Exhibition
NORTH SOUTH EAST WEST
Peter Knapp unites the world with his Fashion photography
Curated by Joji Mita
Hideo Yamakuchi Presents Textile Art in Tribute to Peter Knapp’s North South East West Exhibition
Peter Knapp is the legendary Swiss artistic director and influential photographer who unintentionally but indelibly inspired Japan’s media landscape with his pioneering fashion photography. In 1959, Hélène Lazareff, founder and editor-in-chief of French Elle, entrusted Knapp with the artistic direction of the magazine. Knapp’s innovative approach to applied fashion photography captivated the public and left a lasting impression in Japan, leading to the launch of an an / Elle JAPON in March 1970 by Heibon Shuppan, Co., Ltd. (now Magazine House, Ltd.), as a licensed extension of Elle in Paris.
Growing up in a renowned textile weaving family, Hideo Yamakuchi developed a passion for fashion and photography inspired by an an / Elle JAPON. The image chosen for his tapestry features the work of KENZO, aka designer Kenzo Takada, who, like Yamakuchi, is an alumnus of Bunka Fashion College. This intergenerational connection underlies their collaboration.
As Peter Knapp pioneered applied fashion photography, Yamakuchi invented photo-weaving, integrating personal “memories” into his textiles using unique weaving techniques. Traditionally, tapestries are limited to themes like religious paintings or picturesque landscapes. By merging this craft with digital technology, Yamakuchi enables weaving personal memories into his textiles.
Yamakuchi’s artistic theme, “encounter daily memories through woven memory,” is a tribute to Peter Knapp’s remarkable contributions to applied fashion photography
Open Hours
Wed – Sun: 11am – 6pm
Closed: Mon – Tue
www.yandgallery.com/hideo-yamakuchi-en
Born in 1962 in Yonezawa City, Yamagata Prefecture, Hideo Yamakuchi is the third generation in his family’s weaving business. After graduating from Bunka Fashion College in 1988, he blended traditional weaving techniques with digital technology in 1990 and launched his artistic career in 1992.
Yamakuchi is an artist who portrays images through textiles, with “memory” as the central theme of his works. He likens the weaving process with warp and weft threads to the mechanism of memory in the brain, weaving his own photographs into textiles. In 1997, his book “Weaving Memories” attracted the attention of Jack Lenor Larsen. President of the American Craft Museum (now the Museum of Art & Design) in the U.S., leading to a solo exhibition at the Larsen Foundation’s Long House Foundation Gallery.
His works are part of the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Art & Design, and other museums. Yamakuchi has also produced numerous public works in Japan, including an official tapestry portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand and a portrait of the Otocho of Sensoji Temple.