Monday, April 7, 2025 – Saturday, June 7, 2025
We are holding a memorial photography exhibition for the photographer Hosoe Eikoh (1933-2024), who passed away on September 16, 2024, at the age of 91. Hosoe began teaching at the Tokyo College of Photography (now Tokyo Polytechnic University) in 1974 and taught there for 29 years, until 2003, guiding many graduates. The Shadai Gallery was established at Hosoe’s initiative in 1975 as the first permanent institution to collect and exhibit original prints in Japan. The gallery marks its 50th anniversary this year, with a collection of over 12,000 works. For three decades from its founding until he retired, Hosoe was at the center of its operations. Without his strong determination and unstinting efforts, the gallery would not be what it is today.
Hosoe was born in Yamagata in 1933 and raised in Tokyo. He entered the Tokyo College of Photography (now Tokyo Polytechnic University) in 1952. Beginning during his student days, he joined Demokrato, a group of young artists led by the avant-garde artist Ei-Q (1911-1960) that challenged the authority of established art associations and espoused freedom and independence. After graduating, he worked as a freelance photographer, and in 1959 he established the photography agency Vivo (the Esperanto word for “life”), together with other up-and-coming photographers. During the 1960s and 1970s, he produced a succession of work that is inscribed in the history of Japanese photography, including Man and Woman, on the theme of sex and the human body; Ordeal by Roses, featuring photographs of the novelist Mishima Yukio (1925-1970); Kamaitachi, with the avant-garde dancer Hijikata Tatsumi (1928-1986) and set in the Tohoku region where Hosoe was born and took shelter during the war; and Embrace, which visualizes the strength and tenderness of the embrace of women and men. In the years that followed, he continued to work vigorously in photography, and his work was recognized with a special award of merit from the Royal Photographic Society in the U.K. for his lifelong contributions to the art of photography. In 2010, he was the fourth photographer to be honored as a Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government, and in 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun.
Hosoe’s activities were not limited to his role as a photographer. He planned an exhibition of about 300 historically significant photographs, selected from the world’s largest collection at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, and successfully brought that exhibition to Japan. He followed this by launching international exchanges on the culture of photography and mounting an exhibition of the work of about 30 young European photographers who were previously unknown outside of Europe. He travelled throughout the world to hold numerous workshops with local photographers, building bridges between photography circles in Japan and the world. In addition to garnering a worldwide reputation as a photographer, he made uncountable contributions to the development of photographic culture and education. The size of his role in Japanese and world photography is beyond measure.
The title of the exhibition, Love and Respect for Photography, is a phrase that Hosoe often used when teaching his students. “If you have sincere love and respect for photography, this will determine the course of your work. In doing so, you will open betters paths for life, through photography.” These words form an enduring memory for the many students who spent time with Hosoe as their teacher. We will exhibit documents and commemorative photographs from his many activities, along with a selection of his photographs from the Shadai Gallery collection. This will provide a new introduction to the wide-ranging work of Hosoe Eikoh as a photographer and beyond.
Eikoh Hosoe
Man and Woman #24, 1960
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Man and Woman #19, 1960
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Man and Woman #20, 1960
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Man and Woman #25, 1960
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Man and Woman #1, 1960
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Man and Woman #2, 1960
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Man and Woman #23, 1960
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Ordeal by roses #32, 1961
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Ordeal by roses #29, 1962
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Ordeal by roses #18, 1962
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Ordeal by roses #16, 1962
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Ordeal by roses #21, 1962
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Ordeal by roses #3, 1962
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Ordeal by roses #6, 1961
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Ordeal by roses #39, 1962
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Kamaitachi #7, 1967
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Kamaitachi #6, 1965
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Kamaitachi #2, 1968
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Kamaitachi #8, 1965
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Kamaitachi #12, 1968
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Kamaitachi #17, 1965
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Kamaitachi #19, 1965
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Kamaitachi #23, 1965
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Embrace #28, 1969
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Embrace #46, 1970
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Embrace #1, 1970
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Embrace #3, 1970
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Embrace #52, 1970
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Embrace #60, 1970
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Sunflower Song, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
A Lady from Ukiyo-e, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Witnesses of the End of the 20th Century, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Butoh Dance in the Dawn, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Morning Eclipse of the Sun, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Before Awakening, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Moonlight, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Black Waterlilies, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Great White River, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
Before Awakening, 1992
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
The Butterfily Dream, Kazuo Ohno, 1977
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
The Butterfily Dream, Kazuo Ohno, 1960
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
The Butterfily Dream, Kazuo Ohno, 1994
Gelatin silver print
Eikoh Hosoe
The Butterfily Dream, Kazuo Ohno, 1997
Gelatin silver print
