Shomei TOMATSU
東松照明
Shomei Tomatsu (1930–2012) created pictures that balance perilously between despair and admiration, anger and delight, articulating the essential conflicts he found in his country after World War II. Sharp and elegant, they are not so much descriptions as they are records of fleeting, unremarkable moments. The first photographer to explore the experience of postwar Japan and its ambiguous relationship to the United States, Tomatsu would portray this subject more thoroughly and intensely than any other photographer. Only toward the end of his life was the issue of the Americanization of his country somewhat lessened in his work.
Chronology
1930 - Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture
2012 - Naha, Okinawa Prefecture
2012 - Naha, Okinawa Prefecture
Publications
1961 - Sano, Bunichiro, et al., eds. Hiroshima-Nagasaki Document 1961. Tokyo: Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs
1986 - Holborn, Mark. Black Sun: The Eyes of Four, Roots and Innovation in Japanese Photography, exh. cat. New York: Aperture in association with the Arts Council of Great Britain, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
1995 - Tomatsu, Shomei. 『長崎〈11:02〉1945年8月9日』 Tokyo: Shinchosha and Photo Musée
1996 - Ichikawa, Masanori, Rei Masuda, and Tohru Matsumoto, eds. Shomei Tomatsu: Interface / 『東松照明写真展 : インターフェイス』, exh. cat. Tokyo: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1996 - Hoaglund, Linda. “Interview with Tomatsu Shomei.” Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 5, no. 3 (Winter 1997): 834–62.
2000 - Atsuyuki, Nakahara, and Sumiyo Mitsuhashi, eds. 『日本列島クロニクル—東松照明の50年』 / Traces—50 Years of Tomatsu’s Works, exh. cat. Toyohashi, Japan: Toyohashi City Art Museum
2000 - Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum. Tomatsu Shomei “Nagasaki Mandala,” exh. cat. Nagasaki: Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum
2002 - Maejima Art Center. 『東松照明展：沖縄マンダラ』 / Okinawan Mandala: Tomatsu Shomei Exhibition, exh. cat. Naha-shi, Japan: Maejima Art Center
2004 - Rubinfein, Leo, Sandra S. Phillips, John W. Dower, and Daido Moriyama. Shomei Tomatsu: Skin of the Nation, exh. cat. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2006 - Ken ’ichiro, Makino, Furuta Hirotoshi, and Kujirai Hidenobu, eds. Aichi Mandala: The Early Works of Shomei Tomatsu / 『愛知曼陀羅：東松照明の原風景』 exh. cat. Nagoya, Japan: Aichi Prefectural Art Museum
2006 - Vartanian, Ivan, Akihiro Hatanaka, and Yutaka Kambayashi, eds. Setting Sun: Writings by Japanese Photographers. New York: Aperture
2007 - Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. 『東松照明 「Tokyo曼陀羅」』 / Tokyo Mandala: The World of Shomei Tomatsu, exh. cat. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
2012 - Angst, Roland. 『東松照明』 / Shomei Tomatsu: Photographs 1951–2000. Berlin: Only Photography
1986 - Holborn, Mark. Black Sun: The Eyes of Four, Roots and Innovation in Japanese Photography, exh. cat. New York: Aperture in association with the Arts Council of Great Britain, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
1995 - Tomatsu, Shomei. 『長崎〈11:02〉1945年8月9日』 Tokyo: Shinchosha and Photo Musée
1996 - Ichikawa, Masanori, Rei Masuda, and Tohru Matsumoto, eds. Shomei Tomatsu: Interface / 『東松照明写真展 : インターフェイス』, exh. cat. Tokyo: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1996 - Hoaglund, Linda. “Interview with Tomatsu Shomei.” Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 5, no. 3 (Winter 1997): 834–62.
2000 - Atsuyuki, Nakahara, and Sumiyo Mitsuhashi, eds. 『日本列島クロニクル—東松照明の50年』 / Traces—50 Years of Tomatsu’s Works, exh. cat. Toyohashi, Japan: Toyohashi City Art Museum
2000 - Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum. Tomatsu Shomei “Nagasaki Mandala,” exh. cat. Nagasaki: Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum
2002 - Maejima Art Center. 『東松照明展：沖縄マンダラ』 / Okinawan Mandala: Tomatsu Shomei Exhibition, exh. cat. Naha-shi, Japan: Maejima Art Center
2004 - Rubinfein, Leo, Sandra S. Phillips, John W. Dower, and Daido Moriyama. Shomei Tomatsu: Skin of the Nation, exh. cat. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2006 - Ken ’ichiro, Makino, Furuta Hirotoshi, and Kujirai Hidenobu, eds. Aichi Mandala: The Early Works of Shomei Tomatsu / 『愛知曼陀羅：東松照明の原風景』 exh. cat. Nagoya, Japan: Aichi Prefectural Art Museum
2006 - Vartanian, Ivan, Akihiro Hatanaka, and Yutaka Kambayashi, eds. Setting Sun: Writings by Japanese Photographers. New York: Aperture
2007 - Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. 『東松照明 「Tokyo曼陀羅」』 / Tokyo Mandala: The World of Shomei Tomatsu, exh. cat. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
2012 - Angst, Roland. 『東松照明』 / Shomei Tomatsu: Photographs 1951–2000. Berlin: Only Photography
