Japanese photography.pdf

an introduction to those photographers youd be embarrassed not to know about

JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHY

Introduction

Im no expert - just a very basic guide

Overview of most well-known Japanese photographers

Certainly not comprehensive

Attempt to show different schools and philosophies

UEDA AND DOMON

Shoji Ueda

1913-2000

Opened his own studio at 19, but only gained worldwide attention in the 1970s.

Surrealist, compositional based photographer.

Well known for Tottori sand dune photos.

Shoji Ueda

Ken Domon

Documented aftermath of Word War 2.

Looked at society and lives of ordinary people.

Realist - a snapshot that is absolutely not dramatic.

Rejected posed and artistic photography.

Strokes in 1960 and 1968 - confined to wheelchair, and photographed Buddhist temples.

Ken Domon

VIVO - overview

Short lived photo agency formed in 1957 by Shomei Tomatsu, Kikuchi Kawada, Eikoh Hosoe and Ikko Narahara.

Seminal junin no me (eyes of ten) exhibition.

Personal views of Japan. Renounced realism.

VIVO photographers - key publications

Eikoh Hosoe - Kamaitachi.

Shomei Tomatsu and Ken Domon - Hiroshima Nagasaki Document 1961.

Kikuchi Kawada - Chizu.

Eikoh Hosoe

Shomei Tomatsu

PROVOKE

Provoke - overview

Late 1960s to mid 1970s.

Short lived, low cost photography magazine.

Founders - Kohi Taki, Takuma Nakahira, Takahiko Okada, Yutaka Takanashi and Daido Moriyama.

Klein and Tomatsu influenced many of these photographers.

Aim - to create a new photographic language that could transcend the written word.

Rethinking photographic conventions: are, bure boke - rough, blurred, out of focus.

Push processing, use of Olympus Pen - half-sized negatives.

Conceptualism over realism.

Chance and the unknown to be revealed through the photographic process.

Provoke photographers - key publications

Bye Bye Photography - Daido Moriyama.

Hotel, Shibuya - Daido Moriyama.

For a language to come - Takuma Nakahira.

Toshi-e - Yutaka Takanashi.

A few words and a video on Moriyama

Initially influenced by William Klein

But, with Provoke, developed a style that is truly his own

Without Moriyama there may never have been Anders Peterson, Michael Ackerman, Jacob Aue Sobol and even Yusuf Sevincli!

Video intermission

Bye Bye Photography - Daido Moriyama

For a Language to Come - Nakahira

Toshi e - Takanashi

POST-PROVOKEAraki, Yoshiyuki, Kurata and Naito

Nobuyoshi Araki

One of Japans most well-known photographers

Influenced by Provokes Moriyama and Nakahira

Because of their visceral engagement with their subject matter, especially the subject of the street and the expressive character of individual lives

My Wife Yoko, A Sentimental Journey

Leading proponent of personal photography that can be seen in young contemporary photographers such as Nagashima and Hiromix

Women queue around the block to be photographed by him - his preference is for the every day woman, the housewife

Bondage photos

Nobuyoshi Araki

Kohei Yoshiyuki

1979 exhibition - The Park

A soft-core voyeurs manual

35mm infrared film and infrared flash

Pushes boundaries between photographer, spectator, viewer and participant.

Loneliness, sadness and desperation that so often accompany sexual or human relationships in a big hard metropolis like Tokyo. - Martin Parr

Kohei Yoshiyuki

Seiji Kurata

One of my favourite Japanese photographers

Flash-Up for many years a collectors object - recently re-issued by Zen Gallery

Hard, immersive, fearless Weegee like images - fights, crime scenes, portraits, hostess clubs

Pictures from Tokyos most notorious district in the 1970s - Ikebukuro

Journal style articles accompany the pictures - to provide context and authenticity

Seiji Kurata

Masatoshi Naito

Very difficult to find information about him

1970s - Ba Ba Bakuhatsu (Grandma Explosion) a collectors item

Interest in Folkloric traditions that can be seen in Lieko Shigas work today

Masatoshi Naito

YURIE NAGASHIMA AND HIROMIX

Yurie Nagashima

Received urbanart award in 1993 for her Kazoku series of pictures of her and her family in the nude - which some commentators argue is a contemporary take on Fukase Nasahisas project of the same name.

Araki nominated her for award.

Compared to Nan Goldin.

Concerned with family, gender, identity, sexuality and censorship.

Yurie Nagashima - Kazoku

Yurie Nagashima

Hiromix

Pioneer for female photographers in Japan.

Won 1995 Canon New Cosmos award as a teenager.

Championed by Araki.

Self portrait heavy, snapshot aesthetic. Colour.

I take photos of what I like. Claims she is influenced by no-one and has no particular theme.

Participant and observer of working class youth culture. Her subjects dont expect anything from the future.

Girls Blue - Hiromix

POST NAGASHIMA AND HIROMIX

Ume Kayo

Motoyuki Daifu

AND SOME OTHER FAVOURITES

Jun Abe

Rinko Kawauchi

Lieko Shiga

Daisuke Yokota

Jun Abe

Rinko Kawauchi

Lieko Shiga

Kohei Yoshiyuki

Daisuke Yokota

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Importance of the print and the photo book

Very few share their work online or even have websites

Photographers on the whole are very humble

Very much an in person community

Often a surreal and personal view of the world

Sheltered (deliberately?) from outside influence

Documents

Japanese photography.pdf