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. 10 | THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 9, 2012 INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE Culture art music Opening Japan, through photography VENICE 2 exhibitions trace the revelatory work of a discipline’s pioneers BY RODERICK CONWAY MORRIS Both Katsushika Hokusai and Ando Hiroshige, celebrated masters of the woodblock print, were still alive when the Western technology of photography made its first tentative inroads into Ja- pan. Hiroshige died the year after the ART REVIEW first daguerreotypes were realized by Japanese photographers in 1857. While woodblock prints tended to be looked down upon by many 18th- and 19th-century Japanese connoisseurs, they have long since come to be prized, both at home and abroad. It is only over the past decade or so that 19th- and 20th-century Japanese photography has established its creden- tials as a historically significant art form. Scholarly research and a new appreci- ation of the unique level of refinement early Japanese photography achieved have led not only to growing popular in- terest, but also to a commensurate rise A Kusakabe Kim- in the market value of the best examples. bei photograph of Two Venetian photographers —Felice samurai, right, Beato and Adolfo Farsari —played key taken around 1880. roles in the development of Japanese Below, Riamund photography, and Venice and the Veneto von Stillfried- are now hosts of two revelatory exhibi- Ratenicz’s portrait tions of the works of the genre’s pion- of a man, from eers, both native and foreign. around 1875, is part Both shows draw on a wealth of of the Piazzola sul Brenta exhibition. Left, an Adolfo Farsari photo of two geisha from around 1887. PHOTOGRAPHS FROM COLLEZIONE VITTORIO By 1863 his friendship with Charles served above all as souvenirs for visit- negatives frequently changed hands. Wirgman, an English artist and corre- ors to contemporary Japan, they docu- Beato’s archive, for example, was sold spondent for The Illustrated London mented aspects of life, modes of dress in 1877 to the Bohemian aristocrat- News, had brought Beato to Yokohama, and accoutrements —like those of the turned-artist and photographer Japan. While not wholly abandoning his samurai —that were fast disappearing. Raimund von Stillfried-Ratenicz —who work as a photographer of conflicts in Having been closed to foreigners for had trained with Beato and lost his own the region, Beato began to record Japa- centuries, Japan was now receiving studio in another fire. The archive was nese life in landscapes, scenes and por- tens of thousands of Western visitors, later taken over by Kimbei, before be- traits in various parts of the country. who provided the market for these ex- ing acquired by Farsari in 1886. hitherto unseen material. The Venice In 1866 Beato’s studio was engulfed in pensively produced photographs and Farsari was flamboyant even by the exhibition, at the Palazzo Cavalli Fran- a devastating fire that destroyed two- albums, the most luxurious of which standards of the other Western adven- chetti, was curated by Francesco Paolo thirds of Yokohama. Undaunted, he were bound with lacquer covers decor- turers who worked as photographers Campione and Marco Fagioli. It is the traveled for a year rebuilding his photo- ated with ivory and mother-of-pearl in- into Japan. Born in Vicenza in the Ven- result of a program at the Museum of graphic archive of town and country im- lays. The painting of a single photo- eto in 1841, he attended a military Cultures in Lugano, Switzerland, to ages. This systematic approach resulted graph, using traditional pigments, academy, fought in the wars for Italian study and catalog more than 7,500 im- in 1868 in a groundbreaking two-volume could take a full working day or longer independence and fled to America to ages from a private collection amassed publication: ‘‘Photographic Views of Ja- —single-hair brushes being employed escape gambling debts. He enlisted on since 1975, perhaps the largest single pan With Historical and Descriptive for details such as eyes and lips. the side of the North in the Civil War collection of intact volumes in the world. Notes, Compiled From Authentic Many photographers, like Kusakabe and was wounded. He married a rich The second exhibition, on the main- Sources and Personal Observation Dur- Kimbei and Ueno Hikoma, benefited American widow in New York, but fled land at Piazzola sul Brenta near Padua, ing a Residence of Several Years.’’ from Beato’s example and teaching, and again and spent five years at sea, fetch- was curated by Magda di Siena and con- But Beato also was responsible for an numerous studios producing hand- ing up in Yokohama in 1873 or 1874, tains photographs from the Collezione even more influential innovation —the painted photographs sprang up. Anoth- where he sold cigars and published Vittorio and other private collections. painting, by teams of Japanese artists, er leading photographer, Tamamura English guidebooks to Japan. The Piazzola sul Brenta show begins of black-and-white albumen prints. The Kozaburo, employed more than 100 as- A self-taught photographer, he came Felice Beato’s remarkable story with a effort was to be the most original fea- sistants. When an order for thousands to employ in his studio, which became number of striking images taken in the ture of the images produced by West- of pictures arrived from Boston in 1896, famous for the superb quality and lumin- Levant before his departure for Japan. ern and native exponents of what came the number rose to around 350. osity of its productions, 40 of the most Beato was born of Venetian parents in to be called the Yokohama School. A phenomenon that seems to have expert local artists. As the examples in Corfù in about 1833-34. His career as a Discreet tinting of photographic im- been entirely Japanese were Ogawa both exhibitions show, their works were photographer began in Istanbul in the ages was already practiced in the West, Kazumasa’s hand-colored collodion some of the most exquisite of the genre. early 1850s. He collaborated with an and Beato had experimented with it in prints of still lifes of flowers, areinter- In 1890 Farsari reappeared in his English photographer, James Robert- Istanbul. But with the aid of Wirgman’s pretation of Hokusai’s floral studies of birthplace with his illegitimate Japanese son, who married his sister in 1854 or close contacts with Japanese artists, the early 1830s that also prefigured the daughter, Kiku. He often wore Japanese 1855. Beato’s brother, Antonio, was also Beato created a far more sophisticated hyperrealist works of some 20th-centu- dress and wrote a drama about his life, a photographer who spent most of his form of hand-colored photography. ry artists and illustrators. playing the leading role himself onstage. career in Egypt. This initiative coincided with the end While much progress has been made Beato made his mark when, with of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the recently in identifying the authors and Photography From Japan: 1860-1910. Palazzo Robertson, he covered the Crimean War Meiji Restoration of imperial power, studios of the fascinating hand-painted Cavalli Franchetti, Venice. Through April 1. in 1855-56, taking the first photographs which was challenging the old Japan at images displayed in both exhibitions, of their kind. He went on to capture pic- every level and forcing traditional many works may ultimately prove im- East Zone: Antonio Beato, Felice Beato and tures of the Indian Mutiny in 1857 and artists and craftsmen to find new ways possible to attribute with any certainty. Adolfo Farsari. Villa Contarini, Piazzola sul the Second Opium War in China in 1860. of making a living. Although the images A principal reason for this was that Brenta. Through April 1. Sir Paul’s standards, Snakeoil and a solo spin across the globe Kisses on the Bottom. Paul McCartney. addition to members of Ms. Krall’s Yourself Another Fool,’’ a minor R&B Paul McCartney Hear Music band, the guest guitarist John Pizzarelli hit, from 1949, for Charles Brown, and performing in Co- gives his instrument a buoyant, later recorded by Sam Cooke. logne in December. The music on Paul McCartney’s first ukulele-like sound ‘‘Bye Bye Blackbird’’ is a celebration His new album of standards album, ‘‘Kisses on the Bot- Mr. McCartney, whose voice is al- of chasing away the blues once and for standards, ‘‘Kisses tom,’’ floats over you like a light mist on most as youthful as in the Beatles’ all: no antidepressants needed. Eric on the Bottom,’’ a cool spring morning in an English glory days, doesn’t explore lyrical sub- Clapton’s guitar lends ‘‘Get Yourself is a jaunty garden as the sun glints through the text. He trusts in the reliable pleasures Another Fool’’ a blues flavor, but the tip of the hat to haze. You want to inhale the fresh air, of catchy pop tunes, of moon, June and hue is baby blue, not inky. Frank Loess- the pop music spoon. Others might inflect ‘‘It’s Only a er’s trickily metered arithmetic lesson, of his parents’ MUSIC REVIEW Paper Moon’’ with sarcasm or deliver ‘‘Inchworm,’’ from the movie ‘‘Hans generation. ‘‘Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’’ as a Christian Andersen,’’ is aimed at the taste the fragrance of buds blooming, self-help harangue, but not Mr. McCart- child inside us all. as the sky clears to a serene deep blue. ney. It is all about ease and relaxation More than 40 years have passed since Mr. McCartney exudes the unassuming in the moment. Mr. McCartney infuriated the rock coun- charm of a country gentleman in a good The album’s cheeky title comes from terculture with the exquisite sketches of mood, sitting on the grass and whistling a phrase in the opening cut, the Fats his first two post-Beatles records, ‘‘Mc- to himself.

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