Eikoh Hosoe: Kamaitachi 8, 1965

Some recent activties

It’s over a year that I have written at Japan-Photo.info. But is it not because I lost interest in Japanese photography, on the contrary, I was so much involved in Japanese photography, that there wasn’t much time nor thoughts left for the blog, unfortunately.

Eikoh Hosoe: Kamaitachi 8, 1965

Some time ago I became director of Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne, where I am responsible for the program of Japanese photography. Already in the years before we had some solo shows with Japanese artists at the gallery: Iwao Yamawaki (Modern photography), Eikoh Hosoe (his first solo show in Germany), Daido Moriyama and Rinko Kawauchi. In the beginning, we did not receive much response, but this changed very much in the recent years because Western curators and private collectors alike became more and more aware of the history of Japanese photography and of the quality of the works coming from Japan.

Osamu Shiihara: Untitled, end 1930s

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Abstract: Contemporary Japanese Photography and Life Style

I know, I did not write much in the last four weeks, but I was very busy recently and last week had to prepare my lecture for the symposium on Japanese Photography in Winterthur (see my previous post). The symposium was booked out, well organized and very interesting with topics from Japanese post war history to Japanese photobooks. Additionally great Japanese food – not the usual Sushi :-) – was served and DJane Hito provided a nice soundtrack to the party afterwards.

Eikoh Hosoe

I am planning my to publish my lecture in the future, but it will take some time since it will be a part of a larger essay on contemporary Japanese photography. Anyway, below you will find my abstract for the symposium with some images I showed during my talk (in no particular order).
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The ultimate list of Japanese photography books. Not!

Books on Photography Books

In the last years the interest in Japanese photography books has jumped from non recognition to becoming a must have not only for specialized photo book collectors. Books which were completely unknown outside Japan except to a few well informed collectors and researchers are now sold at high prices by rare book dealers and at auctions.[1]The latest and most spectacular rare photobook auction was a few months ago at Christie’s in London. I know it is a little bit late, but nevertheless I will write a short report about the … Continue reading

It all began in 1999 with the exhibition catalogue “Fotografia Publica. Photography in Print 1919-1939”.

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References

References
1 The latest and most spectacular rare photobook auction was a few months ago at Christie’s in London. I know it is a little bit late, but nevertheless I will write a short report about the auction results in another post – after I have received the auction catalogue which I had to buy from a auction catalogue dealer in the US, since the catalogue was sold out weeks before the auction started….
Mika Ninagawa: Liquid Dreams, 2003

Mika Ninagawa at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo

Mika Ninagawa: Liquid Dreams, 2003

Mika Ninagawa: Liquid Dreams, 2003

Mika Ninagawa at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo

Mika Ninagawa: Liquid Dreams, 2003

Mika Ninagawa: Liquid Dreams, 2003

Mika Ninagawa was born in 1972 in Tokyo. She graduated from the Graphic Design Department at Tama Art University in 1997. In 2001 she received the prestigious Ihei Kimura Photography Award. Mika is mainly doing advertising and fashion photography. Her work was included in group shows like “On Happiness – Contemporary Japanese Photography” (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 2003), “Keep in Touch. Positions in Japanese Photography” (Kunsthaus Graz, Austria) and she had solo exhibitions like “Liquid Dreams” (Parco Museum, Tokyo, 2003) and “mika over the rainbow” (Laforet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo) which travelled in Japan in 2004.

Mika is one of my favourite Japanese photographers, working on the borderline between (J-)pop and art photography. The photo is from her book Liquid Dreams.

Mika Ninagawa: Liquid Dreams, 2003 (Cover)

Mika Ninagawa: Liquid Dreams, 2003 (Cover)