Masahisa Fukase. Private Scenes

Masahisa Fukase. Private Scenes
07.09.2018 - 12.12.2018

The life work of Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase (Hokkaido, 1934-2012) remained largely inaccessible for over two decades, following a tragic fall that left the artist with permanent brain damage.

After his death the archives were gradually disclosed, revealing a wealth of material that had never been shown before. Foam presents a large-scale retrospective with original prints from the Masahisa Fukase Archives in Tokyo. In addition to his seminal body of work Ravens, the exhibition contains a number of important photo series, publications and documentation dating from the early 1960s to 1992. The works combine to form a remarkable visual biography of one of the most radical and experimental photographers of the post-war generation in Japan.

ABOUT MASAHISA FUKASE
Masahisa Fukase was born in 1934 in Bifuka, in the northern region of the island of Hokkaido. As the eldest son, Fukase was destined to take over the family photo studio, founded by his grandfather in 1908. He was already helping to rinse the prints by the age of six, and he continued to help his parents run the studio until moving to Tokyo in 1952 to study photography. His exhibition Kill the Pig first brought the photographer public acclaim. Three years after the sudden departure of his first wife, he married his great love Yoko in 1964. She would remain his main source of inspiration for 12 years. In 1974 Fukase founded the Workshop Photography School with the well-known Japanese photographers Shomei Tomatsu, Eikoh Hosoe, Noriaki Yokosuka, Nobuyoshi Araki and Daido Moriyama. Their work was presented collectively in the seminal exhibition New Japanese Photography in MoMA (New York), which first introduced a new generation of Japanese photographers to the west. Fukase’s divorce from Yoko in 1976 marked the start of the now world-famous series Ravens, but also resulted in depression and excessive alcohol consumption. In 1992 Fukase, while intoxicated, fell down the stairs and remained in a coma for the next 20 years. After his death in 2012, his work was gradually made accessible by the Masahisa Fukase Archives, established in Tokyo in 2014.

Fukase’s work has previously been exhibited in museums including MoMA, Victoria and Albert Museum, ICP, Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain and Tate Modern. His work is included in various collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Modern, SFMoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Getty Museum, and various private collections.

Masahisa Fukase – Private Scenes was created in collaboration with Tomo Kosuga, director of the Masahisa Fukase Archives. The works were generously lent by the Masahisa Fukase Archives, represented by Michael Hoppen Gallery. Foam thanks Simon Baker, director of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, and Les Rencontres d'Arles for their advice and involvement.

This exhibition is made possible by the Japan Foundation. With special thanks to Kyotographie and Frameman.

Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Gemeente Amsterdam, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.