Monday, March 21, 2011

Ohkoku (Man and his Land) (Eizo no Gendai vol 1) by Ikko Narahara


It may not overstate to claim that a new era of Japanese photography after World War II was accelerated by the advent of Ikko Narahara's work. Narahara's solo exhibition, Ningen no Tochi (Human Land) was held at Matsushima Gallery in Tokyo, in September 1956 when he was still a graduate student in Spanish Art at Waseda University. This show was a groundbreaking event to many professionals in the field since his persistent engagements to "Personal Documents".

A famous debate between Natori and Tomatsu illustrating in "Asahi Camera" in 1960 from September to November, which concerned with a photographer's subjective/objective standpoint in the area of documentary photography didn't sound valid any more and finally came to an end by a new generation of photographers, esp. Narahara. Narahara stressed his personal observation thru lens and expressed his own way to document reality. His work appeared much more organic and sensitively strong than a photo journalistic work prevalent after WWII in Japan. Narahara was one who didn't hesitate to state what he saw and thought thru his work and his strong belief in his own view and personal expression must look pretty sensational to a previous generation.

His 1956 show was materialized in the printed form in 1971, "Ohkoku (Man and His Land)" as a part of Eizo no Jidai by Chuo Koron sha. The book consists of three parts:

1. 'Chinmoku no Sono (garden of silence)' a Trappist Monastery on the island of Hokkaido
2. 'Kabe no Naka (Inside of the Wall)', a women's penitentiary in Wakayama Prefecture
3. 'Ningen no Tochi (human land)' the man-made island of Hajima off Nagasaki Bay (so called Gunkan island), coal miners toil within at 30-foot concrete wall that surrounds the island.

The Eizo no Gendai (Visual/Picture Era/Generation) is highly recommended for review and understanding of Japanese photography in the 50s and 60s. The series consists of 10 books and was published from 1971 to 1972. The photographers include Ikko Narahara, Shoji Ueda, Masahisa Fukase, Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Shomei Tomatsu, Akira Sato, Yoshihiro Tatsuk, Haruo Tomiyama, Noriaki Yokosuka, Daido Moriyama.


Man and His Land
Ikko Narahara (photography), Masakazu Yamazaki and Shoji Yamagishi (text), Iwao Hosono (book design)
Chuo Koron, 1971

hardcover

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Man and Woman by Eikoh Hosoe


細江英公の「おとこと女」は、60年代の日本写真史のおいて、芸術的価値の高い、傑作の一つだと思う。他の写真家と大きく分け隔てられる点でもあるが、細江の作品は、同胞の芸術家(舞踏家、評論家、作家、詩人、画家)との共同制作を通し作品を完成させる。特に、『10人の眼』展(1957年の5月)の主催者である評論家の、福島辰夫との交流は、初期の細江氏の活動に大きな影響を与えたと考えられる。(補足:『10人の眼』展の作家のうち、奈良原一高、細江英公、川田喜久治、東松照明、佐藤明、丹野章は、VIVO(1959年)を設立した。 VIVOは、作家の共同事務所兼暗室を持つ事、写真家の商業的自己責任を求める集団として機能する事を目的とした。)

福島辰夫との出会いは、細江19歳(1952年)のとき、東京写真短期大学入学のときにさかのぼる。福島がデモクラート美術家協会の一員だった事もあり、池田満寿夫、加藤正、武満徹、河原温と親しく交流を持つ事ができた。また、福島は細江が23歳の時(1956年)、銀座の小西六フォトギャラリーにて「フォトストーリー『東京のアメリカ娘』」の個展開催の際、パンフレットの執筆も手がけている。翌57年には、上述したように福島のキューレーションによって『10人の眼』展で、細江は『子供の世界ーあう幼稚園の活動記録』を出品している。

解説を福島辰夫、エドウ”ァンデルエルスケン担当、写真と隣り合わせに記された詩は山本太郎が執筆した、「おとこと女」が61年にカメラアート社から出版された。このタイトルは、おとこをひらがな、女を漢字と表記を故意に分けている。ひらがなのおとこから、肉感的、主観的、原始的な印象を受け、漢字の女からは、情緒的、客観的、理知的な雰囲気を感じ取れる。また、おとこの被写体として友人の土方朔が採用されている。細江は、26才、59年に三島由紀夫の同名小説を基に演じられた、土方朔の『禁色』を観閲し、それ以後土方とは深い交友をもっていた。

墨よりも暗い背景に踊りですおとこと女のイメージはまさに舞台の上の演出を一こま毎に細江の眼通し、創造的に再現されている。写真は全て、モノクロであり、主人公はあくまで、おとことおんなだけである。これだけ、映像技術が発展し、情報映像に取り巻かれている現代社会において本作品が衝撃的に本能に訴えかけるのは、感動を受けるときの感受性というもに、技術の高さ、技法の複雑さの是非はなにも効力がなく、作家の純粋で熱い情熱の浸透力が問題なのだなと改めて思う。

本作品は、2006年、Nadiff(東京、日本)から完全復刻版として再出版されている。


"Man and Woman" must be one of the most highly acclaimed masterpieces in Japanese photography history. It is known that Mr. Hosoe has a close association with other artists like (chorographers, writers, critics, posts, artists) and often collaborated with them to complete his work.

Especially in his early work, a critic, Tatsuo Fukushima who organized “Eyes of Ten” exhibition in May 1957, had influenced Mr. Hosoe pretty much. (VIVO was founded in 1957 by members who showed their work at "Eyes of Ten". Hosoe was also a part of VIVO along with Ikko Narahara, Kikuji Kawada, Shomei Tomatsu, Akira Sato and Akira Tanno. VIVO aimed at being self-agent for photographers themselves and shared the office and darkroom.)

Hosoe first met Fukushima when he was 19 years old (1952) as a collage student. Fukushima was a member of Democrat Bijyutsu Kyokai (Democratic Artist Association) and introduced Hosoe to the members, Masuo Ikeda (artist/painter), Tadashi Kato (painter), Toru Takemitsu (composer), On Kawara (artist). Fukushima wrote introduction for the pamphlet of Husoe's solo exhibition, "Photo Story : American Girl in Tokyo" at Konishi Roku Photo Gallery (Ginza) in 1956. As described above, Hosoe submitted his work, "Children's World-Document of a Kindergarten" to Fukushima’s "Eyes of Ten" exhibition in 1957.

In 1961, "Man and Woman" was published by Camera Art (text: Tatsuo Fukushima, Ed van der Elsken, Poetry: Taro Yamamoto). The title of this book seems very suggestive: man was written in hiragana (traditional Japanese writing) and woman in Kanji (Chinese character). Man sounds sexually powerful and positive, subjective, primitive and woman seems sensuous, objective, rational. Hosoe asked his friend, Tatsumi Hijikata to be a male model of this book. They had been friends since Hosoe observed Hijikata's stage, "Kinjiki" in 1959. (Kinjiki was based on the novel written by Yukio Mishima).

"Man and Woman" showed a man and woman in the very dark background and it was made as if he creatively captured each movement at the stage.. His photography is all black and white and main figures are just a man and woman. The plots are pretty simple, although it certainly remains strong in one's hearts and eyes. To move one's feelings, artist's pure and strong passion must be more important than any technical sophistication and complication or radical use of images.

This book was re published by Nadiff in 2006 as the complete reproduction.


Man and Woman
(Otoko to Onna)
Eikoh Hosoe
Nadiff, 2006

hardcover in slipcase
A facsimilie copy produced in 2006 by Nadiff in Tokyo.