Daido Moriyama

A Retrospective
06.09.2024 – 23.02.2025
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Photo Elysée is presenting a major exhibition devoted to one of Japan’s greatest photographers. This retrospective, produced by the Instituto Moreira Salles (Sao Paulo, Brazil), will be making a stopover in Switzerland after showing in Berlin and London.

Exhibition

During the sixty years of his career, Daido Moriyama (born in Osaka in 1938) definitively altered our perception of photography. He used his camera to document his immediate surroundings and to visually explore post-war society in Japan. But he also challenged the very nature of photography itself.  

His incomparable visual language is as highly acclaimed as his numerous publications, which are at the heart of his work. 

Right from the start, viewers have been captivated by Moriyama’s photographic subjects, from the mass media and advertising to society's taboos and the theatricality of everyday life. He captured the clash between Japanese tradition and the accelerated westernisation that followed the US military occupation of Japan after the end of the Second World War. Inspired by American artists such as Andy Warhol and William Klein, the photographer brought Japan's nascent consumer society to life. He explored the reproducibility of images, their dissemination and their consumption. Moriyama repeatedly positioned his archive of images in new contexts, playing with enlargements, cropping and image resolution. Even today, his pioneering artistic spirit and visual intensity remain innovative. 

The Guardian

"The best photography shows of 2023".

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Exhibition texts

Daido Moriyama

Born in Ikeda, Osaka in 1938 Daido Moriyama was raised in post-war Japan. Known for his dense, contrasting black-and-white images, he captured the clash of Japanese tradition and western influences. At the beginning of his career, Moriyama published two dozen articles in different magazines, crafting a multifaceted panorama of Japanese society, earning him the Japan Photo Critics Association’s Newcomer’s Award in 1967.

After the dismantling of the medium in Farewell Photography (1972), Moriyama sank into a personal and creative crisis. He finally returned to photography in the early 1980s, determined to investigate the essence of the image and of himself. During this period, Moriyama also renewed his interest in street photography, covering hundreds of miles in Tokyo, New York, Paris, and London, among other cities.

In 2006, Moriyama relaunched the Record magazine, which was published in five issues, until it was discontinued in 1973. It continues to be published and currently comprises 57 issues. Today, Daido Moriyama lives and works in Tokyo.

"For me, photography is not a means by which to create beautiful art, but a unique way of encountering genuine reality."

Daido Moriyama

Discover more

13.09.2024

A look back at the opening

Many of you joined us on Thursday September 5 to celebrate the opening of our new exhibitions Daido Moriyama. A Retrospective and Lee Shulman. The Anonymous Project, Home & Away.…

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10.09.2024

"Pretty Woman” installation

A living legend in photography and pioneer of street photography, Daido Moriyama has been roaming Tokyo for over 60 years. Known for his sharply contrasting black-and-white shots, he favours spontaneity.…

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12.09.2024

7 things to know

Born in post-war Japan, Daido Moriyama embraced photography as a democratic language, promoted by the mass media industry. His work encapsulates the clash between Japanese tradition and Westernisation, following the…

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Events

Credits

Daido Moriyama. A Retrospective

Curator
Thyago Nogueira, Instituto Moreira Salles

Exhibition Manager
Hannah Pröbsting

Scenographic Adaptation & Lighting
Yannick Luthy

Graphic Design
Balmer Hählen

Carpentry
Wood Style

Reproductions of Magazines & Book Spreads
Getsuyosha Publishing House & Instituto Moreira Salles
All photographs were printed in Japan under the supervision of the artist.

Translations
Flavia Ambrosetti, Sophie Dinh, Stéphanie Klebetsanis, Julia Noack

Partners

From September 7 to 29, 2024, the Biennale Images Vevey and Photo Elysée present the installation Pretty Woman on the occasion of the exhibition Daido Moriyama. A retrospective.

The exhibition is supported by UBS and the Federal Office of Culture