Skin of the Nation
Exploring Modern Japanese Photography

Through August 13th, 2006, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) will present Skin of the Nation, a major retrospective of the preeminent postwar Japanese photographer Shomei Tomatsu.

The exhibition offers a comprehensive survey of Tomatsu’s work, exploring his position within the postwar Japanese avant-garde and his influential and critical role in the development of modern Japanese photography.

For Tomatsu, the skin is more than just a surface - it is a kind of map in which one can read the story of Japan. Skin of the Nation is drawn largely from the artist’s personal collection and features approximately 260 photographs spanning fifty years of the artist’s poignant examination of the people, cities, and rural landscapes of postwar Japan.

“Shomei Tomatsu has been extraordinarily influential in Japan as the signal figure of a generation, and the incredible depth, variety, and intelligence of his work is virtually unknown outside of his country,” says Sandra Phillips, the curator of the show. “It is a great honor for us to have this opportunity to present him to the international art community.”

Born in 1930 in Nagoya, Japan, Shomei Tomatsu is internationally recognized as that country’s most innovative and important photographer of the postwar period (1950–70s). His work was central to the landmark 1974 exhibition New Japanese Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, as well as the 1979 exhibition at the International Center of Photography, Japan: A Self-Portrait. He has been recognized and celebrated in many exhibitions within Japan and has been widely published there.

Despite this substantial record of exhibitions and publications, no Western museum has given Tomatsu’s large body of work sustained attention until now. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 224-page catalogue with essays by Phillips; Rubinfien; and John W. Dower, professor of history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

More information about the show and catalogue can be found at www.sfmoma.org