Japanese American museum display
Downtown / Downtown Los Angeles

Mapplethorpe, Japanese-American photographers and Happy Kitty in Little Tokyo Los Angeles

by carollightwood
Heart Mountain barracks at Heart Mountain
Inside the Japanese American National Museum is one of the barracks used to house U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry between 1941-1944.

Beautiful images, not-suitable-for-kids subjects

Last weekend I saw the Mapplethorpe exhibition at the Getty and most of the photographs were ones I had seen before so I decided not to write a post about it. Lots of beautiful photos of naked men, a few women, and floral still lifes. The only astonishing photos were a series of 12 Mapplethorpe took of the Sado-Masochistic world in New York and California back in the early 1980s. And he included a selfie! I wondered what Rembrandt, the godfather of self-created portraits, would have thought about that!

Instead of going to see the other half of the Mapplethorpe show which is at LACMA, I decided to go to a photography exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo. And I was surprised to learn that this show, originally organized in 1985, replaced the Mapplethorpe show in 1986 when it was yanked out of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.  If I remember correctly there was enormous outrage about Mapplethorpe’s show back then not only because of the naked men photos, but because he included a ‘sculpture’ of a cross in a bucket of urine.

Japanese-American  Internment Exhibit

Relocation notice 1941
Relocation notice 1941

So it is suitable that this Japanese American photography show of works created during the 1920s and 1930s be exhibited at the same time that Mapplethorpe is currently dominating the L.A. art and photography scene.

The Japanese American National Museum focuses on the relocation into very primitive camps of American citizens of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

Across the street from the museum is the Japanese Village Plaza, filled with cafe and shops for tourists. Enormous then and now contrasts!

wall of suitcases Japanese American museum
This stack of suitcases is made of ones like the people took with them when they were forced into concentration camps in 1941.
Heart Mountain relocation
The photographers who took the photos, below, were in 1941 ordered out of their homes and sent to live in inland concentration camps. This winter time photo looks like it could be one of the gulags in the old Soviet Union. Wrong flag, though.
F. Y. Sato's 1933 photograph of 'Tree and Steps.' Almost all the photos, even ones created by the 'Pictoralists' had an abstract quality about them.
F. Y. Sato’s 1933 photograph of ‘Tree and Steps.’ Almost all the photos, even ones created by the ‘Pictoralists’, had an abstract quality about them.
Hiseo Kimura photo Last Light of DAy
In addition to this 1929 street scene photograph by Hiseo Kimura, there was a book in which the photo had been printed decades ago. The contrast and detail in the book were much greater than in this work mounted on the wall. Many of the photographs in this exhibition appeared faded.
movable sculpture Buddhist Temple
Outside the museum is a movable sculpture that looks vaguely like a Rubik’s Cube. It took more than a little effort to get it turning. Behind it is the entry to a Buddhist Temple.
Entry Japanese Village Plaza
This marks the entry to the Japanese Village Plaza, a group of shops and cafes primarily for tourists and nearby office workers. Little Tokyo is much smaller than Chinatown, which is only a few blocks away.
Anime pillows Japanese Village shop
In one shop in the Japanese village I saw these pillows depicting anime characters–I think. They are too cute, soft and cuddly.
Japanese shops have traditionally sold wall hangings depicting famous Japanese woodcuts. But no longer! Happy Kitty dominates now. (Confession: I have a Happy Kitty for good luck in my office.)
Japanese shops have traditionally sold wall hangings depicting famous Japanese woodcuts. But no longer! Happy Kitty dominates now. (Confession: I have a Happy Kitty for good luck in my office.)

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