Comprehensive survey of early Japanese abstract painting (and photography). Including Koshiro Onchi, Iwata Nakayama, Saburo Hasegawa, Kiyoshi Koishi, Ryuichi Amano, Ei-Q and many more.

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition Onchi, A Poet of Colors and Forms at the Yokohama Museum of art, October 8 – November 6, 1994.

Koshiro Onchi was the most important figure in the ‘Sosaku Hanga’ movement from 1918 until his death, outstanding as a print artist, photographer, book designer and active as a poet, founder and editor of magazines, an author on the subject of prints, art and literature, a leader and organiser of societies and encourager of other artists.

*Please note this publication is secondhand and has some traces of previous ownership.

During the 1930s, a large number of works influenced by surrealism were shown in Japan under the heading “avant-garde photography”. Among these were works by Shuzo Takiguchi (1903–1979), who soon thereafter founded the Avant-Garde Photography Association along with Nobuya Abe (1913–1971). Their theoretical approach to the photographic medium would in turn influence other experimental Japanese artists such as Kiyoji Otsuji (1923–2001) and Shigeo Gocho (1946–1983). Collectively these artists have made an indelible impact on 20th-century photography in Japan, which is the subject of this seminal exhibition catalogue on their work and legacy.

Various artistic trends originating in Europe after World War 1, such as Russian Constructivism, the Bauhaus in Germany and Surrealism in France, left a strong impression on Japanese art and photography in the Taisho and the early Showa periods. In photography in particular, the Western influence brought a new movement called Shinko Shashin (New Photography) in the early Showa period. This exhibition was an attempt at reexamining the visual expression in the period from the perspective of the photographic work of artists from fields other than photography, focusing on the work of Koshiro Onchi, Osamu Shiihara and Ei-Q.

*Please note this publication is secondhand and has some traces of previous ownership.

A pictorial record of the exhibition Japanese Photography 1930s, at Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, 1988, which collects photographs from the emerging photography of the era. Approximately 340 illustrations of the work of photographers such as Kiyoshi Koishi, Shoji Ueda, Ei-Q, Koshiro Onchi, Nakaji Yasui, Iwata Nakayama, Shinzō Fukuhara, Kineo Kuwabara, Terushichi Hirai amongst others.

*Please note this publication is secondhand and has some traces of previous ownership.