Exhibition/event has ended.

History of Early Japanese Photography: Kantō Region

Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Finished

Artists

Gyokusen Ukai, Orrin Freeman, Renjo Shimooka, Hideo Yoshihara, Naokazu Toyoda, Kazumasa Ogawa, Tokimatsu Kataoka, Chikujo Usami et al.
This exhibition is part of an ongoing series held at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum that introduces early photographic technology and history through in-depth explorations of how photography entered and developed in different regions of Japan.

This exhibition focuses on culture related to early photography as it developed in the Kantō Region during the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods in 19th century Japan. Under the supervision of Takahashi Norihide, an expert on early photography and photographic processes in the College of Art at Nihon University, the exhibition provides easy-to-understand explanations of lost technologies for producing physical photographic images while also exploring the photographic culture that swept into Japan along with the opening of treaty ports during the Bakumatsu period and became established during the Meiji period.

Exhibits include groups of works that illustrate each of the early photographic methods as well as portraits of samurai who were both astounded and delighted by this new optical technology. There are also views of Edo, Yokohama, and Yokosuka taken by foreigners who visited Japan during the Bakumatsu period.

In addition, the exhibition also presents photographic portraits made in the earliest photographic studios in Japan, including a work by Ukai Gyokusen, the first Japanese to open a commercial photography studio. The exhibition introduces the first photographers to open businesses in various locations in the Kantō Region along with examples of their work.

Through original prints and negative plates as well as photographic equipment, tools, and more, this exhibition provides a fascinating and multifaceted overview of photography and related culture in Japan from its beginnings in the 1850s through its subsequent flowering in the remaining decades of the 19th century and into the early 20th century.

Schedule

Dec 1 (Tue) 2020-Jan 24 (Sun) 2021 

Opening Hours Information

Hours
10:00-18:00
Closes at 20:00 on Thursdays and Fridays.
Closed
Monday
Open on a public holiday Monday but closed on the following day.
Closed during the New Years holidays.
Notice
Open on 1/11. Closed on 12/29 to 1/1 and 1/12.
FeeAdults ¥700; University Students ¥560; Junior High and High School Students, Seniors 65 & Over ¥350; Persons with Disability Certificates + 1 Companion free.
Websitehttp://topmuseum.jp/e/contents/exhibition/index-3454.html
VenueTokyo Photographic Art Museum
http://topmuseum.jp/e/contents/index.html
LocationYebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita, Meguro-ku, 153-0062 Tokyo
Access7 minute walk from the East exit of Ebisu Station on the JR Yamanote and Saikyo lines, 11 minute walk from exit 1 at Ebisu Station on the Hibiya line.
Phone03-3280-0099
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