Born in 1938 in Osaka, Daido Moriyama is a Tokyo-based photographer, who has been at the forefront of Japanese photography since the start of his career in the late 1960s. He first trained in graphic design before taking up photography under Takeji Iwamiya and Eikoh Hosoe as an assistant. He became an independent photographer in 1964, publishing Nippon Gekijō Shashinchō (Japan Theater Photo Album) in 1968; the work captured motions infused images of daily life of actors from Japanese impresario Shuji Terayama’s underground theater group Tenjo Sajiki and Shashin yo Sayounara (Farewell Photography) in 1972; the work showed the darker sides of urban life and the city.
Moriyama’s work is characterized by continual experimentation and exploration, searching for new means and fresh approaches to extending the potential of the photographic practice. His radical aesthetic of rough grain, an unfocused and unclear visual plane, and off-center composition has come to be known simply as “grainy, blurry, out of focus.” He has had a radical impact on the photographic and art world through these his own style of expression, and consolidated his domestic and international reputation.
Moriyama’s solo exhibitions include “Daido Moriyama: Stray Dog”, San Francisco MOMA (1999, travelling to The Metropolitan Museum, New York); Fotomuseum Winterthur (2000); “Daido Moriyama”, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris (2003); Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam (2006); “Daido Moriyama Retrospectiva desde 1965”, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Sevilla (2007); “Daido Moriyama Retrospective 1965-2005 / Daido Hawaii”, The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2008); “On the Road”, The National Museum of Art, Osaka (2011); “William Klein + Daido Moriyama”, Tate Modern, London (2012); “Daido Moriyama endless works N/S”, Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, Okinawa (2014).
Moriyama is the recipient of the Japan Photo Critics Association Newcomer’s Award (1967); the Mainichi Art Award (2003); The Photographic Society of Japan Lifetime Achievement Award (2004); the Culture Award from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie, Cologne (2004); the Lifetime Achievement award of the 28th Annual Infinity Awards from International Center of Photography, New York (2012).
