Skin of the Nation
This major retrospective represents the first comprehensive overview of the work of
Shomei Tomatsu (born 1930, Nagoya) and bears witness to his status within the
Japanese post-war avant-garde and his role in the development of modern Japanese
photography.
With approximately 240 photographs, the exhibition shows all Tomatsu's
major groups of works, for example "Nagasaki 11.02" - the shattering essay on the
effects of the atom bomb and the lives of the survivors - and "Chewing Gum and
Chocolate", his first attempt at capturing the far-reaching Americanisation in Japan
after the war - with the huge dichotomy between the military threat and the cultural
attraction, the seduction of Hollywood glamour. Shomei Tomatsu takes us from
traditional Japan to the Japan of economic success and shows the effects of these
economic, political and cultural changes. The father of modern Japanese photography,
one of the most eloquent Japanese artists of the past half-century, influenced
several generations of Japanese photographers with his approach, his
documentary-based, lyrical and symbolic way of seeing things.
The exhibition is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in association
with the Japan Society, New York
Galerie Rudolfinum
Alsovo nabrezi 12 - Praha
Tue-Sun 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.