Tōmatsu Shōmei 東松照明––Intimate Framing and Emblematic Moment
One of the most influential figures in postwar Japanese photography, Tōmatsu Shōmei 東松照明 (1930-2012) produced highly idiosyncratic photographs pertaining to the collective social experiences of postwar Japan. Two major threads of Tōmatsu’s works are the aftermath of World War II in Japan and the process of Americanization along with modernization during and following the years of the American occupation of Japan. The two photographs on display in this section deal with the aforementioned two themes, respectively. The photograph of the scarred face of a nuclear bomb survivor investigates the enduring effect of a traumatic event during the war, and the other photograph of two chindoya performers reflects upon the ambiguous relationship between Japanese and Western cultures during the rapid process of Westernization in the postwar era.
Born in Nagoya in 1930, Tōmatsu Shōmei came of age in the 1950s when the defeat of Japan in WWII and the American occupation brought about dramatic changes and cultural shock among Japanese people.[1] For Tōmatsu, photography capable of faithfully “reproducing” reality provided him something to cling upon during this time of dismay: “As our defeat marked a turning point, traditional values were completely altered and the reality of life quickly changed. I lost my belief in everything. The only things that I believed in were the things I could touch and the thing that I saw with my own eyes. Before long, I encountered a camera and became fascinated with photography.”[2] The experience of the immediate postwar period significantly shaped Tōmatsu’s photographic practices throughout his career.[3] Though some may consider his works something similar to reportage photography, Tōmatsu demonstrated a mind and a style that moved beyond wartime reportage since the early stage of his career. In 1960, in response to photographer Natori Yōnosuke’s 名取洋之助 (1910–1962) accusation of abandoning Photojournalism’s principle of respecting the time and location of the subject matter, Tōmatsu responded by refuting the established idea of “Photojournalism” that, in his opinion, would ossify the development of Japanese photography.[4]
Through devices such as framing, settings of exposure and aperture, printing techniques, and symbolism, Tōmatsu invited the viewers to probe into the ambiguous relationship between Japan’s entwined past and present via seemingly trivial fragments of everyday scenes. As he stated about the common scenes of his hometown Nagoya in the early 1950s, these commonplace moments “overlapped with Japan’s postwar history like a double exposure.” [5] Representative of Tōmatsu’s style, the two photographs exhibited in this section feature fragmented, intimate views of individual faces, which ultimately become provoking emblems of specific moments in Japanese history through the mediation of Tōmatsu’s tactful pictorial strategies.
EXPLORE THIS SECTION
Untitled, from the series 11:02, Nagasaki, 1962, printed 1988
Sandwich Men (Chindonya 4), Tokyo, 1961, printed 1988
[1] Tōmatsu Shōmei, “Toward a chaotic sea,” in Ivan Vartanian, Akihiro Hatanaka, and Yutaka Kambayashi, eds. Setting Sun: Writings by Japanese Photographers (New York: Aperture, 2006), 30.
[2] Tōmatsu Shōmei, “Toward a chaotic sea,” 30.
[3] Tōmatsu Shōmei, Artist Talk at Aperture Foundation, New York, May 20, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLcHpvq5UHCxy-TXXoi12GxP1fcvlqkO9t&v=Ge6J3kZ9PL4.
[4] Natori Yōnosuke, “Atarashii shashin no tanjyō” 新しい写真の誕生 (The birth of new photography), Asahi Kamera (October 1960). Tōmatsu Shōmei, “Boku wa Natorishi ni hanronsuru” 僕は名取氏に反論する (I refute Mr. Natori), Asahi Kamera (November 1960), 156.
[5] Tōmatsu Shōmei, “Toward a chaotic sea,” in Ivan Vartanian, Akihiro Hatanaka, and Yutaka Kambayashi, eds. Setting Sun: Writings by Japanese Photographers (New York: Aperture, 2006), 30.