Closed day

HIRAI Terushichi Fantasies of the Moon 1938
3F

Creating with Light

The Manipulated Photograph

May. 12Jul. 8, 2012

  • May. 12Jul. 8, 2012
  • Closed Monday(if Monday is a national holiday or a substitute holiday, it is the next day)
  • Admission:Adults ¥500/College Students ¥400/High School and Junior High School Students,Over 65 ¥250

KOISHI Kiyoshi from"Drunken Dream" 1936

left)SAWADA Tomoko from"School Days/ A 2004
right)Narahara Ikko from"Where Time has Stopped" 1964



What is photography? For the past decade, that has been the fundamental theme that the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography has pondered while seeking to foster discovery and appreciation of photography. As one of the few museums in the world specializing in photography, it is not enough for us to collect, conserve, and exhibit photographs. Aware that our museum must also function as a center for the culture of photography in Japan, we have defined our mission as delving more deeply into that fundamental question: What is photography?

We have organized this exhibition into a three-part structure based on the techniques and media used in works in the museum's collection:
Part 1: Creating with Light: Manipulated Photographs

Part 2: The Pencil of Nature: Technique and Style

Part 3: The Eye of the Machine: Camera and Lens

The techniques used in Part 1 will, of course, be applied in combination with those in Part 2 and Part 3. Moreover, a stringent categorization of these photographs is not possible, or, in fact, necessary. Visitors to this exhibition will, we hope, realize that it is possible to combine a variety of techniques to create one work of photographic art.

Learning from the past to create the future could be one of the goals of this exhibition. Even more important, however, is learning that it is possible to create more beautiful works with greater impact when artists transcend technical boundaries and even their own styles.

That may be one answer to the questions posed above that constitute our mission: What is photography? What can you do with photography? What is a photograph as a work of art?



Events

Gallery tours in Japanese
May. 25 (Fri) 16:00~
Jun. 8 (Fri) 16:00~
Jun. 22 (Fri) 16:00~