alb3668031

FUJITA. Kenji Morita

Kenji Morita. Artist: Fujita (Japanese, active 1880s). Dimensions: Image: 9.6 x 6.8 cm (3 3/4 x 2 11/16 in.)
Case: 1.3 x 11.1 x 8.3 cm (1/2 x 4 3/8 x 3 1/4 in.). Date: 1886.
When Japan opened its ports to the West in the 1850s, photography--called shashin, literally, a copy of truth--soon became widely available. High-end professional salons and open-air studios operated by itinerant practitioners offered portraits at every price range. While the popularity of ambrotypes, a positive photograph on glass, was short-lived in the United States, Japanese ambrotypes were in demand from the early 1870s until the end of the nineteenth century. These two ambrotype portraits depict a dreamy-eyed, fourteen-year-old student and a barefoot geisha with her attendant. Housed in poetry-inscribed kiri-wood boxes, they provide an intimate and rare glimpse of how modern Japanese society represented itself.

Share
Pinterest
Twitter
Facebook
Copy link
Email

Add to another lightbox

Do you already have an account? Sign in

You do not have an account? Register

Buy this image. Select the use:

Author:

FUJITA (active 1880s)

Title:

Kenji Morita

Caption:

Kenji Morita. Artist: Fujita (Japanese, active 1880s). Dimensions: Image: 9.6 x 6.8 cm (3 3/4 x 2 11/16 in.) Case: 1.3 x 11.1 x 8.3 cm (1/2 x 4 3/8 x 3 1/4 in.). Date: 1886. When Japan opened its ports to the West in the 1850s, photography--called shashin, literally, a copy of truth--soon became widely available. High-end professional salons and open-air studios operated by itinerant practitioners offered portraits at every price range. While the popularity of ambrotypes, a positive photograph on glass, was short-lived in the United States, Japanese ambrotypes were in demand from the early 1870s until the end of the nineteenth century. These two ambrotype portraits depict a dreamy-eyed, fourteen-year-old student and a barefoot geisha with her attendant. Housed in poetry-inscribed kiri-wood boxes, they provide an intimate and rare glimpse of how modern Japanese society represented itself.

Technique/material:

Ambrotype

Museum:

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Credit:

Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Releases:

Model: No - Property: No
Rights questions?

Image size:

3149 x 4200 px | 37.8 MB

Print size:

26.7 x 35.6 cm | 10.5 x 14.0 in (300 dpi)

Keywords:

AMBROTYPE • AMBROTYPES • ASIA • FUJITA • JAPAN • METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, USA • PHOTOGRAPHS