Asakichi “Frank” Kunishige was a Japanese-American Pictorialist photographer. He was born in Agenosho, Oshima-gun, Yamaguchi-ken, Japan and emigrated to the U.S. arriving in San Francisco on October 25, 1896. After moving to Seattle in 1917, he worked in the darkroom of Edward Curtis and in October of that year.He was a founding member of the Seattle Camera Club. He created and sold his own photographic paper, Textura Tissue, which was a favorite of club members because it emphasized the soft qualities that Pictorial photographers prized. Along with Wayne Albee and Soichi Sunami, he worked for Ella E. McBride at the McBride studio. During the 1920s, Kunishige’s work was included in many prominent international exhibitions including those of the Royal Photographic Society, London; the Pittsburgh Salon; the Buffalo Salon; the Paris Salon; and numerous others. From 1925 through 1929, he was one of the most exhibited Pictorialist photographers in the world. His work was illustrated in national and international publications including Photofreund, the American Annual of Photography and Photo-Era.
During the Internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, Kunishige was detained at Camp Harmony before being transferred to Minidoka in Idaho. What remained of his work and archive was donated to the Seattle Public Library and the University of Washington Libraries which contains the bulk of his estate.
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