Wednesday, December 29, 2004 //
Kikuji Kawada “The Map 1960-1965″ at Photo Gallery International.
IMHO this exhibition is a must see if you happen to be in Tokyo until Feb. 10.
Except in publications I have not seen his legendary book “The Map” yet, but it seems to be one of the most impressive photography books of the 20s century…
Kawada’s first photo-book “The Map” published in 1965, was received with sensational surprise, and gave him a decisive reputation. The book impressed the viewers with stimulus images through their eyes, by repeating visual exposures of the stains on the basement ceiling of Atomic Bomb Dome, and other symbolic objects that associate with the memory of World War II.
The photographic prints of The Map were introduced first in 1961 at Fuji Photo Salon, Tokyo, before the book was produced, and then in an exhibition, New Japanese Photography, held at Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1974. They have been shown also at such exhibitions as “Japon des Avant-Gardes 1910 – 1970″ (Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1986), “Beyond Japan: A Photo Theatre” (Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1991), and recently “Theatrium Mundi” (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 2003).
The selected platinum palladium prints around 30 images from The Map including images of stains all over the Dome ceiling is exhibiting this time. The images of these stains, left by people perished in the Dome, are the core of the construction of The Map. It is for the first time that the original prints of The Map is exhibited. These prints create the new world of The Map which is completed as the final version of The Map.
The exhibition will be linked up with the new photo-book version of The Map, now under production by Getsuyo-sha publishing company.
Kijiku Kawada Profile
Born in Ibaraki Prefecture, 1933. Graduated from the Department of Economics, Rikkyo University, 1955. Staff photographer, Shincho-sha, 1955-1959. Organized “VIVO” photographers agency with E.Hosoe, S.Tomatsu, I.Narahara, and others, 1959. Annual Award, The Photographic Society of Japan (1996); Domestic Artist Prize, Higashikawa Award, Higashikawa International Photography Festival (1996); Minister of Education’s Art Encouragement Prize (2004) Kawada had one-person exhibition “Kikuji Kawada: Theatrum Mundi” at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo (2003), and his works are exhibiting at many group exhibitions at the major museums in the world.
(quotes from P.G.I.)
