Ken Ohara Japanese, b. 1942

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Ken Ohara (b. 1942) was born in Tokyo, Japan. After briefly studying photography at Nihon University, Ohara moved to New York City at the age of 19. From 1966 to 1970, he worked as an assistant for Richard Avedon and Hiro. In 1970, his first book ONE earned support from The Museum of Modern Art’s photography curator John Szarkowski. In 1974, His work was featured in “New Japanese Photography,” a groundbreaking survey show at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.  From 1974 to 1975 He was a recipient of a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and for the following 15 years he worked as a commercial photographer. In the 1990s, Ohara reemerged as an artist and participated in the “Ghost in the Shell: Photography and the Human Soul,” a 1999/2000 project at Los Angeles Country Museum of Art curated by Robert Sobieszek. In 2006/2007, the retrospective exhibition “Ken Ohara: Extended Portrait Studies” was held at Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany and traveled to two other German museums.

1942 Born in Tokyo, Japan
1961-1962 Studied Photography at Nihon University, Tokyo
1963-1966 Studied at the Art Students League, New York, NY
1966-1970 Worked at the studios of Richard Avedon and Hiro, New York, NY
1970-1971 Freelance photographer for Harper's Bazaar
1974-1975 Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Photography
1973-1983 Technical Director, Menken Seltzer Studios, New York, NY
1983 Established Ohara Studio, New York, NY
1988 Established Ohara Studio, Glendale, CA

 

Solo Exhibitions

 2025  Ken Ohara: CONTACTS, Whitney Museum of American Art
2023  More Than One: Photographic Journey of Ken Ohara, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, New York, NY
2017   Ken Ohara Extreme Portraits 1970-1999, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, New York, NY
2006-2007 Ken Ohara Extended Portrait Studies (Traveling exhibition); Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Stadtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany; Fotomuseum in Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich, Germany
2006      with, Stephen Cohen Galley, Los Angeles, CA
2000 Stephen Cohen Galley, Los Angeles, CA
1996 Gallery Artgraph, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
1986 Shadai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1979 Ken Ohara: CONTACTS, Nikon Salon Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
1971 Ken Ohara: 365, Asahi Pentax Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1970 Ken Ohara: ONE, Sony Building Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

 

Group/DUO Exhibitions

2023  Autpotraits Au Quotidien: Ken Ohara and Melissa Shook, Patinoire Royale | Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, Belgium
2019 A History of Photography: Selections from the Museum’s Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
2019 Snap + Share: transmitting photographs from mail art to social networks, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
2012-2013 Thomas Walther Photography Collection, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Dessau-Robau, Germany
2010 State of mind, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego
2009 Deux temps, Trois mouvements, GwinZegal/ Center for Visual Art, Plouha, France
2009 Shibui: Six Japanese Photographers, 1920s to 2000, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008-2010   This Side of Paradise: Body and Landscape in Los Angeles Photographs  (Traveling exhibition); Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marina, CA; Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland; Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône, France
2008     Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography (Traveling exhibition); Tate Modern, London, UK; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
2008 Kopf an Kopf, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
2005-2006 Self, Craftspace (Traveling exhibition); Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, UK; Bury St. Edmunds Gallery, Bury St. Edmunds, UK; Piece Hall Art Gallery, Halifax, UK; McManus Gallery, Dundee, UK
2004 The Art of the Camera: 100 Masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
2002 Japanese Photography 1945–2000, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
2002 Photography in Japan 1945–2000, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2001 Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
1999 The Ghost in the Shell, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
1997 Museum of Design, Zurich, Switzerland
1993 Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1974 New Japanese Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (Traveling exhibition); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; San Francisco Art Museum, San Francisco, CA; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO; Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL

 

Collections

Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA
Fotomuseum im Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich, Germany
Bauhaus Dessau Foundation Collection/ Museum, Dessau, Germany
Taschen Verlag, Cologne, Germany
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
Kawasaki Municipal Museum, Kanagawa, Japan
Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics, Tokyo, Japan
Sahshin-Kosha, Tokyo, Japan
Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan

 

publication

Ken Ohara; Extreme Portraits 1970-1999, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, 2017
Ken Ohara; Extended Portrait Studies since 1970, Steidl
with - Ken Ohara, Twin Palms Publishing, 2006
ONE - Ken Ohara - #31 of “One Picture Book”, Nazraeli Press, 2005
One - Ken Ohara, Taschen Verlag. 1997
ONE -  KEN OHARA, Tsukiji Shokan, 1970

 

Lectures

New School for Social Research, New York, NY
The School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
California Institute of the Arts,Valencia, CA
Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics, Tokyo, Japan
Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan