La photographie japonaise (1960-1970) - Museum der Moderne, Salzbourg
Bishin Jumonji
Untitled, 1971, Gelatin silver print on Baryt, © Bishin Jumonji |
Japanese Photography 1960-1970 from the Collection
Museum der Moderne, Salzbourg, jusqu'au 7 juillet 2018
Daidō Moriyama
Lips from a Poster, 1975, Gelatin silver print on Baryt, © Daidō Moriyama |
Daidō Moriyama
Stray Dog, Misawa, 1971 from the series „Hunter“, Gelatin silver print on Baryt, © Daidō Moriyama |
Masaaki NakagawaSelfportait, Against Wall of My Home, undated, Gelatin silver print on Baryt, © Masaaki Nakagawa |
Masahisa Fukase
untitled, 1961−1970, from the
series„Yoko“, Gelatin silver
print on Baryt
© Masahisa Fukase, Courtesy Michael Hoppen Gallery London |
Nobuyoshi Araki
Yoko, my Love, undated Gelatin silver print on Baryt (Vintage print), © Nobuyoshi Araki |
Shin Yanagisawa
untitled, 1972, from the series „In the Street, Toyama“, Gelatin silver print on Baryt, © Estate of Shin Yanagisawa |
Shunji Ōkura
untitled, undated, Gelatin silver print on Baryt, © Shunji Ōkura |
Takashi Hanabusa
untitled, undated, Gelatin silver print on Baryt, © Takashi Hanabusa |
Yoshihiro Tatsuki
untitled, around 1970, Gelatin silver print on Baryt, © Yoshihiro Tatsuki |
Akihide Tamura
Yokohama, 1966, from the series „Base“, Gelatin silver print on Baryt, © Akihide Tamura |
I-Photo
Japanese Photography 1960―1970 from the Collection 21 April―8 July 2018
Rupertinum [1] & [2]
Japanese Photography 1960―1970 from the Collection 21 April―8 July 2018
Rupertinum [1] & [2]
Diverse and controversial, sometimes mysterious and often at odds
with stereotypical ideas about Japan: there is much to discover in
Japanese photography from the 1960s and 1970s. The Museum der
Moderne Salzburg now presents its extensive and singular collection in
a two-part exhibition series.
Salzburg, 17 April, 2018. For the first time in many years, the Museum der
Moderne Salzburg puts its collection of ca. 600 original prints of Japanese
photography from the 1960s and 1970s, which was purchased in the
museum’s early years, on display. The series of two shows begins with I-
Photo. Japanese Photography 1960–1970 from the Collection, which
presents works that focus on the depiction of the human being and the
changes in postwar Japanese society. “In this exhibition, my vigorous efforts
to undertake a thorough review of our collections are bearing fruit, and so I
am especially pleased that we are able to present our holdings of Japanese
photography—a sizable ensemble of outstanding works—which have not
been seen by the public in a long time. The show also spotlights a chapter in
the history of the museum, which started collecting and conserving
photography early on. Otto Breicha, the museum’s first director, personally
traveled to Japan to meet many of the artists and select works for the
projected exhibition,” Sabine Breitwieser, Director of the Museum der
Moderne Salzburg, observes. Curator of Photography and Media Art
Christiane Kuhlmann emphasizes that “this effort to champion Japanese
culture and acquire Japanese art for the nascent collection constitutes a
pioneering achievement.” “At the time, the primary media in which Japanese
photographers presented their pictures were photobooks and magazines,”
Kuhlmann notes, “so that vintage prints in the quality and form at our
disposal are now hard or impossible to come by. Breicha’s initiative to build
a center for contemporary photography in Austria was in part motivated by
his experiences in Japan.”
In the early 1960s, Japan enters a period of fast-paced economic growth,
becoming a leading technology manufacturer. A quarter-century after the
end of the war and the nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan
hosts Expo’70, the first world’s fair to be held in an Asian country. Tokyo
grows into an enormous megalopolis; construction on an international airport
that will connect it to the entire world begins in 1971. These developments
mark the definite end of the island nation’s decades-long isolation from the
West, bringing rapid changes that affect Japanese society as well. In the
1960s, millions of Japanese citizens rally to protest against educational and
land reforms and the security treaty with the former enemy, the United
States of America. The Japanese photography scene devises a new and
dynamic visual language that reflects the country’s more expansive self-
image. Distinctive features include the reflection on perception, the quest for
novel ways to express the self, and a revised definition of the photographic
medium. Hard black-and-white contrasts and lacerated abstract structures
are characteristic of the aesthetic of these pictures.
The idea of the “I-photo” is an adaptation of the term “I-novel,” which
designates a genre of first-person narrative fiction in Japanese literature.
Conceiving of themselves as authors, the photographers understand the “I-
photo” as the instrument of an exploration of reality. Japan’s photography
scene is often highly controversial, with themes ranging from erotic depictions of bodies to political statements. Western observers are bound to
find some pictures enigmatic and unsettling; they run counter to how Japan
is generally imagined abroad. Yet it was Western art institutions that, in the
1970s, first included Japanese contemporary photography in their
programming. Neue Fotografie aus Japan (New Photography from Japan)
was the title of the first exhibition in Europe that Otto Breicha mounted in
Graz in 1977; with I-Photo. Japanese Photography 1960–1970 from the
Collection, the Museum der Moderne Salzburg brings back the exhibits from
that historic show, though with different emphases. The presentation
includes works by the photographers associated with the magazine Provoke
(1968–1969) in which reality seems to be dismantled into its constituent
elements, as well as by artists such as Nobuyoshi Araki and Masahisa
Fukase who pursued their own highly individual creative agendas. Also on
display are pictures by the members of the Kompora group, who sought to
render a lucid and accurate portrait of everyday life in a clinical visual idiom.
With works by Nobuyoshi Araki, Masahisa Fukase, Takashi Hanabusa,
Bishin Jumonji, Daidō Moriyama, Masaaki Nakagawa, Shunji Ōkura, Issei
Suda, Akihide Tamura, Yoshihiro Tatsuki, Shin Yanagisawa
Director: Sabine Breitwieser
Curator: Christiane Kuhlmann, Curator of Photography and Media Art; with
Andrea Lehner-Hagwood, Curatorial Assistant, Museum der Moderne
Salzburg
(Source : Communiqué de presse)
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