10 October 2012 – 20 January 2013 (Press view: 8 October 2012)
Supported by The William Klein + Daido Moriyama Exhibition Supporters Group
Tate Modern, Level 2
Open every day from 10.00 – 18.00 and until 22.00 on Friday and Saturday
For public information number please print 020 7887 8888
William Klein + Daido Moriyama will be the first exhibition to examine the relationship between the work of William Klein (b.1928), one of the twentieth century’s most important photographers and film-makers, and that of Daido Moriyama (b.1938), the most celebrated photographer to emerge from the Japanese Provoke movement. Taking as its central theme the cities of New York and Tokyo, William Klein + Daido Moriyama will explore both artists’ celebrated depictions of modern urban life.
The exhibition will present approximately 300 works from the 1950s to the present day, including vintage prints, contact sheets, film stills, photographic installations and archival material. The influence of Klein’s seminal 1956 publication Life is Good & Good for You in New York, Trance Witness Revels, as well as his later books Tokyo 1964 and Rome: The City and Its People 1959, will be traced through Moriyama’s radical depictions of post-war Tokyo in Sayonara Photography and The Hunter 1972. The juxtaposition of these artists will not only demonstrate the visual affinity between their urgent, blurred and grainy style of photography, but also their shared desire to convey street life and political protest, from anti-war demonstrations and gay pride marches to the effects of globalisation and urban deprivation.
This exhibition will also consider the medium and dissemination of photography itself, exploring the central role of the photo-book in avant-garde photography and the pioneering use of graphic design within these publications. As well the issues of Provoke magazine in which Moriyama and his contemporaries showcased their work, the exhibition will include fashion photography from Klein’s work with Vogue and installations relating to his satirical films Mister Freedom and Who Are You Polly Maggoo? New ways of presenting photography will also be demonstrated by Moriyama’s installation Polaroid Polaroid 1997, which recreates his studio interior through a meticulous arrangement of Polaroid images.
William Klein was born in New York, USA in 1928 and now lives and works in Paris, France. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at the Centre Pompidou, Paris and the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh and he received the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award at the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards. Daido Moriyama was born in Osaka, Japan in 1938 and moved to Tokyo in 1961, where he continues to live and work. He was recently given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Centre of Photography and his work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Cartier Foundation, Paris; and The National Museum of Art, Osaka.
William Klein + Daido Moriyama is co-curated by Simon Baker, Curator of Photography and International Art, Tate, and Juliet Bingham, Curator, Tate Modern, with Kasia Redzisz, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern. The exhibition will be accompanied by new books about both photographers from Tate Publishing. A season of film screenings at Tate Modern will also be held to coincide with the exhibition, showing Klein’s feature films and documentaries.
For further information please contact Duncan Holden / Kate Moores, Tate Press Office
Call 020 7887 4939/8731 Email pressoffice@tate.org.uk Visit www.tate.org.uk