23 April 2024: In collaboration with the Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs at the New York Public Library, 10×10 hosted “From Magazine to Japanese Photobook,” a conversation between Ivan Vartanian and Maggie Mustard on the role that magazines have played in the evolution of Japanese photobooks. Held in the Berger Forum at the New York Public Library, their talk centered on examples from Vartanian’s recent publication, Japanese Photography Magazines: 1880s – 1980s, which offers an accessible journey into Japan’s rich photography history, showcasing over 1,500 visuals, essays, explanatory texts and primary texts by photographers. This volume is an unparalleled resource, opening up an otherwise obscure world to enthusiasts and scholars alike.
Ivan Vartanian is the founder of Goliga, an imprint based in Tokyo. He has edited and authored numerous books on art and photography, including Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s & ’70s (Aperture, 2009), Setting Sun: Writings by Japanese Photographers (Aperture, 2005) and Japanese Photography Magazines: 1880s to 1980s (Goliga, 2022), which was short-listed for the 2023 Paris Photo-Aperture Catalog of the Year Award.
Maggie Mustard is Assistant Curator of Photography in the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs at the New York Public Library. She earned her PhD in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University, with a focus on postwar Japanese photography and photobooks.
Watch a video recording #70 on 10×10 Photobooks’ YouTube channel.
A big thank you to Deirdre Donohue, Clare Bell, Chantal Lee, Madeleine Viljoen and Elizabeth Cronin for hosting and facilitating this salon. Thank you to Shea Baasch (10×10 work-scholar), Jeff Gutterman and David Solo for technical support during the salon.
Salon photo by Olga Yatskevich.