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• Issue #102
• Article

You will also find yet another two new Special Exhibits up on I Photo Central. The first one is entitled "Art Photography in Japan 1922" and is sponsored by Charles Schwartz, Ltd.. The second is "An Obsession with the Automobile: The Car in Photographs", which is sponsored by Vintage Works, Ltd.

Art photography flourished in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s. Japan's economic prosperity and rapidly evolving cultural institutions fostered an unprecedented community of photographers and allowed for significant exchange of information and ideas with artists in the west. This selection of rotogravures in this exhibit is unlike any other. They appear to be high quality gravures as they are so exquisitely printed. They all appeared in Bunka Shashin-shu, the magazine published by the Tokyo-based photo group Shashin Bunka Kyokai. This publication was influenced by Stieglitz's Camera Work. The group held regular juried exhibitions that included work by leading Japanese pictorialists of the 1920s. Top selections were published their magazine. The journal was intended to be a monthly publication but due to disputes among members it ceased publication after only three issues in 1922. This group of images is not only beautiful but, according to a Japanese photo historian, is extremely rare as well.

The passion for motorized transit has always been called an American obsession, but, as you will see from many of these images, other countries also share the same zeal for the automobile. The photographs of cars in this online exhibition include many from some very noted photographers, including Man Ray, Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, Geza Vandor, Daniel Masclet, Jean Dreville, Jaroslav Rossler and Pierre Jahan, among others. The sleek metallic sheen of these motorized beasts allows for that sense of beauty, mystery and speed, which almost seem hypnotic to the viewer. The camera provides more than a rear view mirror on the subject, often manipulating or at least making the most of reality to enhance a sense of all these effects. But the subject itself is still the star, like a beautiful model whose beauty photographers can only reflect in their lens.

We have also continued to change images and add to our essays for all our Special Exhibits, so they are worth another peek, especially if you have not looked lately. And, if you see one you like, let a friend know too! In addition, nearly a hundred new images have been added in just the last month to the I Photo Central website.

You can see these fine new exhibits, along with 44 others at: http://www.iphotocentral.com/showcase/showcase.php .