Photography's Other Hemisphere

When we think of photography "greats," we usually rattle off names like Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon or Henri Cartier-Bresson. It often seems as if we've forgotten an entire hemisphere of photographic history. But two exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art aim to change that. "The Provoke Era: Postwar Japanese Photography" and "Photography Now: China, Japan, Korea" show off SFMOMA's extensive postwar Japanese photography collection, and also incorporate some more contemporary photography from China and Korea.

"The Provoke Era: Postwar Japanese Photography," the museum's first survey of postwar Japanese photography, includes nearly a hundred pictures from the 1960s through the 1990s. These photos document Japan's transformation in the wake of its World War II defeat. Evolving from a traditionally conservative society to a democratic, capitalistic nation took time. But over the years, Japan embraced change, which often meant embracing the West.

In 1959, for example, a group of Japanese photographers united in a group called VIVO, modeled after Magnum Photos agency — something of an industry powerhouse in the West. Likewise, a small-press photography magazine was formed in 1968. Provoke: shiso no tame no chohatsuteki shiryo (Provoke: Provocative Materials for Thought) aimed to bolster the photographic community and facilitate artistic dialogue. It also gave this exhibition its name.

Photography Now: China, Japan, Korea features photographs from 13 emerging photographers in China, as well as a selection from Korea. Here's a very small sampling of images from the exhibitions, which both open Sept. 12, and an even smaller sampling of Japanese photography — more of a teaser introduction, if anything.

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