About the artist
Kimbei Kusakabe worked as a photographer and a photographic colorist. He studied under Felice Beato and Baron Raimund von Stillfried until he opened his own workshop in Yokohama in 1881. As the protégé of Stillfried, Kusakabe continued the tradition of the psychological studio portrait and recorded scenic views of the country while he developed his own sense of photography. Like postcards today, his work was collected by tourists and exported for sale as curiosities to those who could not visit Japan.