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Markell GallerySelected Works
Russian Soldiers Lodged in the Kaiping Hospital, 1904–1905, photogravure by Ogawa Kazumasa. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund, 2023.7.12.
Cannonade of the Second Battery of the Thirteenth Field Artillery Regiment from a Hill North of Wenchiatun, 1904, photogravure by Ogawa Kazumasa. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund, 2023.7.1.
A Russian Prisoner of War, 1904–1905, photogravure by Ogawa Kazumasa. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund, 2023.7.10.
Railway Transportation in the Vicinity of Wangchiatun, 1904–1905, photogravure by Ogawa Kazumasa. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund, 2023.7.5.
A Machine Gun on the Old Enceinte Behind the North Fort of Peiyin Hill, 1904–1905, photogravure by Ogawa Kazumasa. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund, 2023.7.76.
About
This exhibition explores the social, cultural, and political changes taking place in Japan during the Meiji Restoration (1868–1912) through the work of Ogawa Kazumasa. One of Japan’s most prolific early photographers and publishers, Ogawa’s oeuvre included rural landscapes, geisha in Tokyo, lush flowers, ancient temples, and international conflicts—a visual record that documented the tensions of a society in transition. This exhibition focuses on a 32-volume photographic album Ogawa published featuring scenes from the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). Featuring selections that show field hospitals, prisoners of war, exploding cannon-fire, troops on campaigns, and more, Witnessing War explores the connections between photography, propaganda, mass media, imperialism, and global conflict at the turn of the twentieth century.