was a Japanese photographer, prominent in the years before the war.

Born in Ōtsu

Otsu, Shiga

is the capital city of Shiga, Japan. The city was founded on October 1, 1898. As of October 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 338,629 with an average age of 40.7 years and a population density of 905.28 persons per km²...

, Shiga Prefecture, Tamura graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography ' onMouseout='HidePop("32602")' href="/topics/Tokyo_Polytechnic_University">Tokyo Polytechnic University

Tokyo Polytechnic University

is a private university in Honchō, Nakano, Tokyo. Its nickname is Shadai . It was formerly known as Tokyo College of Photography .The university was founded as Konishi Professional School of Photography in Shibuya in 1923...

) and entered Oriental in 1928 and became editor of Photo Times. He was an active contributor to the magazine Geijutsu Shashin Kenkyū and in the group Nihon Kōga Kyōkai , created in 1928 and related to Nihon Kōga Geijutsu Kyōkai . He was a leading figure in the New Photography Research Society , formed in 1930.

Tamura's work was influenced both by pictorialism

Pictorialism

‎Pictorialism is the name given to a photographic movement in vogue from around 1885 following the widespread introduction of the dry-plate process. It reached its height in the early years of the 20th century, and declined rapidly after 1914 after the widespread emergence of Modernism...

 and by New Photography.

Tamura is particularly known for his portraits, and Shiroi hana is the best known of these and widely anthologized. Okatsuka says that it expresses a certain lyricism but “displays a more sophisticated sense of maturity” than the works of his contemporaries Masataka Takayama

Masataka Takayama

Masataka Takayama was one of the most prominent Japanese photographers in the first half of the twentieth century....

 and Jun Watanabe

Jun Watanabe

is a Japanese stunt performer and suit actor from Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture affiliated with Japan Action Enterprises. He has been cast in many leading roles in the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series, portraying a diverse range of characters...

.

Books by Tamura

• Seibutsu shashin no utsushikata . Tokyo: Sōgeisha, 1952. A guide to photographing still lifes.
• Sakuga no daiippo . Tokyo: Genkōsha, 1954. A guide to the practice of photography.

Sources

• Kaneko Ryūichi. “The Origins and Development of Japanese Art Photography.” Pp. 100–42 of Tucker, ed., History. Pp. 110–13, 137.
• Matsuda Takako. “Tamura Sakae”. In Tucker, ed., History, p. 363.
• Matsumoto Norihiko. , ed. A Collection of Japanese Photographs 1912–1940. Tokyo: Shashinkosha, 1990. Despite its English-only title, the book is in Japanese only. It is a lavish production (if unpaginated), not offered for sale and instead presumably distributed to customers.
• Nihon kindai shashin no seiritsu to tenkai / The Founding and Development of Modern Photography in Japan. Tokyo: Tokyo Museum of Photography, 1995.
• Nihon no shashinka / Biographic Dictionary of Japanese Photography. Tokyo: Nichigai Associates, 2005. ISBN 4-8169-1948-1. Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.
• Taidan: Shashin kono gojūnen . Edited by the staff of Asahi Camera
  Asahi Camera
  is a Japanese monthly photographic magazine.The first issue was that for April 1926. It has from the outset been published by Asahi Shinbun-sha, publisher of the newspaper Asahi Shinbun....
  
  . Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1974. Ihei Kimura
  Ihei Kimura
  Born on 12 December 1901 in Shitaya-ku , Tokyo, Kimura started taking photographs when very young but his interest intensified when he was around 20 and living in Tainan, Taiwan, where he was working for a sugar wholesaler. He opened a photographic studio in Nippori, Tokyo in 1924...
  
  interviews Tamura in chapter 7, "Shinkō shashin tezukuri no aji" .
• Tucker, Anne Wilkes, et al. The History of Japanese Photography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-300-09925-8.