home and office were searched by police on suspicion of public indecency. The searches stemmed from concerns regarding nude photos he allegedly took in public of two women in August 2008 for his book 20XX TOKYO.^[1] On May 26, 2010 the court found Shinoyama guilty of public indecency and defiling a place of worship for photographing at Aoyama Cemetery. He was fined 300,000 Yen.

Shinoyama was married to Saori Minami and their son is actor Akinobu Shinoyama. Kishin Shinoyama died on January 4, 2024, at the age of 83.^[2]

Books

Books devoted to Shinoyama's works

This list is incomplete.

• (in Japanese) Kishin no teitaku: Sā Jon Sōn Bijutsukan (貴紳の邸宅：サー・ジョン・ソーン美術館) / Sir John Soane's Museum. Tokyo: Rokuyōsha, 1989. ISBN 978-4-89737-011-8. Text by Arata Isozaki. A detailed study of Sir John Soane's Museum (London).
• Santa Fe. Tokyo: Asahi Shuppansha, 1991. ISBN 4-255-91046-4. Rie Miyazawa, nude. (See Santa Fe.)
• 真矢みき写真集『Guy』. Takarazuka Revue Company, 1997. ISBN 978-4924333178. Photography collection featuring former Takarazuka Revue Flower Troupe top-star, Maya Miki. Shot in Vietnam over a three day period, the collection was noted for its unique portrayal of masculinity and femininity.
• (in English) The Painter's House: Balthus at the Grand Chalet. Te Neues, 2000. ISBN 978-3-8238-5472-2. Photographs of the extraordinarily large house of the Balthus family, and Balthus himself, his wife and their daughter.
• Kissin' My Puppy. Tokyo: Rasukaru, 2005. ISBN 978-4-902388-05-3. Japan's starlets (アイドルタレント, aidoru tarento) and their dogs. The minimal text is in Japanese.
• Shinoyama Kishin at Tokyo Disney Resort. Tokyo: Kodansha, 2008. ISBN 978-4-06-339758-1. Commemorative collection of photographs taken at Tokyo Disney Resort theme park for its 25th Anniversary celebrations.

Other books showing Shinoyama's works

• (in Japanese) Nihon nūdo meisakushū (日本ヌード名作集, Japanese nudes). Camera Mainichi bessatsu. Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1982. Pp.24–25, 222–27 show nudes by Shinoyama.
• Nihon shashin no tenkan: 1960 nendai no hyōgen (日本写真の転換：1960時代の表現) / Innovation in Japanese Photography in the 1960s. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1991. Exhibition catalogue, text in Japanese and English. Pp.124–29 show nudes by Shinoyama.

Works

This list is incomplete.

• A Fine Day (1975)
• Five Seasons / Matsuda Seiko (1987)^[3]
• Double Fantasy - cover photography of John Lennon and Yoko Ono
• Chemical Reaction - album cover photography of the band Vodka Collins
• 135 Women
• The Geisha Series
• Accidents Series
• Tokyo Nude (1990)
• SHINJUKU (1991)
• Water Fruit/Kanako Higuchi (1991)
• NY & NY/Yurie Nitani (1991)
• Santa Fe/Rie Miyazawa (1991)
• TOKYO Future Century (1992)
• Food (1992)
• Balthus (1993)
• News 1 Mystery of T House (1994)
• News 2 [Miwako] (1994)
• News 3 DrugStore (1994)
• News 4/Riona Hazuki (1994)
• Harue Miyamoto (1994)
• Hair (1994)
• Adolescence revolution (1994)
• Blue Book / Aya Kokumai (1995)
• Anna Umemiya's Diary of Love/Anna Umemiya, Kenji Haga (1995)
• AKI MIZUSAWA PHOTOGRAPHY 1975-1995 (1995)
• Oozumou (1995)
• Yukio Mishima's House (1995)
• Hinano ga Pyon Pyon/Hinano Yoshikawa (1995)
• Mai Hosho (1995)
• one,two,three/Saki Takaoka (1996)
• Teihon sakka no shigotoba (1996)
• Tokyo secret meeting (1997)
• ERI ISHIDA 1979＋NOW (1997)
• Shinwa shōjo・Chiaki Kuriyama (1997)
• Shōjo-tachi no Okinawa (1997)
• Shōjokan (1997)
• Ningen Kankei (1997)
• Bora Bora/Chiaki Hara (1997)
• GEKISHA in HAWAII (1998)
• RIONA (1998)
• ELLIROSE (1998)
• Shashin wa sensōda! Genba kara no senkyō hōkoku (1998)
• Sugita kaoru joyū-gokko (1998)
• VLADIMIR MALAKHOV (1998)
• NARCISSISME (1998)
• West by South/Hijiri Kojima (1999)
• Shōjo no yokubō yoshino sayaka (1999)
• Man'no bijutsu (1999)
• HARUMI INOUE LIVE (1999)
• SIMON PYGMALIONISME (2000)
• NUEL LEGRIS OPERA DE PARIS (2000)
• Touch/Manno Art (2000)
• Ranman/Mai Oikawa (2000)
• DRIVE (2000)
• Idols (2000)
• THE PAINTER'S HOUSE (2001)
• The Kabuki (2001)
• MAIKO KAWAKAMI (2001)
• Hinanogachu~tsu?/Hinano Yoshikawa (2001)
• mye/Mye Kitajima (2001)
• KISHIN TAKARAZUKA GRAPH (2002)
• BACKSTAGE (2002)
• 20XX TOKYO

Discography

Field recordings

• 激写 Sounding Carib (1977)

Awards

• Most Promising Young Photographer Prize (日本批評家協会新人賞, Nihon Hihyōka Kyōkai Shinjinshō) in 1966.
• Mainichi Art Prize (毎日芸術賞, Mainichi Geijutsushō) in 1980.
• Golden Eye Award in 1998.