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
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 - conned to wheelchair,
and photographed Buddhist temples.
Ken Domon
Ken Domon
VIVO
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
Eikoh Hosoe
Eikoh Hosoe
Shomei Tomatsu
Shomei Tomatsu
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 inuenced 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 inuenced 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
Bye Bye Photography - Daido Moriyama
Bye Bye Photography - Daido Moriyama
For a Language to Come - Nakahira
For a Language to Come - Nakahira
Toshi e - Takanashi
Toshi e - Takanashi
POST-PROVOKE
Araki, Yoshiyuki, Kurata and Naito
Nobuyoshi Araki
One of Japans most well-known photographers
Inuenced 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
Nobuyoshi Araki
Nobuyoshi Araki
Kohei Yoshiyuki
1979 exhibition - The Park
A soft-core voyeurs manual
35mm infrared lm and infrared ash
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
Kohei Yoshiyuki
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 - ghts, 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
Seiji Kurata
Seiji Kurata
Masatoshi Naito
Very difcult to nd 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
Masatoshi Naito
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 - 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 inuenced 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
Girls Blue - Hiromix
Girls Blue - Hiromix
POST NAGASHIMA AND
HIROMIX
Ume Kayo
Ume Kayo
Ume Kayo
Ume Kayo
Ume Kayo
Motoyuki Daifu
Motoyuki Daifu
Motoyuki Daifu
AND SOME OTHER
FAVOURITES
Jun Abe
Rinko Kawauchi
Lieko Shiga
Daisuke Yokota
Jun Abe
Jun Abe
Rinko Kawauchi
Rinko Kawauchi
Rinko Kawauchi
Lieko Shiga
Lieko Shiga
Kohei Yoshiyuki
Daisuke Yokota
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 inuence
FURTHER READING AND
USEFUL RESOURCES
The photo book as an object.
Dan Abbes blog - Street Level Japan.
Japan Exposures - blog and online Japanese photo
book store.
Japan-Photo blog
Fraction Magazine
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