Works
Biography
View works. Kikuji Kawada, The Last Eclipse of the Sun in 20th century Japan, 11:23am, 18 March, 1988
The Last Eclipse of the Sun in 20th century Japan, 11:23am, 18 March, 1988
View works
Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1933, Kikuji Kawada rose to prominence on the strength of his poetic, symbolically charged photography. This diverse and prolific body of work may be seen as articulating Kawada’s evolving appraisal of Japanese national identity, and its historical trajectory in the turbulent post-war period.
 
As a co-founder of the VIVO collective in 1959, Kawada shared a creative vision of photography’s expressive, individualistic potential with other members including Eikoh Hosoe, Ikko Narahara, Shōmei Tōmatsu and Akira Satō. Kawada held his first solo exhibition in the year of VIVO’s formation, before exhibiting The Map (Chizu) in 1961 at Fuji Photo Salon in Tokyo. Today, The Map is recognised as one of the most important examples of Japan’s unique post-war photobook culture, incorporating text, abstracted surfaces, and fragmentary images to compose a complex and meditative elegy to pre-war Japan. It was recently cited by Martin Parr as 'the ultimate photobook-as-object.'
 
His most famous series, The Last Cosmology, was conceived during the last days of the Shōwa imperial reign in 1989. Kawada drew upon traditional divination practises, observing the skies for astrological insight into the future, and using recently developed photographic technology to record his results in these dramatic, unexpected images of the moon. He was particularly interested in engaging with abnormal and calamitous weather conditions which occurred during this period of heightened historical suspense, recording the impact of gales, cloud-patterns, electrical storms, and violent downpours on the night sky. Kawada's use of multiple exposures to document the passage of time through the changing faces of the moon illustrates both his technical acumen and his ongoing fascination with photography's capacity to capture traces of history.
 
Kawada has taught photography at Tama Art University in Tokyo since 1967. He was one of the fifteen artists selected by John Szarkowski and Yamagishi Shōji for the seminal exhibition New Japanese Photography (1974) at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 2011, Kawada received a lifetime achievement award from the Photographic Society of Japan, underscoring his international and domestic acclaim, and he was honoured with a solo display at the Tate’s exhibition Conflict, Time, Photography (2014).
 
In 2022, the Museum of Fine Art Boston announced the acquisition of Kawada's original Chizu/The Map eighty-seven prints used in the book, including their negatives, Kawada's binders and a rare first-edition of the photobook. His work is also held in the permanent collections of institutions including the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California, Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona.
 
Bibliography
View works. Kikuji Kawada, The Last Eclipse of the Sun in 20th century Japan, 11:23am, 18 March, 1988
The Last Eclipse of the Sun in 20th century Japan, 11:23am, 18 March, 1988
View works

KIKUJI KAWADA  

(Japanese, b.1933)

 

CHRONOLOGY

1933           Born in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

1955           Degree in Economics from Rikkyo University in Ikebukuro, Tokyo

1955-59     Staff photographer for Shincho Sha Publishing Company

1959           Co-founds VIVO, a photographers' cooperative, with Ikko Narahara, Shomei Tomatsu, Eikoh Hosoe, Akira Sato and Akira Tanno

                   First solo exhibition, The Sea, at Fuji Photo Salon, Tokyo

1961           Solo exhibition of The Map at Fuji Photo Salon, Tokyo               

1962           VIVO disbands

1965           The Map, designed by Sugiura Kohei, is published by Bijutsu Shuppan-sha

1967-69      Teaches photography at Tama Art University, Tokyo

1974           One of the 15 artists in the New Japanese Photography exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

1978           VIVO: Contemporary Photography, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA

1979           Cosmos of the Dream King, Ludwig II, published by Asahi Sonorama

                  Japan: A Self-Portrait, International Center of Photography, New York

1984           Publishes Nude and Ludwig II

1986           Caprichos self-published

                    Japon des Avant-Gardes 1910-1970, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

1995           The Last Cosmology is published

1998           The Globe Theater is published

2009         The Last Cosmology, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

2011           Receives lifetime achievement award from the Photographic Society of Japan

2022         MFA Boston acquires Chizu/The Map full collection and archive

 

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013           UNKNOWN 2013

                  Leica Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2010          World's End 2008-2010

                  P.G.I., Tokyo, Japan

2009         The Last Cosmology

                  The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan

2008         Remote Past: Memoir 1951-1966

                  P.G.I., Tokyo, Japan

2005         Kikuji Kawada: Eureka/ Multigraph

                  Shadai Gallery, Tokyo Polytechnic University, Japan

2004         The Map, 1960-1965

                  P.G.I., Tokyo, Japan

2003         Kikuji Kawada: Theatrum Mundi

                  Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan

1999          The Globe Theater

                  Internationale Fototage Herten, Herten, NL

1998          Car Maniac

                  P.G.I. Shibaura, Japan

1996          ZENO - The Last Cosmology

                  P.G.I. Shibaura, Japan

                  The Last Cosmology

                  Higashikawa International Photography Festival, Higashikawa, Japan

                  The Last Cosmology

                  Mitsubishi-Jisho Artium, Fukuoka, Japan

1995          The Last Cosmology

                  Tower Gallery, Yokohama, Japan

1986          Los Caprichos 1970-80

                  P.G.I., Japan

1976          Kikuji Kawada Photographs

                  Shadai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1968          Sacré- Atavism

                  Nikon Salon, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

1961           The Map

                  Fuji Photo Salon, Tokyo, Japan

1959          The Sea

                  Fuji Photo Salon, Tokyo, Japan

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011           Forest and Art

                  Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

2005          The Shadow, Vestaellands Kunstmuseum, Denmark

2003          The History of Japanese Photography

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA, traveling exhibition

Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA,

2001-02      Illusion

Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden, traveling exhibition

Lunds Konstall, Sweden

Museet for Fotokunst, Denmark

Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden, traveling exhibition

Brandt ski defabrik, Odense, Denmark

The Country Museum of Joenkoeping, Sweden

1999           Contemporary Photographic Art from Japan

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany

Master Works, Master Photographers

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan

                  Exploring Photography: From the Museum CollectionNational Film Center

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan

1998           Corridor of the Gaze / Theatrical Tableaux

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan

                  Realism in Postwar Japan 1945-1960

Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan

1995          Japanese Culture: The Fifty Postwar Years

Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan

                  Objects, Faces and Anti-Narratives - Rethinking Modernism

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography,Tokyo, Japan

                  Works by 25 Photographers in Their 20's

Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Yamanashi, Japan

1991           Innovation in Japanese Photography in the 1960's

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan

                  Beyond Japan: A Photo Theatre

                  Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK

1988           Eight Japanese Photographers

                  P.G.I. Tokyo, Japan

1986          Japon des Avant-Gardes 1910-1970

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

1985           Paris, New York, Tokyo

Tsukuba Museum of Photography, Ibaraki, Japan

1979           Japan: A Self-Portrait

International Center of Photography, New York, USA

1978           VIVO: Contemporary Photography

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

1976-77      Neue Fotografie aus Japan

Kulturhaus der Stadt, Graz, Austria

1974           New Japanese Photography

Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

1963          Contemporary Japanese Photographs

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan

1957           The Eyes of Ten

Konishiroku Photo Gallery, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

 

AWARDS

2011           Lifetime Achievement Award, The Photographic Society of Japan

2004          The Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts

1996           The Photographic Society of Japan Annual Award

Domestic Artist Prize Higashikawa Award, Higashikawa International Photography Festival

 

COLLECTIONS

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachussetts, USA

Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

Kawasaki City Museum, Kawasaki, Japan

Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Yamanashi, Japan

Kushiro Art Museum, Kushiro, Japan

Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France

Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan

Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan

Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, USA

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo Polytechnic Institute, Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan

Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, Japan

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