The History of Japanese Photography | |
|---|---|
| exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2003) | |
| 日本写真史展 | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Houston, Texas; Cleveland, Ohio |
| Opened | Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, Texas) March 2 – April 27, 2003 |
| Closed | Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio) May 25 – July 27, 2003 |
| Curator | Anne Wilkes Tucker |
| Organiser | Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Japan Foundation |
| Sponsor | Continental Airlines; National Endowment for the Arts; National Endowment for the Humanities |
The History of Japanese Photography was a major survey exhibition of Japanese photography organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) and the Japan Foundation, first presented at the MFAH in Houston, Texas, from 2 March to 27 April 2003, and later shown at the Cleveland Museum of Art from 25 May to 27 July 2003. [1] [2] Curated by Anne Wilkes Tucker (with Dana Friis-Hansen, Kaneko Ryūichi, and Takeba Jō), it was accompanied by an English-language exhibition catalogue of the same title, published by Yale University Press in association with the MFAH. [1] In the catalogue's foreword, MFAH director Peter C. Marzio argued that Japan had often been overlooked in Western narratives of photographic history, and described the publication and its accompanying exhibition as the first fully researched and annotated presentation of the entire scope of Japanese photography for English-speaking audiences. [3] A contemporaneous scholarly review likewise characterized the catalogue as "the first nuanced, thorough history of Japanese photography in a Western language", positioning it as a foundational reference for understanding Japan's role in photography's global development. [1]
The exhibition The History of Japanese Photography and its accompanying catalogue were conceived in response to what the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston director Peter C. Marzio described as a persistent gap in museum practice and Western-language survey histories—namely, that "few art museums chronicle the history of the photography of many parts of the world," with Japan presented as a clear example of this oversight. [4] In the same foreword, Marzio positions the project as arriving at a symbolic moment—described as the 150th anniversary of photography's "birth" in Japan—and frames the MFAH/Japan Foundation initiative as a first attempt in the United States to present a fully researched, annotated survey across the medium's full historical span. [4]
Marzio further argues that the long delay is striking because photography quickly became a key marker of modernity in Japan: photographers disseminated the medium widely, developed techniques and technologies, and followed artistic movements circulating internationally; photography is presented as both a product of modernization and a force shaping it—across Journalism, Advertising, political propaganda, imperial expansion, wartime documentation, and the postwar photographic industry. [4]
The catalogue also emphasizes the scale and methodology of the research effort. Marzio states that the editors and authors worked with Japanese colleagues across more than sixty museums and collections, as well as critics, gallery directors, and photographers, explicitly to counter a pattern he summarizes (via a critic's objection) as Western presentations suffering from a "general lack of information about Japanese culture" and "monstrous exoticism." [4] In critical reception, a review in caa.reviews, the online review journal of the College Art Association, likewise highlighted the publication's role as a major English-language reference point, quoting the editor's characterization of the book as "the first nuanced, thorough history of Japanese photography in a Western language." [5]
The History of Japanese Photography was a touring exhibition organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Japan Foundation. [6] It opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, Texas) from March 2 to April 27, 2003, and traveled to the Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio) from May 25 to July 27, 2003. [6]
The exhibition was curated by Anne Wilkes Tucker, with Dana Friis-Hansen, Ryūichi Kaneko, and Jō Takeba listed as co-curators in contemporary coverage of the MFAH presentation. [7]
In the exhibition's accompanying catalogue, MFAH director Peter C. Marzio described the project as a museum-scale attempt to present a fully researched, annotated survey of Photography in Japan across the medium's historical span, responding to what he characterized as a persistent gap in Western-language survey histories and museum presentations. [8] Marzio also notes that the exhibition's national tour was supported by Continental Airlines, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. [8]
The exhibition was accompanied by a large-format, illustrated scholarly catalogue, The History of Japanese Photography (New Haven: Yale University Press in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2003; ISBN 0300099258). [9] Edited by Anne Wilkes Tucker with Dana Friis-Hansen, Ryūichi Kaneko, and Jō Takeba (edited and translated by John Junkerman), the volume is xxiii, 405 pages and includes bibliographical references and an index. [10] Essays
According to the catalogue's table of contents, the main essays are organized as a chronological survey from the medium's introduction in the nineteenth century through postwar and contemporary developments: [10]
The catalogue also includes extensive reference material intended to function as a durable English-language resource beyond the exhibition itself: [10]
In its discussion of interwar modernism and avant-garde practice, the catalogue treats regional club networks and experimental forms such as photographic collage and photomontage, including work by the Nagoya-based photographer-poet Kansuke Yamamoto. [11]
The accompanying exhibition catalogue is structured as a chronological survey: an introduction followed by six major essays, and then substantial reference sections (including an exhibition checklist, chronology, artist profiles, and guides to major photography clubs and magazines). [12]
In "The early years of Japanese photography," Naoyuki Kinoshita surveys the medium's introduction to Japan and its early development, establishing the foundations for later debates over photography as technology, craft, and cultural expression. [12]
In "The origins and development of Japanese art photography," Ryūichi Kaneko traces the emergence of art-photography discourses and practices, including the roles of exhibitions, clubs, and magazines in shaping photography's cultural position in the early twentieth century. [12]
In "The age of modernism: from visualization to socialization," Jō Takeba describes the interwar shift away from pictorialist lyricism toward more experimental, modernist approaches (often grouped under New Photography (shinkō shashin)), and the late-1930s rise of surrealism and avant-garde photography (zen'ei shashin). [13]
Takeba's account provides direct context for photographer-poets such as Kansuke Yamamoto: discussing critiques of New Photography's "objectivist" tendencies, Takeba notes Yamamoto's early insistence on articulating "title" and "theme," and adds that Yamamoto "continued to be active as a surrealist photographer throughout the 1930s." [13]
The essay also maps the spread of avant-garde activity beyond the Tokyo-Kansai axis, including the founding of the Nagoya Photo Avant-Garde in February 1939, and describes how rising ideological pressure encouraged groups to soften terminology (for example, shifting from zen'ei to zōkei), reshaping organizational identities and prompting internal splits. [13]
In "Realism and propaganda: the photographer's eye trained on society," Kaneko examines documentary impulses and photography's social uses as Japan moved deeper into war, including the tensions between artistic experimentation, mass media, and state agendas. [12]
In "The evolution of postwar photography," Kōtarō Iizawa surveys the transformations of Japanese photography after 1945, as photographers responded to reconstruction, rapid social change, and new media environments. [12]
In "Internationalization, individualism, and the institutionalization of photography," Dana Friis-Hansen discusses the frameworks through which Japanese photography became more widely collected, exhibited, and studied in museum and international contexts. [12]
The exhibition checklist in the catalogue includes many works spanning photography's history in Japan; to avoid an indiscriminate list, this section provides a small, period-balanced selection of photographers discussed and/or reproduced in the catalogue.
In its account of amateur photography culture, the growth of photography manuals and magazines, and the formation of early art-photography circles, the catalogue highlights figures such as the following. [14]
In discussing the interwar shift toward modernism (including "New Photography"), the catalogue notes a move away from pictorialist conventions and highlights photographers and groups associated with new visual languages and techniques. [15] [16]
The modernism essay also treats 1930s Surrealism and avant-garde photography as a key prewar current, and includes photographer-poets such as Kansuke Yamamoto. [17] It further notes regional networks and groups (including in Nagoya) as part of the period's avant-garde activity. [18]
In a review of the accompanying catalogue for caa.reviews (the online review journal of the College Art Association), art historian Mikiko Hirayama characterized The History of Japanese Photography as a major English-language reference work, quoting the editor's description of the volume as "the first nuanced, thorough history of Japanese photography in a Western language". [19] Hirayama further called the book "the most comprehensive reference book on the subject that is currently available in English", while noting specific limitations for research use, such as the lack of Japanese characters for artists' names. [19]
In an earlier caa.reviews assessment of the exhibition and its publication, Joel Smith described the catalogue as "a series of responsible if uninspiring essays" and argued that its format, while bringing many works into English-language circulation, raises questions about what constitutes a "history" (as distinct from a chronicle) of photography within a national frame. [20]
In the catalogue foreword, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston director Peter C. Marzio framed the project as a "new beginning" intended to stimulate further scholarship and collecting, expressing the hope that broader knowledge of Japanese photography would "fuel more scholarly research, inspire more collecting, and foster a broader understanding of and appreciation for the artists who created the photographs". [21]