Souvenir Photography in Japan: Between Stereotype and Art

Abstract

Abstract Japanese photo albums were a popular souvenir of Western travellers from Japan at the end of the 19th century. Using the photo collection of the Übersee-Museum Bremen, it will be shown, that not only were the photos elaborately hand-coloured by masters of woodblock printing, but also the motives and the staging of the depicted scenes were influenced by this genre. Although many of the photographs recreated the everyday life of the pre-modern Edo period (1600‒1868), they were seen in the West as an up-to-date, realistic depiction of conditions in contemporary Japan. Yet, Japan had been transitioning into a modern nation that sought symbols for its emerging national identity. These included samurai, cherry blossoms, and the geisha. This is reflected in the photographs, which stand in a tension between self-perception and the perception of the other. In the West they have shaped the romanticized, clichéd ideas about Japan, just as the woodblock prints did before them.