Abstracts Communications and the Arts

Against Purity: Theatricality and Otsuji Kiyoji’s APN Photographs (1953-54)

by Daniel Abbe

This essay examines a series of photographs that were published between 1953 and 1954 in the Japanese illustrated weekly news magazine Asahi Graph. These photographs were taken by Ōtsuji Kiyoji, a photographer whose diverse production remains underexplored both inside and outside of Japan. The photographs were all collaborations with other artists, in which an artist would make a sculptural construction and Ōtsuji would then photograph it. The essay considers the series—known as APN, after the column of the magazine in which it ran—in light of its theatrical qualities. Through an analysis of shadows in the work, and an exploration of the tactile qualities of these photographs, the theatricality of the APN photographs is shown to trouble “pure” models of photography and vision.