What I am doing
YAMAZAWA Eiko
2020.2.29. Sat– 3.21. Sat
12:00–19:00 (Sat 12:00–17:00 / Tue by appointment only)
Closed on Sunday and Monday
The Third Gallery Aya is very pleased to announce an exhibition by YAMAZAWA Eiko.
YAMAZAWA Eiko, born in 1899 in Osaka and is regarded as the pioneering female photographer in Japan. She first studied Japanese-style painting, then decided to go to the US to study painting further. She arrived on the West Coast in 1926 and worked as an assistant to the photographer Consuelo Kanaga (1894–1978) while studying painting at California School of Fine Arts. After eagerly learning photographic techniques and widening her knowledge, Yamazawa returned to Japan in 1929. In 1931, she opened her own photo studio. It was successful throughout her career, with the exception of the World War II. After a long career doing commercial work such as portraits, she abandoned commercial photography entirely, closing her studio and becoming involved in abstract art in the 1960s.
In the 1980s she produced her most important series, titled What I’m doing, which was what we would today call “constructed photography”. A large-scale retrospective exhibition of her work was held at Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City and at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum from 2019 to 2020.
What I am doing No.78
What I am doing No.70
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What I am doing No.8
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What I am doing No.77
Yamazawa Eiko
Outline
| 1899 | Born in Osaka. |
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| 1918 | Graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design. |
| 1926 | Went to America to study California School of Fine Arts and became an assistant to the photographer, Consuelo Kanaga. |
| 1929 | Returned to Japan. |
| 1931 | Established Yamazawa Studio at Dojima Building in Osaka. |
| 1935 | Yamazawa’s studio moved to Osaka Sogo Department Store. |
| 1938 | Yamazawa Eiko studio moved to Suo-cho in Osaka. |
| 1945 | Yamazawa’s Studio was burned down by heavy bombing in WWII. |
| 1946 | Worked for P.X.studio of Occupation Forces in Kyoto. |
| 1950 | Established the Yamazawa Institute of Photography in Osaka. |
| 1952 | Established the Yamazawa Studio of Commercial Photography at Osaka Sogo Department Store. |
| 1955 | Studied photography for six months in New York. |
| 1960 | Closed the Yamazawa Studio of Commercial Photography. |
| 1965 | Studied photography for six months in U.S.A and Europe. |
| 1995 | Dies. |
Prize
| 1955 | Osaka Prefecture Art Award |
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| 1977 | Photographic Society of Japan Distinguished Contributions Award |
| 1980 | Kobe City Cultural Prize |
| 1986 | Iue Culture Award Soroptimist Award |
| 1987 | Japan Inter-Design Forum Award |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2020 | What I am doing. The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka, Japan |
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| 2019 | Eiko Yamazawa: WHAT I AM DOING. Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya, Japan; traveled to Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. |
| 2001 | Yamazawa Eiko: Gallery Collection. The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka, Japan |
| 1996 | Form and Rhythm. Verso Photo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1994 | Eiko Yamazawa Exhibition. Itami City Museum of Art, Itami, Japan Eiko Yamazawa Exhibition: Far and Near and What I Am Doing. Brain Center Gallery, Osaka, Japan |
| 1992 | What I Am Doing: Abstraction ’92. Brain Center Gallery, Osaka, Japan |
| 1991 | What I Am Doing: Abstraction ’91. Gallery Miyazaki, Osaka, Japan |
| 1986 | What I Am Doing 3. Asahi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan What I Am Doing 3. Tamako Okazaki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan What I Am Doing 3. ABC Gallery, Osaka, Japan |
| 1983 | Photographic Abstractions. Amano Gallery, Osaka, Japan What I Am Doing. Nagase Photo Salon, Tokyo, Japan Eiko Yamazawa: Abstract Photographs. Osaka Contemporary Art Center, Osaka, Japan |
| 1982 | What I Am Doing 2. Line House, Kobe, Japan What I Am Doing. Central Park Event Court, Nagoya, Japan |
| 1981 | What I Am Doing. Gendai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1979 | What I Am Doing. Masago Gallery, Osaka, Japan |
| 1976 | Abstraction. Rock Paint Floor, Osaka, Japan What I Am Doing. Shinjuku Nikon Salon, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1974 | Japanese Folk Crafts. Sky Photo Gallery, Kobe, japan |
| 1972 | Abstraction and Japanese Folk Crafts. Tokyo YWCA Sadohara Center, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1967 | Eiko Yamazawa Photographic Works. Kobe Daimaru, Kobe, Japan |
| 1965 | Figures and Still Lifes. Takashimaya New York, New York, NY |
| 1963 | Abstraction and Still Lifes. Osaka Sogo, Osaka, Japan; traveled to Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1956 | In New York. Osaka Sogo, Osaka, Japan; traveled to Ginza Matsuzakaya, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1951 | Portraits. Hankyu Gallery, Osaka, Japan |
| 1949 | Yasue Yamamoto Costume Photographs. Osaka Asahi Hall Parlor, Osaka, Japan |
| 1935 | Unknown exhibition. Seikosha, Osaka, Japan |
| 1932 | Portraits of Creative Minds, Osaka Asahi Hall, Osaka, Japan |
| 1929 | Unknown exhibition. Osaka YWCA, Osaka, Japan |
Group Exhibitions
| 2024 | I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now.Rencontres-Arles, Arles |
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| 2023 | Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2023. Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2022 | Bunshi must have a camera. Osaragi Jiro Memorial Museum, Yokohama, Japan Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka Opening Exhibition Hello! Super Collection—99 Untold Stories. Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, Osaka, Japan |
| 2021 | The New Woman Behind The Camera. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; traveled to National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. YAMAZAWA Eiko,OKANOUE Toshiko, ISHIUCHI Miyako 2021. The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka, Japan; traveled to Capsule, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2014 | Fujifilm Photo Collection: My Single Photo – A Collection of Single Photographs from Doyens of Japanese Photographic History. Fuji Film Square, Tokyo, Japan; traveled to other venues in Japan |
| 2012 | The Pencil of Nature: Technique and Style. Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2011 | Timeless – Yamazawa Eiko, Okanoue Toshiko and Ishiuchi Miyako. The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka, Japan Five Women’s Eyes. MSC Gallery, Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts, Kyoto, Japan |
| 2008 | Photo+Graph. Joshibi University of Art and Design Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; traveled to other venues in Japan |
| 2006 | What I’m Doing: Yamazawa Eiko and Akasaki Mima. The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka, Japan |
| 2001 | Japanese Women Artists Before and after World War II, 1930s–1950s. Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya, Japan |
| 2000 | Verso Collection 4. Verso Photo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Joshibi: A Centenary Exhibition. Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi Main Store, Tokyo, Japan Osaka City Museum of Modern Art Collection 2000. ATC Museum, Osaka, Japan |
| 1998 | An Incomplete History: Women Photographers from Japan 1864–1997. Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY; traveled to other venues in US Corridor of the Gaze: The Lonely Maquette, Still Life Arrangement as Constructed Landscape. Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1995 | Objects, Faces and Anti-Narratives— Rethinking Modernism, Part 1: Objects. Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1987 | Eiko Yamazawa Exhibition Produced by Yoshio Hata. Gallery Miyazaki, Osaka, Japan Japanese Women Photographers. Lehigh University Art Gallery, Bethlehem, PA. |
| 1986 | Five Contemporary Artists with Eiko Yamazawa. Atelier Nishinomiya, Nishinomiya, Japan |
| 1982 | The 3rd Kakū Tsūshin Tent Museum Exhibition. Shukugawa Park, Nishinomiya, Japan |
| 1981 | The 2nd Kakū Tsūshin Tent Museum Exhibition. Shukugawa Park, Nishinomiya, Japan |
| 1980 | The 1st Kakū Tsūshin Tent Museum Exhibition. Shukugawa Park, Nishinomiya, Japan |
| 1979 | Kakū Tsūshin Exhibition. Osaka Prefectural Gallery, Osaka, Japan |
| 1970 | Kazuko Hamachi and Eiko Yamazawa: Abstraction and Still Lifes. Osaka Daimaru, Osaka, Japan; traveled to Germany |
| 1961 | Yamazawa Photography Study Group Works. Fuji Photo Gallery Osaka, Osaka, Japan |
| 1936 | The 10th Japan Photographic Art Exhibition. Osaka Matsuzakaya, Osaka, Japan; traveled to Nagoya, Shizuoka, and Tokyo, Japan |
| 1929 | The Third International Photographic Salon of Japan. Tokyo Asahi Newspaper Company, Tokyo, Japan; traveled to Osaka |
Art Fair
| 2022 | Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Fair. Grand Front Osaka, Osaka, Japan Hibiya Okuroji Photo Fair. Hibiya Okuroji, Tokyo, Japan |
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| 2021 | Paris Photo 2021</em. Grand Palais Ephémère, Paris, France |
| 2012 | Paris Photo 2012. Grand Palais, Paris, France |
Publications
| 2019 | What I Am Doing. Akaaka |
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| 1994 | Yamazawa Eiko Ten (Eiko Yamazawa Exhibition). Itami: Itami City Museum of Art |
| 1986 | Abstract Photographs. Tokyo: Tamako Okazaki Gallery |
| 1983 | Watashi wa Joryū Shashinka (I Am a Woman Photographer). Osaka: Brain Center |
| 1982 | What I’m Doing: Positions and Directions. Miraisha |
| 1976 | Abstract Photographs. Yamazawa Photography Laboratory |
| 1962 | Far and Near. Miraisha |
| 1953 | Tankyū (Quest). Yamazawa Commercial Photography Studio |
| 1921 | Eiko Gashū (Collected Paintings of Eiko). Hoshi Publishing. |
Public Collections
| Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan Chuo Historical Museum/ Planetarium, Tokyo, Japan Fujifilm Corporation, Tokyo, Japan Kawasaki City Museum, Kawasaki, Japan Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, Osaka, Japan Itami City Museum of Art, Itami, Japan Nirasaki Omura Art Museum, Nirasaki Freer Gallery of Art Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, New York, NY |