Japanese Photography Past and Present

Rinko Kawauchi, "Untitled," from the series "the eyes, the ears," 2005. © Rinko Kawauchi/San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, anonymous gift

Asako Narahashi, "Momochi #2," from the series "half awake and half asleep in the water," 2003. © Asako Narahashi/San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of the Kurenboh Collection

Hiromi Tsuchida, "Yokohama," from the series "New Counting Grains of Sand," 1997. © Hiromi Tsuchida/San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of Launny and Weezie Steffens

Eikoh Hosoe, "Kamaitachi #17," 1965. © Eikoh Hosoe/Collection of the Sack Photographic Trust

Hiroshi Sugimoto, "Canton Palace, Ohio," 1980. © Hiroshi Sugimoto/San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of Ursula Gropper

Yasuhiro Ishimoto, "Untitled," 1950. © Kochi Prefecture, Ishimoto Yasuhiro Photo Center/San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of Eric Ceputis and David W. Williams

Taishi Hirokawa, "30 November 1991, Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Ikata," from the series "Still Crazy: Nuclear Power Plants as Seen in Japanese Landscapes," 1991. © Taishi Hirokawa/San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee Fund purchase

Sohei Nishino, "Diorama Map London," 2010. © Sohei Nishino/Courtesy of the artist and Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

Sohei Nishino, "Diorama Map Havana," 2016. © Sohei Nishino/Courtesy of the artist and Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

Sohei Nishino, "Diorama Map Rio de Janeiro," 2011. © Sohei Nishino/Courtesy of the artist and Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

SFMOMA’s still-new Pritzker Center for Photography focuses on Japan in two exhibitions that present new work by Sohei Nishino and explore the history of postwar Japanese photography. “Japanese Photography from Postwar to Now,” on view until March 12, includes major figures such as Shomei Tomatsu and Daido Moriyama, who investigated Americanization and industrial growth, as well as more personal and performative work by Nobuyoshi Araki and Eikoh Hosoe. The show also features women such as Miyako Ishiuchi, Rinko Kawauchi and Lieko Shiga who emerged as significant contributors to contemporary Japanese photography. “New Work: Sohei Nishino,” which opens November 4 and runs until February 26, features the artist’s signature collaged maps, made from hundreds of photographs that Nishino takes of the streets and landmarks of a particular city. After printing his contact sheets, he cuts out individual frames and combines them into large-scale images that function as both traces of memory and subjective maps. The show includes Nishino’s version of San Francisco, made especially for the exhibition.