Paper short abstract:

The early photographs from Japan are among the important cultural heritage,which contributed to the transfer of knowledge between East and West.Their collections were created not only in the cultural centres,but also,due to specific historical circumstances,on the periphery of Central Eastern Europe

Paper long abstract:

Photography is one of the most important inventions of the 19th century. Only fifteen years after the creation of the first daguerreotypes, the first attempts at their recreation were made in Japan. At the same time, European and American photographers made their way there and set up their own photographic studios and the first Japanese soon learned photography from them. This transfer of knowledge gave rise to a new generation of domestic photographers that was very familiar with the technological possibilities of photography and the contemporary technological methods but also brought new inspiration into their photographic work which followed up on the domestic art tradition. And now it was photography itself that contributed to the transfer of knowledge about Japanese life and culture as it soon became an essential source of information about Japan and a contemporary record of historical events.

As elsewhere in the world, large collections of photographic material began to appear in Central Europe in the last quarter of the 19th century, imported from Japan by those who were able to visit the country. However, as knowledge of Japan improved step by step, these sets of photographs fell into oblivion and became mere archival material of the time, without any wider interest to specialists. It was only 20 years ago that the situation changed and experts began to discover the significance of these forgotten collections.

This paper will try to present what kind of people in Central Europe at the end of the 19th century gathered the first largest collections of Japanese photography of the time and how they conceived their collections. Were their motivations for collecting photographs the same as those of collectors in Western Europe or were they different? How did the collections contribute to the knowledge of Japan at that time and was this knowledge mediated by photography based on reality? This presentation will also present the extent of Japanese photographic collections in Central Europe, including their relevance to the world's cultural heritage today.