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.

Yamazawa Eiko

Outline

1899 Born in Osaka.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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