Daikanyama Photo Fair

"Photography × Photobook" - Manfred Heiting and Ryuichi Kaneko are talking about the recently published books The Japanese Photobook and Views of Japan.

The Japanese Photobook, 1912-1990, brings together some of the most important publications, a mammoth endeavour that took editor Manfred Heiting six years. “It is in photobooks we saw the 20th century unfolding,” he says. “This is not a selection ‘best of’ or ‘the most valuable’ of photo books. It is intended to show the development of the Japanese photobooks and publishing, how it relates to the cultural development of the country, how it captured its most important historic events – and including all the book details – and differences in publishing.”

Views of Japan is the result of a distinctly personal presentation of one of the great private collections of Japanese photography in the world. Renowned filmmakers Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck began collecting Japanese photography more than a decade ago. This book makes available a selection of rare masterpieces from their extensive collection, along with a personal “script” recounting how they scouted, debated, selected and ultimately acquired many of the works.