#yasuhiro wakabayashi
Hiro (3 November 1930 - 15 August 2021)
By the time Yasuhiro Wakabayashi came to New York in 1954, he’d already set his sights on working for either Richard Avedon or Irving Penn.
Arriving from Japan, by way of China, “Hiro,” as he came to be known, first encountered fashion photography after World War II while working at an American hotel, where he used to wait for visitors to toss their magazines in the garbage so he could get a glimpse at the glossy images.
After a few classes at the School of Modern Photography, in 1956, he achieved his dream of assisting Avedon. An introduction to Alexey Brodovitch, the esteemed art director of Harper’s Bazaar, soon followed.
Seeing the originality of Hiro’s colorful, graphic aesthetic, Brodovitch hired him as a staff photographer in 1957, a post he kept for decades.
Kelly Stewart , New York, Negative 1994, print 2011. Hiro/The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Purchased with funds provided by the Photographs Council.
Black Evening Dress in Flight, New York. Negative 1963, print 1994. Hiro/Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Cristóbal Balenciaga evening dress, black gazar, 1967. Photograph by Hiro Wakabayashi for Harper’s Bazaar.
Foot Series #8 with Ant, New York, 1982" (1982, printed 2015). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Elsa Peretti gold bone cuff, taken in 1984. Credit: Hiro/Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
“Harry Winston Necklace, New York, 1963” (1963, printed 1990). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Rolling Stones, 1976, “Black and Blue” Album Cover Artwork by Hiro.
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Hiro (3 November 1930 - 15 August 2021)
“Van Cleef & Arpels Bracelet with Green Snake, New York, 1963” (1984, printed 2015). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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