Towards a Humane Architecture by Bruce Allsopp (review)

Books 353 Pertinently and profusely illustrated, the catalogue is an important reference work. The notes at the end of the chaptersand the section on Documents should be consulted simultaneously to reconstruct the sequence of significant events of the development ranging from the impetus given by Stanford to the photography of objects in motion to Muybridge’s successful achievement of it. New Japanese Photography. John Szarkowski and Shoji Yamagishi, eds. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1974. 112 pp.. illus. Paper, $5.95. Reviewed by Jacques J. Halber* The relatively innocent title of this book that reproduces 116 of the 187 photographs of the exhibition of the same name in fact hides a number of very rich and controversial questions on photography in general, on Japanese photography specifically and on the individuals chosen to represent it. The editors attempted to answer two major questions: ‘What is photography?’ and ‘How does Japanese photography relate to the contemporary concerns of the photographic community? Of course, these questions are extremely complex and far from easy to answer. Shoji Yamagishi, Japanese critic and editor of Camera Mainichi, points out that young Japanese photographers have very few places to exhibit their work publicly. As a result, most of the works that make up this publication were originally parts of books and the individual pictures were meant to be seen within that context rather than on walls. The photographers are divided into two age groups and their work covers the period from 1940to 1973. They were chosen because they reveal a particular (often social) aspect of Japan. Szarkowski, Curator of Photography at the New York Museum of Modem Art, and a fine critic in this field. describes the factors that led to this new form of expression in Japanese photography and points up the reciprocal influence of the U.S.A. and Japan. He, however, makes a comment that may be misunderstood or misinterpreted by many readers. ‘It has been said (repeatedly)’, he writes, ‘that photography is a universal language. In fact, however, photography is merely a universal technique.’ It seems to me that, if statements of this kind can be made, it is precisely because the question ‘What is photography?’ has not yet been satisfactorily answered. Hence, it is many things to many people and what it is depends largely on the definition chosen. To have attempted to answer this question through this book and exhibition is a valiant effort but hardly yields a definitive reply. Photography can become a ‘language’, if it is not already one, and, in any case, it is part of a ‘language’ (or of several) for it contains grammatical components that to be correctly interpreted must be arranged in certain ways, if need be with captions. A sufficiently loose definition of photography allows it to be called ‘merely a universal technique’, for it is also that, to some. This book does not cover recent color work by the Japanese. This is regrettable because there is a very special quality about Japanese color in photography, as well as an original way of seeing evoked by such names as Kinoyama, Hiro and Nakagawa, who are unfortunately missing here. Despite the shortcomings, this is an important book visually and one to which experimental photographers and others will be tempted to return more than once, for each time it will yield something that is thoughtprovoking . *14 Rue des Tongres, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium. Towardsa Humane Architecture. Bruce Allsopp. Frederick Muller, London, 1974. 111 pp., illus. E2.50. Reviewed by Laszlo Nemeth** Allsopp confesses early in his book that he left the practice of architecture for the gentler fields of academia. Judging by the book, it was a wise decision. He sets out to examine the ills that beset today’s practicing architectural profession, then considers the reasons why the modern movement turned into a ‘puritanical revolution’ based upon a ‘functional creed and a materialistic outlook’. He develops an interesting idea about the interrelation of art and architecture in our century. When the functional aspects are overstressed, architecture is reduced to an intellectual, problem-solving occupation. Imaginative design became only a component, derived from the non-figurative or abstract art of painters and sculptors. This reliance...