Facing Identity

An extraordinary exhibition of Japanese photography now at the Museum of Fine Arts includes Ordeal by Roses, No. 32 by openly gay artist Hosoe Eikoh. He created the piercing image (above) for his monumental 1963 book about the writer Yukio Mishima—gay, militaristic, and obsessed with the hyper-masculine standards of bodybuilders and samurai—nine years before Mishima’s sensational ritual suicide. (Probably best known in this country for The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Mishima produced a body of work that includes Confessions of a Mask, on the Publishing Triangle’s list of 100 best gay-and-lesbian novels.)

Both gender and Western v. Eastern ideas of pop culture concern Morimura Yasumasa, another artist in the exhibition. In his latest photographic series, Morimura depicts himself as iconic Hollywood actresses, ranging from Greta Garbo to Audrey Hepburn. His elaborately styled and costumed scenes include the 1996 picture Self-portrait (Actress) after Brigitte Bardot 2 (above).

Organized by the museum’s photography curator, Anne Wilkes Tucker, the groundbreaking History of Japanese Photography (the first major survey in the West) remains on view through April 27. —Tim Brookover

HOSOE EIKOH - COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND HOWARD GREENBERG GALLERY, NEW YORK

MORIMURA YASUMASA - COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND LUHRING AUGUSTINE GALLERY, NEW YORK

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