Nomura Hitoshi
'moon' score, December 19, 1975

Artist Nomura HitoshiJapanese, born 1945

CultureJapanese

Titles

'moon' score, December 19, 1975

Date1975, printed c. 1995

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 37 7/8 × 39 3/8 in. (96.2 × 100 cm)
Frame (outer): 45 5/16 × 48 7/16 × 1 1/2 in. (115.1 × 123 × 3.8 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund

Object number2014.715

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionHitoshi Nomura first began using photography in the late 1960s to document his sculptural works about the effects of nature and time. By constructing towers out of cardboard that would inevitably collapse under their own weight and by leaving dry ice to evaporate on a measured surface, he recorded forms as they transformed, thereby making manifest invisible concepts such as gravity and time through photography. For his ‘moon’ score series, Nomura photographed the moon using 35mm film on a semi-regular basis from December 1975 to December 2013. Through double exposure, he imposed a musical staff over the image, making the moon appear as a musical note. Exhibited in series, these images can be read as musical scores, and in fact have been interpreted by orchestras. The inevitable variations in the position of the moon, conveys a temporality that can be experienced both visually and aurally.
ProvenanceThe artist; [Fergus McCaffrey Fine Art, Inc., New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2014.
Exhibition History“For A New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968-1979 Japan,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 8–July 12, 2015.

"Shooting the Moon: Photographs from the Museum's Collection 50 Years after Apollo 11," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 20–September 2, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Framed, no visible signature

Framed, no visible marks or inscriptions

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.