From DiscoverNikkei.org
Toyo Miyatake
Photographer (1895-1979)
Toyo Miyatake (1895-1979) was a leading figure in the Los Angeles Little Tokyo area and a noted photographic artist. He was born in Kagawa, Japan and immigrated to the United States in 1909 to join his father. At age 21 he took up the study of photography. In 1923 Miyatake purchased the Toyo Photo Studio, which coincidentally bore his own name. He became an established photographer, associating with photographers such as Edward Weston and winning prizes in exhibitions including the 1926 London International Photography Exhibition. In 1932 he photographed the Olympic Games in Los Angeles for the Asahi Shimbun and eventually started his own studio. During World War II, the Miyatakes were sent to Manzanar concentration camp. After the war, Miyatake reopened his studio in Little Tokyo and worked as a freelance photographer for the Rafu Shimpo newspaper, the largest Japanese American newspaper in the United States.
- Biography (PhotoGuide Japan)
- Video: Toyo Miyatake: Infinite Shades of Gray. Los Angeles: Japanese American National Museum, 2001. Includes RealMedia video clips.
- Stephanie Green, "Art and history converge: Toyo Miyatake Studios turns 75". AsianWeek, March 5-11, 1998.
- Jasmine Alinder, "Toyo Miyatake's Boys Behind Barbed Wire: Photography in the History of Japanese-American Internment". The Journal of the International Institute 6, no. 1 (Fall 1998).
- Gerald H. Robinson, Elusive Truth: Four Photographers at Manzanar - Ansel Adams, Clem Albers, Dorothea Lange and Toyo Miyatake. Carl Mautz Publishing, 2002. (Bored Feet Press)
- Miyatake's photographer son, Archie, shares memories of his father in the Real People video archive.
- Cindy Chang, "Images of Internment: Man's father sneaked camera lens into camp at Manzanar". Pasadena Star News, April 24, 2004 (Republished on the Manzanar Committee web site)