How did Japan’s most celebrated photographers chronicle their country in the second half of the 20th century? Its landscapes, customs and cities all feature in a major show at Washington’s Arthur M Sackler Gallery.
Ueda (1913–2000) is among the groundbreaking 20th-century photographers featured in a Smithsonian exhibition staged to celebrate the Freer | Sackler Asian art galleries’ recent acquisition of a major picture collection. Japan Modern: Photography from the Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Collection is on show at the Arthur M Sackler Gallery, Washington DC, until 21 January
Photograph: Shoji Ueda Office
Whether capturing evocative landscapes or the gritty realities of postwar Japan, Hamaya (1915–99) and the other featured artists searched for a sense of place in a rapidly changing country
Photograph: Hiroshi Hamaya
Hosoe (born 1933) is known for highly charged and erotic images, and is also a renowned film-maker
Photograph: Eikoh Hosoe
Fukase (1934-2012) focused obsessively on two major subjects: his wife, Yoko, and ravens
Photograph: Colleen Dugan/Masahisa Fukase Archives, courtesy of Michael Hoppen Gallery, London
The images on show feature urban scenes, such as this by the influential Tomatsu (1930-2012), as well as rural ones, powerful social documentary and intensely personal imagery
Photograph: Shomei Tomatsu/Interface
Photograph: Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation
