Gocho Shigeo
from the series Familiar Street Scenes

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Images(3)

Artist Gocho Shigeo(Japanese, 1946–1983)Japanese, 1946–1983

CultureJapanese

Titles

from the series Familiar Street Scenes

Date1978–1980, printed 2014

MediumChromogenic print

DimensionsImage: 14 3/16 × 21 1/4 in. (36 × 54 cm)
Sheet: 17 7/8 × 21 13/16 in. (45.4 × 55.4 cm)
Frame (outer) (ANW EXHIBITION FRAME): 22 7/8 × 28 7/8 × 1 3/4 in. (58.1 × 73.3 × 4.4 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Joan Morgenstern

Object number2014.687

Non exposé

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionShigeo Gochō’s final series, Familiar Street Scenes, marks a significant departure from the style of portraits for which he had become known. He used color film for the first time and sought out fleeting formal patterns in the bustle and flow of the streets of downtown Tokyo while moving closer to his subjects, which he then presented in larger, bold prints. The diminished distance between the photographer and his subjects leads to a more confrontational relationship. Though some return his gaze, their expressions convey an admonishment rather than a shared acceptance. At the time it was published, Familiar Street Scenes did not receive wide recognition from an audience that had been primed by Self and Others (2014.689-93). However, perhaps the human interactions espoused in the two bodies of work are not so different: whether or not gazes are exchanged, it is never possible to completely understand the true thoughts behind those gazes.
ProvenanceMEM Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, 2014.
Exhibition History“For A New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968-1979 Japan,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 8–July 12, 2015.

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