The National Museum of Modern Art to Host “Nakahira Takuma: Burn—Overflow”

“Nakahira Takuma: Burn—Overflow” will be held at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, in Takebashi, Tokyo, from February 6 to April 7, 2024.

Born in Tokyo, Takuma Nakahira was a renowned photographer and critic. His unique photographic style and writings, often characterized as “deliberately hazy and indistinct,” had a profound impact on Japanese postwar photography from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. Overcoming a period of hiatus caused by illness, Nakahira redefined himself as a photographer and continued his creative pursuits until the early 2010s, leaving behind a lasting legacy upon his passing in 2015.

Inaugurating the first major retrospective of Nakahira’s oeuvre in nearly two decades, this exhibition meticulously traces his artistic journey. It reassesses the trajectory of his career, previously obscured by dramatic events, with a particular focus on the exploratory phase just before his artistic pursuits were interrupted by illness. Additionally, the exhibition reevaluates the significance of Nakahira’s work in the aftermath of his recovery. Featuring around 400 works and materials, some never before exhibited, highlights include vintage prints of “Streets or Traces of Terror,” displayed for the first time since acquisition in 2021, and “Decalage,” showcased for the first time since its original presentation in Marseilles in 1976.

Also featured is “Inundation,” an artwork presented in the “15 Photographers” exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, in 1974. This expansive piece, spanning approximately 6 meters in width and composed of 48 color photographs, will be publicly displayed at the same venue for the first time in fifty years.