Photo: Etsuro Ishihara in Front of the Exhibition of Works by Eugène Atget, Late 1970s, Courtesy of the Etsuro Ishihara & ZEIT-FOTO SALON Archives / ZEIT-FOTO Co., Ltd.
Opening Reception：July 11 (sat) , 2026 16:00-18:00
Tokyo Gallery + BTAP is pleased to present the exhibition “1978.”
This group exhibition features works from the collection of ZEIT-FOTO SALON, Japan’s first commercial gallery dedicated exclusively to photography, founded by the late Etsuro Ishihara. Titled “1978” in homage to the year the gallery was established, the exhibition pays tribute to Ishihara, who devoted himself tirelessly to spreading the concept of “photography as art” in Japan, as well as discovering new Japanese artists.
The gallery space will bring together works by 18 photographers represented by Ishihara, including Daido Moriyama, Nobuyoshi Araki, and Kazuo Kitai, all of whom were leading practitioners at the time, as well as Toshio Shibata, Naoya Hatakeyama, and Taiji Matsue, who were then emerging artists and subsequently went on to win the Kimura Ihei Award. At a time when digitized images flood our lives and fake images run rampant, we hope this exhibition will serve as an opportunity to return to a form of photography that emerged out of a sense of friction and conflict with reality.
In addition, on August 22, the final day of the exhibition, we will host a closing event featuring a talk session with art critic and Professor Minoru Shimizu of the Faculty of Global and Regional Studies at Doshisha University. We look forward to your attendance.
We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone at ZEIT-FOTO Kunitachi and Mr. Teiichi Kimoto (Temporary Contemporary) for their generous support in making this exhibition possible.
Participating Artists
Nobuyoshi Araki, Miyako Ishiuchi, Kazuo Kitai, Masao Gozu, Toshio Shibata, Kunie Sugiura, Issei Suda, Tomio Seike, Akira Tanno, Hiromi Tsuchida, Shoko Hashimoto, Naoya Hatakeyama, Fuyuki Hattori, Takanobu Hayashi, Taiji Matsue, Daido Moriyama, Kanendo Watanabe, Hitomi Watanabe
About ZEIT-FOTO SALON
ZEIT-FOTO SALON opened in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, in 1978 as Japan’s first commercial gallery dedicated to photography as fine art. Founder Etsuro Ishihara interacted with Western artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Brassaï, purchasing original prints directly from them. He also introduced leading Japanese photographers such as Nobuyoshi Araki and Daido Moriyama to a global audience.
Ishihara, who devoted his entire life to art, was known not only for his passion for photography, but also for how he built collections of paintings and SP records of exceptional quality and quantity. Today, ZEIT-FOTO SALON operates as ZEIT-FOTO Kunitachi from Ishihara’s former residence in Kunitachi City, managing, operating, and selling works from the Ishihara Collection.
