HOW THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN MADE A BID FOR EXOTICITY A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
Japan is a mysterious country even by modern standards: it is not without reason that many people call it another planet. We can only imagine what a stunning impression it made on travelers of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, because they did not have many sources of information and arrived practically unprepared. One of the main visual sources, of course, was colorized photographs, which were especially popular in the Meiji era (1868-1912). Surprisingly enough, photography came to Japan soon after it was invented: the country decided in the mid-19th century to open up to the world after two centuries of isolation and actively borrowed technical innovations. To make the pictures more graphic, realistic and, finally, attractive to foreigners, they were colored - the art of prints was well developed in Japan, and there were enough artists. Thus, at the crossroads of tradition and advanced technology, amazing works were created which are now the pride of museum collections. Similar items can also be found in the collection of the Béton CVC, a cultural institution that opened in Moscow last spring. Its activities are dedicated to the promotion of photography and contemporary art, and the collection includes real rare items, such as the first Russian daguerreotypes or exclusive portraits of Dantes at the age of 48. There is also a large selection of photographs from the Constructivism era: the public will be introduced to these and other items at future exhibitions. In the meantime, more than 70 colorized photos of Japanese life are on display here - just part of a collection of hundreds of such photographs. And also things from private collections - ukiyo-e prints, statuettes depicting samurai and real samurai armor.
What will the visitor see in these images? First of all, meditative Japanese landscapes - hardly changed in the last century - composited like prints: at that time, printed graphics had a great influence on photography. In addition, many lifelike scenes are presented: washing laundry, collecting tea and shells, feeding pet birds, selling haberdashery and wooden dzori shoes. Here is a Japanese child - probably accidentally caught in a group photo - looking at the photographer with surprise: after all, a person with a camera could not be seen every day. In another photo, a geisha looks at herself in the mirror; in a third photo, girls attentively listen to a tutor during a reading lesson. And finally, the shock content: a man - by court sentence - makes himself harakiri. Fortunately, without too much naturalism: seppuku is symbolized by a red trickle of blood running down his white clothes. However, according to Alexei Loginov, one of the curators of the exhibition and the art director of the Béton Center of Visual Culture, this shot is most likely staged, like many of those presented at the exhibition.
- When Japan began to integrate into the world community, entrepreneurs and tourists flocked there. They wanted to take something to memorize with them, so the Japanese began to create things to present themselves to foreigners in a special way. For photographs, they chose the subjects that were most in demand: samurai, rickshaws, geishas. Of course, reality was broader and more complex than stereotypes, and there were no conflicts or problems in these pictures - just the front side of life. Reportage photography became popular later, at the beginning of the 20th century, but here most of the shots are staged: with the exception of those taken outside the pavilion. We see people who were probably asked to stand still for a moment: the shutter speed was quite long, and those who could not keep still were blurred.
According to Alexey Loginov, the rarest stories are related to samurai culture: "I think they were bought up first and then hardly ever parted with them". How did it happen that the current selection of photographs - delicately colored albumin prints - ended up on the market?
- The collection was sold as one lot, Alexey Loginov told "Kultura". - Most likely, it was brought from Japan by a Russian tourist: he bought something he was interested in. Over time, the heirs decided to part with the collection, and we bought it into our collection. As for coloring: in an atelier where one or two photographers worked, about 50 artists who came from printmaking could work. And since there were a lot of such artists, they satisfied the demand for colored photography.
The brightly colored prints from a private collection included in the exhibition help to appreciate the intersections between graphics and the art of light painting. At the same time, for the exhibition the subjects related to photography were specially selected: one print depicts a boy taking a picture of the sea, another shows a girl with a camera in her hands. The amazing combination of old and new eventually became a distinctive feature of the Land of the Rising Sun, where endless skyscrapers and advanced technology neighbor with the traditional way of society. And what remains of the samurai is not only the colorful armor - rare examples of which, never exhibited before, can be seen at the Béton CVC - but also the spirit itself, which has survived despite all the changes of modern life.
Ksenia Vorotintseva
