Exhibition in Berlin: Metamorphosis of Japan after the War. Photography 1945-1964

On August 15th, 1945 the Pacific War came to an end and with it fourteen years of bombings, of deprivation and of great sacrifice for the Japanese people. The collapse of Japanese militaristic rule and the arrival of the US occupation forces thrust the nation into a new and uncertain era. It was in this context that photography took on a central role in the nation’s rediscovery of self and it soon became a vital contributor to Japanese society in the immediate postwar years. Metamorphosis of Japan after the War.
"Photography 194 -1964" reveals the changing face of life in Japan from the end of the Pacific War in 1945 to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 through photographs by 11 of Japan’s leading post-war photographers. By observing the role of photography in the evolution of post-war Japan, this exhibition shows how photography was able to play a crucial role in the search for the nation’s new identity. The works of these 11 photographers are an extraordinary document of the birth of a new Japan and of a new photographic generation whose dynamism and creativity laid the foundations for modern Japanese photography. The exhibition is divided into 3 thematic sections based around the major periods of the postwar years: The aftermath of war, Tradition versus modernity and A new Japan.

Yasuhiro Ishimoto
Tokyo, 1962
© Yasuhiro Ishimoto

Ihee Kimura
Young woman
Omagari, Akita 1953
© Naoko Kimura

Shigeichi Nagano
Completing management training at a stock brokerage firm
Ikebukuro, Tokyo 1961
© Shigeichi Nagano

Ikko Narahara
Domains. Garden of Silence, No. 52
Hakodate, Hokkaido 1958
© Ikko Narahara

Takeyoshi Tanuma
Dancers resting on the rooftop of the
SKD Theatre
Asakusa, Tokyo 1949
© Takeyoshi Tanuma

"Metamorphosis of Japan after the War. Photography 1945-1964" shows in the Museum für Fotografie (Berlin). It is an exhibition of the Japan Foundation in collaboration with the Art Library, kindly supported by the Japanese-German Center Berlin