newspaper/periodical;
photographic print
- Museum number
- 2008,3035.99.1-3
- Title
- Object: Camera Work
- Description
-
Features in the photography magazine 'Photo Times', first editions, 3 vols: Vol. 9, No. 10 Series 104; Vol. 10, No. 7 Series 113 & Vol. 10, No. 9 Series 115. – Watching a Revue, Glimpse of the Dance Hall, & Circus Carl Hagenbeck. Numerous photographic illustrations. Japanese text. 8vo. Original flexible boards.
- Production date
- 1933
- Dimensions
-
Height: 21.80 centimetres
-
Width: 15 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Watanabe produced a total of six features entitled 'Camera Work'. His work in many ways anticipates the realism that Kimura Ihei later aspired to. ‘Watching a Revue’ is taken at the Tokyo Shochiku Theatre during a dress rehearsal. A proper photo-reportage, it captures the slightly seedy but lively crew in their preparations. In ‘Glimpse of the Dance Hall’ Watanabe documents the goings-on in 'Ball Room Florida' and the good times were there. Ladies cross your legs and show a bit of ankle. The floor is polished and the seats have steel frames. Nothing like this had been seen in Tokyo, and not much of it had been seen in many other places, come to think of it. Watanabe renders it with angles so sharp that one feels like being on a cruise-liner. And there is rhythm here and lots of footwork. This is modernist documentation at its best, the subject harmonizing perfectly with the technique. Photo-Times had been founded in 1924 by the publicity department of Oriental Photo Industrial Company (Orientaru Shashin Kogyo), and from 1929 it became a mouthpiece of the 'Shinko shashin' movement. (Titus Boeder, 4/2007)
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2008
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2008,3035.99.1-3
- Additional IDs
-
Other BM number: PB.356 (Photobook number)