Market for Japanese Photography: A short history of the Japanese fine art photography market and its significance in the US art market.

HOSTED BY: Appraisers Association of America (AAA)

TO ACCESS RECORDING: Visit the AAA website / $30 for non-members; $25 AAA members (All proceeds from the presentation, and the recording, benefit the AAA, a non-profit organization.)

PRESENTERS: Miyako Yoshinaga, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, and Jennifer L. Stoots, Stoots LLC 

PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION:

Japan was the first non-Western country to establish a photography industry. The first daguerreotype camera was imported in 1848 by the daimyō Shimazu Nariakira, who was an avid advocate of education and, like his grandfather, fascinated by Western culture and technology. The “opening” of Japan under the rule of Emperor Meiji not only facilitated trade, if fueled industry and tourism. By the time of Japan’s inaugural participation in a World’s Fair in 1867 (the Exposition Universelle in Paris), Europe was primed for the “Japonisme” craze. In addition to the albums of hand-colored albumen prints that tourists brought back from Japan, and commercial goods imported over the previous decade, exhibitions of Japanese art were being organized in London and Paris as early as 1854.

The interest in modern and contemporary Japanese photography in the US was concurrent with the flourish of fine art photography market in the 1970s. In that decade, we start to see established photographers in Japan being invited to exhibit at major institutions, including MoMA, the ICP (International Center for Photography), and the Smithsonian. Subsequently, established photography dealers and prominent galleries began exhibiting their work and surveys of post-war Japanese photography were being published by American scholars. This presentation will provide a survey of the evolution of Japanese photography in the US market and, with the insight of New York gallerist Miyako Yoshinaga, we will discuss the current scope and nuances of that market today.

Magnificent Mentors: Luminaries of photographic education and their extraordinary students.

LECTURE DESCRIPTION:

A compliment. A constructive critique. Encouragement. Insight. These are the gifts of a mentor; a teacher extraordinaire who is generous with their time and knowledge, and is considerate of who you are and what you’re trying to say or accomplish. The photo history presentation “Magnificent Mentors” will showcase a handful of the more extraordinary photographers in the U.S. who fostered the careers of some of the most recognized photographers today, historic to contemporary. In the course of this beautifully illustrated lecture, certified photography appraiser and photo historian, Jennifer Stoots will examine the philosophy and practice of several photo luminaries and the programs the orchestrated, as well as explore the paths of student success.

Magnificent Mentors  will focus on the instructors and curriculum at the Clarence H. White School of Photography, Alexey Brodovitch’s “Design Laboratory,” The New York Photo League, and The New Bauhaus, along with brief overviews of the photo programs CalArts & CCA, PCNW, the San Francisco Institute of Fine Arts, UCLA, University of New Mexico and Yale University. Noteworthy alum will include:  Eve Arnold, Richard Avedon, Uta Barth, Dawoud Bey, Jo Ann Callis, Lois Conner, Robert Frank, Hiro, Masood Kamandy, Dorothea Lange, An-My Lê, Da-ka-xeen Mehner, Patrick Nagatani, Catherine Opie, Irving Penn, Georgina Reskala, Doris Ulmann, Carrie Mae Weems, Hank Willis Thomas, Will Wilson, and Max Yavno, among many many others.

Magnificent Mentors was made possible by the generous support of the Griffin Museum of Photography. Public presentations of this lecture have been hosted by: The Griffin Museum of Photography; Photographic Arts Council of Los Angeles (PACLA); and Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW).