MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY IN JAPAN 1915-1940
Kaneko Ryuichi [essay]
Kaneko Ryuichi [essay]: MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY IN JAPAN 1915-1940. San Francisco: Friends of Photography, 2001. First edition. Text in English and some Japanese. Quarto. French folded photo illustrated wrappers. 134 pp. 79 quadtone plates. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print. Wrappers lightly worn, but a very good copy.
8.5 x 10 softcover book with 134 pages and 79 stunningly beautiful quadtones. Published in conjunction with an exhibit held at The Ansel Adams Center, San Francisco, July 24-September 30, 2001. Foreword by Matsumoto Norihiko. Introduction by Deborah Klochko. Includes a biographical section. Another stellar piece of publishing from The Friends of Photography highlighting the work of 32 photographers born in the Meiji Period (1868-1912) whose work evolved from a pictorialist tradition to the beginning of a modernist aesthetic.
Photographers include Adachi Shotaro, Arima Mitsugi, Fuchikami Hakuyo, Fukuda Katsuji, Fukuhara Roso, Fukuhara Shinzo, Hanawa Gingo, Hanaya Kanbei, Hirai Terushichi, Honjo Koro, Iwasa Yasuo, Koishi Kiyoshi, Korai Seiji, Matsubara Juzo, Matsugi Fujio, Matsumoto Norihiko, Matsuo Saigoro, Nakayama Iwata, Nojima Yasuzo, Ohara Kenji, Sakakibara Seiyo, Sakata Minoru, Shiihara Osamu, Shiotani Teiko, Takayama Masataka, Tsusaka Jun, Udaka Kyukei, Ueda Shoji, Umesaka Ori, Yamamoto Kansuke, Yamamoto Makihiko, Yano Toshinobu, and Yasui Nakaji.
The early years of the 20th-century were a time of tremendous change and growth for Japan, which was reflected in the photography that emerged at the time. By the end of the 19th-century, a new generation of photographers was emerging, many of whom studied in a system that was integrating Western ideas into Japanese culture. As Japan made the transition into an industrialized economy, artists began to establish themselves in the international arena. The pre-war modern photography movement in Japan flourished with a rich exchange of ideas and information as artists studied in Europe and international artistic developments were explored through exhibitions and publications in Japan.