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Artists and wartime politics: Natori Yōnosuke − a Japanese Riefenstahl?*

Artists and wartime politics: Natori Yōnosuke − a Japanese Riefenstahl?* AbstractIntroducing the techniques of the photojournalism of Weimar Germanyto Japan at the beginning of the 1930s, photographer Natori Yonosuke(1910−1962) can be called the godfather of photojournalism in Japan.After relocating from Germany to Japan in 1933, his activities until theend of World War II included producing the illustrated propagandamagazine NIPPON (1934−1944), which was geared toward foreign audiences,and publishing a number of other propaganda magazines inoccupied East and South East Asia. This paper traces Natori’s personaland business connections in Weimar Germany − in particular with hisJewish colleagues and friends, and their critical political situation afterthe Nazis’ rise to power − and juxtaposes these with Natori’s contributionsto the Nazi press, his engagement in cultural exchange betweenJapan and Germany, and his recommendations of Nazi visual propagandastrategies for Japan in the 1930s. Drawing attention to the transnationaland transcultural dimensions of Natori’s wartime politics, this paperargues that his agency needs to be approached not only in terms ofJapanese but also of German wartime responsibility. Taking up thetheme of Leni Riefenstahl, a major artist engaged in propaganda productionfor the Nazi regime, who − like Natori − had been aestheticallyinfluenced by the Weimar avant-garde, this article also discusses comparativeaspects of artists’ wartime politics and their accountability in thepost-war period. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Contemporary Japan de Gruyter

Artists and wartime politics: Natori Yōnosuke − a Japanese Riefenstahl?*

Germer, Andrea
Contemporary Japan , Volume 24 (1): 30 – Mar 1, 2012
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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
© 2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
ISSN
1869-2737
eISSN
1869-2737
DOI
10.1515/cj-2012-0002
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractIntroducing the techniques of the photojournalism of Weimar Germanyto Japan at the beginning of the 1930s, photographer Natori Yonosuke(1910−1962) can be called the godfather of photojournalism in Japan.After relocating from Germany to Japan in 1933, his activities until theend of World War II included producing the illustrated propagandamagazine NIPPON (1934−1944), which was geared toward foreign audiences,and publishing a number of other propaganda magazines inoccupied East and South East Asia. This paper traces Natori’s personaland business connections in Weimar Germany − in particular with hisJewish colleagues and friends, and their critical political situation afterthe Nazis’ rise to power − and juxtaposes these with Natori’s contributionsto the Nazi press, his engagement in cultural exchange betweenJapan and Germany, and his recommendations of Nazi visual propagandastrategies for Japan in the 1930s. Drawing attention to the transnationaland transcultural dimensions of Natori’s wartime politics, this paperargues that his agency needs to be approached not only in terms ofJapanese but also of German wartime responsibility. Taking up thetheme of Leni Riefenstahl, a major artist engaged in propaganda productionfor the Nazi regime, who − like Natori − had been aestheticallyinfluenced by the Weimar avant-garde, this article also discusses comparativeaspects of artists’ wartime politics and their accountability in thepost-war period.

Journal

Contemporary Japan – de Gruyter

Published: Mar 1, 2012

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