OKASHI – Special Private View with Michael Hoppen

Date
Thursday 9 May 2024

Time
6.00pm

Venue
Michael Hoppen Gallery
10 Portland Road
London
W11 4LA

The gallery is accessible via stairs only. If you require special assistance, please contact in advance on events@japansociety.org.uk or 020 3075 1996.

Booking Details
Booking essential - Free

Priority Booking for Members of The Japan Society until Monday 29 April 
Booking will open to non-members on Tuesday 30 April

Please note that spaces are limited and so early booking is recommended.

The Japan Society is delighted to invite members and friends to a special private view of the exhibition Okashi at the Michael Hoppen gallery.

The exhibition illustrates an eclectic understanding of Japan’s visual identity by including photographs, vintage textiles, rich colourful avantgarde theatre posters, woodblock shunga prints and unusual objects, such as Netsuke and Harigata, contextualising the gallery’s interest in Japanese culture.

This special private view starts with a guided tour by the gallerist Michael Hoppen, whose fascination with Japan was first provoked by seeing Japanese photobooks and magazines as a young photographer in the 1970's. He has travelled back and forth to Japan ever since and built up a varied and personal collection of Japanese materials. Michael will guide us through the works on show, sharing the stories behind working with some of the leading photographers in Japan.

Michael Hoppen has been involved in photography in one form or another for over 40 years. Having attained a 1st class BA honors in photography film and television in 1980 at the LCC, and then a year at the Royal College of Art in London.

The Michael Hoppen Gallery opened in 1992 and is founded on a passion for photography. As a gallery they are renowned for nurturing the careers of new and interesting artists and exhibiting them alongside acknowledged nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century photographic masters. They are passionate about the photograph and all that concerns this extraordinary art form.

In 2007, the gallery published Eyes of an Island in conjunction with a major exhibition of influential Japanese photography from 1945 to the present day. Over the last twenty years they have cemented their relationship with Japan and now have one of the most extensive collections of post-war Japanese photography outside of Asia. They represent many important Japanese Estates and artists. In October 2023, the gallery moved into the current space at 10 Portland Road in Holland Park, London.

Okashi is on show at Michael Hoppen Gallery from 13 April – 30 June 2024. 

Images: Left: Nobuyoshi Araki, Tokyo Still Life 2001/2020; Right: Shomei Tomatsu, Subway, Tokyo, 1969, Courtesy Michael Hoppen Gallery.

If you have any questions, please call The Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.

Co-organised with Michael Hoppen Gallery