Frank S. Matsura

A captivating collection of Native American portraiture by early 20th-century Japanese photographer Frank S. Matsura frames the rarely told story of his work and unique personal life.Frank S. Matsura (1873-1913) was an immigrant photographer, a local hero, a charismatic original, an enigma, and a man of the community whose legacy has grown over time. Today, historians are still compiling the details of Frank’s unconventional life, and his identity and images are enjoying a revival. An expansion of academic scholarship, documentaries, exhibitions, and regional historical interests, particularly regarding his Native American portraiture, has resulted in a more vivid understanding of the man and his work: Matsura’s photographs of local tribal members reveal an honesty and empathy, a counterpoint to the contrived or nostalgic seen in his contemporaries’ images from the same period. His oeuvre of just ten years (due to his unexpected passing from tuberculosis) documents everyday local events and the cacophony of characters who visited his studio for dime portraits. There are parallels to be found between Matsura’s work and today’s society in attempts to rise above anti-Asian bias, the continued pursuit of cultural agency, and a desire to individually define what America can and should be. Along with beautifully reproduced black-and-white photographs, the book features narratives from five scholars who give life and context to Matsura’s work, celebrating his captivating photography as a look into immigrant artists, American identity, and the history of a fluid and multicultured exceptionalism.