TOP Collection: The Resonance of Seeing

Jul. 18—Oct. 6, 2024

• Jul. 18—Oct. 6, 2024
• Closed Mondays (except when Monday falls on a holiday, in which case the museum is open and closed the following day)
• Admission：Adults ￥700 (560)／College Students ￥560 (440)／High School and Junior High School Students, Over 65 ￥350 (280) *Prices in parenthesis apply to groups of 20 or more. (Reservation is required.) *Free for grade school children or younger, junior high school students living or attending schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area, holders of Japan’s disability identification cards (shogaisha techo) together with two caregiver , and holders of the museum’s annual passport are admitted free of charge. *Those over 65 years old receive free admission on the third Wednesday of every month by presenting proof of age at the ticket counter.

The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum regularly presents a selection of works chosen from the museum’s collections of over 37,000 items according to a given theme. In this edition of the exhibition, we set out to reconsider the act of seeing based on the theme of “the resonance of seeing.”
Every work of art inherently contains a variety of gazes, including those of the artist, the critic, and the viewer. For example, in the process of making a work, the photographer fixes their gaze on the subject in a unique manner and frames it. The critic, meanwhile, assesses and evaluates the work by verbalizing their own view of it. And the viewer creates a link between what is depicted in the work and their personal experiences and memories, and sees it in relation to these things.
In this way, the act of looking at a photograph assumes a diverse quality based on the standpoint of the viewer, depending on whether they are the creator, the interpreter, the viewer, etc. Thus, the experience of seeing might be understood as an act of resonating in which historical perspectives, rich imaginings, and individual thoughts – which are not visible on the surface of the image – overlap.
Along with statements that have been made about these works in the past, this exhibition assembles a collection of works from a wide range of eras and regions. It is our hope that the works on display will provide you with an opportunity to consider the act of seeing a photograph.

Exhibiting Artists|
Berenice Abbott, Eugène Atget, Anna Atkins, Chen Wei, Scott Hyde, André Kertész, William Klein, Narahara Ikko, Man Ray, Sugiura Kunié, Maurice Tabard, Terada Mayumi, Minor White, Yamazaki Hiroshi


Eugène Atget Former Monestary of the English Benedictine Congregation, 269 Saint-Jaques Street 1905 Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum


Berenice Abbott Untitled from the series 'Changing New York' c.1930-1940 Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum


Minor White Windowsill Daydreaming, Rochester, New York 1958 Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum Reproduced with permission of the Minor White Archive, Princeton University Art Museum. © Trustees of Princeton University


André Kertész Underwater Swimmer, Esztergom, Hungary, 1917 1917 Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum


Chen Wei New Station - if on a winter's night 2020 Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum ©Chen Wei, courtesy of Ota Fine Arts


Scott Hyde Untitled 1970 Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum ©Scott Hyde Estate, courtesy Joseph Bellows Gallery


Terada Mayumi curtain 010402a 2001 Collection of Kamakura Gallery

*The schedule is subject to change. Any further changes will be announced.

Organized by Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture