Memories of old Japan
Hand tinted photographs of Japan which have been unseen for over a century, are going on show at the Elmhirst Heritage Centre at Dartington Hall.
Arts curator Peter Nicholson and his team have digitised and enlarged the best of over 300 of these remarkable photos which Dorothy collected in 1909.
The 22 year old Dorothy Whitney, as she was then, travelled through the country during the Meiji era, a time when the country was modernising and going through profound social change.
Peter said the show will also feature some of the original photos, which have been stored in a box for over 100 years, and Dorothy’s notes on what she saw. “It also shows the collision of the new art form of photography which was putting calligraphers and wood block printers out of work. The black and white photos were mass produced then hand tinted with one worker painting one colour before passing it to the next for the next colour.”
The exhibition open on July 11 and runs until October 31.