Artist
Hatakeyama Naoya(Japanese, born 1958)Japanese, born 1958
CultureJapanese
Titles
- Underground #6411
Date1999–2000
Place depictedJapan
MediumChromogenic print
DimensionsImage: 19 5/16 × 19 5/16 in. (49.1 × 49.1 cm)
Sheet: 21 5/8 × 21 5/8 in. (54.9 × 54.9 cm)
Mount: 23 5/8 × 23 1/2 in. (60 × 59.7 cm)
Frame (outer): 26 × 28 in. (66 × 71.1 cm)
Sheet: 21 5/8 × 21 5/8 in. (54.9 × 54.9 cm)
Mount: 23 5/8 × 23 1/2 in. (60 × 59.7 cm)
Frame (outer): 26 × 28 in. (66 × 71.1 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Morris Weiner
Object number2000.651
Not on view
Explore Further
Department
PhotographyObject Type
Naoya found an entry to the sewer system beneath Shibuya River in downtown
Tokyo. With a camera and a flash placed on a tripod, he investigated the
unknown but strangely familiar territory, where there was little light or
sound. The experience recalled the same feeling of helplessness he had felt 30
years earlier searching for light in a cave near his home, or standing on a
giant dune in the Sahara. In the darkness of the sewer system, he realized that
he was the only one needing light, compelled to feel the existence of nature,
the sublime. Hatakeyama has documented the many layers of the city from above,
from underground, and from street level.
Provenance[Masataka Hayakawa Gallery, Tokyo]; purchased by MFAH, 2000.
Exhibition History"Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made after 1960 from the MFAH Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Brown Foundation Galleries, February 21 - May 9, 2010.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in black, recto, lower edge: "A.P. underground #6411 1999-2000 [signature]"
Signed in black, recto, lower right.
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.
Hatakeyama Naoya
1995
Gelatin silver print with transparency over fluorescent light
2011.531
