Two very different approaches to photography are on display at Getty Museum with Japan’s Modern Divide (March 26- August 25, 2013).
Both surrealist influenced Kansuke Yamanoto and documentary style Hiroshi Hamaya “grew up during the brief Taishō era (1912–1926), a period of industrialization and experimentation that ushered in the modern Shōwa era (1926–1989).”
Kansuke Yamamoto was inspired by “Surrealist art from Europe and produced innovative, socially conscious photographs, poems, and other works that advanced the avant-garde movement in Japan.”
In contrast, “during this time, between the international Depression and World War II, Hiroshi Hamaya began to document regional traditions and social issues, primarily on the country’s rugged “back coast” along the Sea of Japan.”
Japan in Black and White for Tokyo Thursdays # 254
Previously: Full Samurai Armor Suit, $5400 via Bureau of Trade ‘Japan Rising’ Collection
(Photo Credits: Top: Creator(s): Kansuke Yamamoto (Japanese, 1914 – 1987), Title/Date: Butterfly, 1970, Culture: Japanese, Medium: Gelatin silver print print, Dimensions: Image: 16.4 x 11.4 cm (6 7/16 x 4 1/2 in.), Mat: 25.4 x 20.3 cm (10 x 8 in.), Framed: 28.6 x 23.5 cm (11 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.), Accession No. EX.2013.2.190, Copyright: © Toshio Yamamoto, Object Credit: Private collection, entrusted to Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography)
(Photo Credits: Bottom: Creator(s): Hiroshi Hamaya (Japanese, 1915 – 1999), Title/Date: Man in a Traditional Minobashi Raincoat, Niigata Prefecture, 1956…Culture: Japanese, Medium: Gelatin silver print print, Dimensions: Image: 30.6 x 19.8 cm (12 1/16 x 7 13/16 in.), Accession No. 2009.34.18, Copyright: © Keisuke Katano, Object Credit: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles)