![<div><strong>Kametaro Kawasaki</strong></div><div><em>聖火「オリンピックをのぞんで」(Sacred Flame [Praying for the Olympics] )</em>, 1935</div><div>Signed, titled, numbered '2' in ink (unidentifiable hand) on a label affixed verso. Label is for the 'The Camera Pictorialists of Japan, Osaka Branch', exhibition label</div><div>Vintage silver gelatin print</div><div>29 x 24.5 cm<br /><br /><p>Kawasaki Kametarō was a prominent member of one of Japan's most celebrated camera clubs, the Kansai-based Tanpei Group. As the driving force of avant-garde Modernism during the pre-war period, the Tanpei Camera Club were responsible for some of the most forward-looking collective work of the 20th Century, including the Wandering Jew series, which documented the lives of Eastern European refugees who started a new life in Kobe, Japan.<br /><br /></p><p>This photograph frames a spiralling tendrillous plant in a modern vase, in a still life which draws heavily upon contemporary Surrealist imagery. The bold contrasts and unusual forms create a striking, ironic repost to Pictorialist compositions of the previous generation.</p></div>](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1200,h_1200,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy/ws-michaelhoppen/usr/images/artworks/main_image/12277/21002-kkw-retouched.jpg)
At Frieze Masters 2022, we are delighted to be exhibiting key works by members of the iconic generation of Japanese photographers who rose to prominence during the post-war period.
The majority of works in our selection were acquired directly from the artist’s studio or estate, reflecting the direct and in many cases exclusive representation that we have cultivated over the course of more than two decades of commitment to Japanese photography.
Whilst many of these artists have been the subject of international museum retrospectives in recent years, by presenting a curated group of masterworks we hope to illustrate the shared context and close relationships which first animated their creative endeavours, and which continue to resonate today.
Japan’s groundswell of photographic activity that occurred in the aftermath of the Pacific War’s devastation encompassed legendary experimental movements such as Provoke and VIVO, whose legacy is represented in our selection by the work of Moriyama Daidō, Hosoe Eikoh, Tōmatsu Shōmei Araki Nobuyoshi, Sato Akira and Kawada Kikuji and other key practitioners from the post war years such as Ishiuchi Miyako and Fukase Masahisa.
These pioneering artists defined themselves in opposition to the schools of Pictorialism and Documentary photography that had prevailed in the first half of the 20th century. The fruits of this generation’s efforts to innovate new modes of expression, rejecting ideology in favour of a fresh subjectivity and questioning the nature of photographic truth itself, are now lauded as heralding Japan’s ‘Golden Age of Photography’, and this work has become a focal point for scholars and collectors alike.
Opening hours
Wednesday Preview 12 October: 11am - 7pm (invitation only)
Thursday Preview 13 October - Saturday 15 October: 11am - 7pm
Sunday 16 October: 11am - 6pm
