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The Aesthetics of Photography - The Making of Photographic works

Collection Exhibition 2013

Jul. 13—Sep. 16, 2013

• Jul. 13—Sep. 16, 2013
• Closed Monday (When a closure day is a public holiday or a substitute holiday, it is the next day)
• Admission：Adults 500yen／College Students 400yen／High School and Junior High School Students,Over 65 250yen

The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography sets a different theme each year and then selects from its collection masterpieces that relate to the theme. This year's theme is the "aesthetics of photography." We will present in three phases various trends in photographic expression from early 19th-century photographs to contemporary works that explore the aesthetics of photography.

The 18th-century German philosopher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten was a proponent of the discipline of aesthetics, which he defined as the "science of sensibility." This concept eventually reached Japan, where it was translated into Japanese as "bigaku (science of beauty)." Nowadays the Japanese use "este" or "esthetic" to refer to cosmetology or beauty treatments, unaware, it seems, that the words originated in Europe in the 18th century to refer to the academic discipline of aesthetics. Of course, aesthetics is not just about making the human body beautiful. It refers to the ability to perceive as beautiful the phenomena of the natural world and the various things outside of ourselves, as well as the ability to develop a mind that appreciates beauty.

Taking as its theme the question "Where lies the beauty in a photograph?" "The Aesthetics of Photography" is an exhibition in three parts in which each of the three curators selects for presentation from the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography's extensive collection of over 29,000 works the best examples of what they perceive as the beauty in photographs. We invite you to cast your eyes upon these numerous expressions of beauty from the museum's collection, to appreciate the many forms they take and admire their charm. The Japanese word for photograph, "shashin," literally means "to reflect the truth." But sometimes it may be more important to perceive in photographs the rich fullness of "beauty" rather than to know from them the "truth." We hope that this exhibition will help open up new channels of sensibility deep inside the minds of viewers.

■Organized by Tokyo Metropolitan Government / Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
■Sponsored by Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.

Events

Curator's lectures

Jul. 26 (Fri) 14:00～
Aug. 9 (Fri) 14:00～
Aug. 23 (Fri) 14:00～
Sep. 13 (Fri) 14:00～