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“Ways of Seeing, Ways of Remembering: The Photography of Prewar Japan”

A Century of Japanese Photography

John W. Dower

“Ways of Seeing, Ways of Remembering: The Photography of Prewar Japan”
original document
English (US)
publication type
article
publication date
1980

This document file is downloadable in the original English.

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Focus on Japanese Photography

Digital Publication

Centered on SFMOMA’s large, diverse collection of Japanese photography from the postwar years to the present, this publication examines the development of the country’s distinctive and innovative photographic culture through the work of key practitioners of the last six decades. Biographical overviews, artist talks, video interviews, and additional resources provide insight into this tumultuous but artistically fertile period, spanning Allied occupation and the escalation of American troops in Japan during the Vietnam War, the country’s spectacular economic growth and subsequent crash in the 1980s, the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and on.

Header image: Naoya Hatakeyama, Blast #13018, 2006 (detail); chromogenic print, 39 3/16 x 59 1/16 in. (99.5 x 150 cm); collection SFMOMA, gift of the Kurenboh Collection; © Naoya Hatakeyama
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Generous support for this publication is provided by NIKON. Additional support is provided by The Ray and Wyn Ritchie Evans Foundation and Glen S. and Sakie T. Fukushima.

For more than 100 years, Nikon has pursued new and innovative imaging technology to better our everyday lives, create more beautiful art, and solve some of humanity's greatest challenges. We are proud to support SFMOMA’s Focus on Japanese Photography, which brings the important work and stories of these influential photographers to the world.

Essays and Artist Talks