Silk drying. Kyoto, Japan, 1951

Werner Bischof was given the assignment of photographing the war in Korea in 1951. The job took him through Japan, a country that won his heart. Bischof stayed in Japan for almost a year, discovering the country’s beauty and purity of design and ritual that must have reminded him of his early studio days.
His time in Japan undoubtedly marks a high point in Bischof’s oeuvre. The subject matter and the photographer’s sensitive, considered approach complement each other perfectly. Kabuki theatre and striptease, temples and advertising, meditation and mobility all rub shoulders in Bischof’s photographs of Japan. Pictured here, silk drying in Kyoto.