As a new exhibition of the Avedon prodigy's pioneering work opens at London's Hamiltons Gallery, AnOther celebrates his bold oeuvre
A new eponymous exhibition devoted to the work of fashion photographer Hiro, whose unique oeuvre continues to permeate the industry today, opens at London’s Hamiltons Gallery this week, celebrating his legacy for the first time in over 20 years. The selection on display spans decades of work – the lensman's surreal and clean aesthetic broke the mold of fashion photography in the 1960s and 70s, quickly earning him respect for his unusual and striking compositions and his signature use of bold colour – for titles including Harper’s Bazaar, French Vogue and Mirabella. “It was quite a challenge to bring together a representative selection that could fit in my gallery,” curator and gallery owner Tim Jefferies explains.
Born in Shanghai in 1930 to Japanese parents, Yasuhiro Wakabayashi grew up in China and spent the years following the Second World War in Japan. He first encountered fashion photography while working at an American hotel there – he would wait for guests to throw out their magazines so he could look through the glossy images – and in 1954, the budding image-maker emigrated to the United States to enrol at the School of Modern Photography in New York City.
Hiro found the school unsatisfactory, dropping out after several classes, and opted instead to become a photographic apprentice. It was this unexpected twist of fate which led him to the studio of Richard Avedon two years later, beginning a formative experience for the young practitioner. Avedon had been working for Harper’s Bazaar since 1944 and had himself radically changed fashion photography, challenging static fashion poses with more animated compositions and scenarios that presented models in a realistic and more dynamic way. After a year of Hiro’s apprenticeship, Avedon felt the student too talented to be his assistant and introduced him to legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch at Harper’s Bazaar. Brodovitch, too, saw great potential and originality in his work, and hired Hiro as a staff photographer in 1957 – a position he held for the next 10 years.
After spending a few years working exclusively in fashion, Hiro began to explore landscapes, portraiture and reportage, and ears soon began to prick at his unorthodox compositions and utterly unique point of view. “Is this Man America’s Greatest Photographer?” the cover of American Photographer Magazine asked beneath a self-portrait in January of 1982, devoting an entire issue to exploring the question.
Now, more than 30 years later, an echo of that same suggestion still rings true: at 86 years old, the seminal photographer continues to work from his studio in Central Park West, New York City, producing elegant and unexpected scenes which fall somewhere between commercial fashion photography and surrealist canvases. What's more, as Hamiltons' new show demonstrates, he shows no sign of stopping.
Hiro runs at London's Hamiltons Gallery from January 22 until March 13, 2016.
