On April 9th, Robert Kirschenbaum celebrated his 80th birthday, 2016 also marks the 50th anniversary of Pacific Press Service. For this special occasion, here’s a look back on Bob’s life with you.
How did a Brooklyn boy make the journey from The Bronx High School of Science to Japan to start a photo agency, to become a pioneer of photography in the Far East, opening up connections and making a huge contribution to the field of photography. Many have asked this question – here follows what I have learned!
In the mid-50’s Bob was in the US Air Force stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi. It seems he punched a fellow after an anti-semitic incident. An officer intervened to prevent Bob from being court martialed, and instead had him sent to Tachikawa Air Force base outside of Tokyo. By the time he was released from the Air Force, Bob knew he wanted to live in Japan. He returned to New York, studied Japanese at Columbia University, while working at Lever Brothers.
His first job in Tokyo was with the English-Language newspaper, The Japan Times. He later moved on to become an editor of a Japanese quarterly magazine, where his name appeared on the masthead as Robert Sakuragi which word relates to Kirschenbaum, because both translate as ‘cherry tree”!
He next became a PR rep for Suntory, and through a connection of his Mother, came to chaperone some Miss Universe contestants in Taiwan. By this rather unusual route, he ended up creating Pacific Press Service. Bob often traveled to New York to meet with photographers and agents. On one of these trips in the late 60’s, I introduced Cornell Capa after which PPS began to represent Magnum Photos. Soon Bob was representing other American and European agencies in Tokyo. Great success came to him and his associate, Kijama together with whom Bob produced retrospective exhibits of world renowned photographers: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eugene Smith, Ernst Haas, Robert Capa, Cornell Capa, Elliott Erwitt, to name a few. These exhibitions were held in galleries as well as on the top floor reception areas of Japanese department stores. PPS brought the photographers to Tokyo for their exhibition openings, which were hugely successful, remembered as well for their beautiful catalogs.
Many honors came to Bob over the years. A special joy was being on the Board of ICP, founded as we well know, by Cornell Capa. I loved sharing Bob’s life-long journey. I hope you will join me in congratulating Bob on this special birthday, and to thank him for his achievement of elevating photography to its current valued level, and involving us in the exciting east-west dialogue we all have long enjoyed.
Suzanne Goldstein
