Local Politicians
Shomei Tomatsu
Japanese, 1930–2012
1957
A 1957 gelatin silver photograph by Shomei Tomatsu that quietly stages two men—framed by the title as local politicians—in an everyday roadside exchange to probe postwar social life.
The photograph arrests you with its taut, asymmetrical composition: a man in Western work clothes and boots faces another in a striped kimono against a rough earthen wall, their gestures and the negative space between them charged with tension and texture.
A key example of Tomatsu’s postwar practice, the image blends intimate street reportage with social critique—making visible the uneasy coexistence of tradition and modernity in Japan and helping to expand the possibilities of documentary photography.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
13 1/16 × 18 7/8" (33.2 × 48 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the artist
Accession
402.1977
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
