Sakae Tanaka
On Wednesday nights I go to Masako Tanaka’s studio to paint. In a casual conversation I mentioned to her that I would like to see her Coming of Age studio portrait, or her wedding photographs sometime. I am a big fan of photographs from the 1960s and 1970s, and these two photogtaphic events fell right in that time period. The next week she brought with her to the studio some photographs. The first were from her wedding- the usual Husband and Wife standing portrait (which was wonderful) and then the Wedding Party photo, the one with everyone in it. This too was fantastic. I always like looking at these kinen-shashin(event photographs?). It is an Event! It must be photographed! The purpose is to show who was at the wedding. But due to photography’s transparent nature little things come out… like a band-aid on a child’s knee, electrical sockets on the wall, protruding legs of rental folding chairs. These things make it a richer photograph. The camera makes no difference between the Young Wife’s make up and a wallpaper stain on the back wall. They all share existance in the photograph.
The final photograph that she showed me was the first one at the top of this post. The 3 or 4 year old dancer on the stage is Sakae Tanaka. This is Tanaka Sensei’s mother in law in the early 1920s. The prints have faded but upon close inspection you can make out all sorts of interesting information. The paper lanterns on the floor are printed with “Sakae” on them. The small tree behind her is decorated with many folded sheets of paper that read “Tanaka”. In the third photograph you can see large light bulbs suspended from the ceiling.
The next week (last week) Tanaka sensei brought with her the second and third photographs in this short series. Her husband offered to scan them for me, and thanks to him I am able to share these photos here. The first photograph is my favorite. The frame, the time, the formal qualities, everything about it works as a photograph. It is a beautiful picture. The original prints are about 4×5 inches, which leads me to believe that they were direct contact prints from the negatives.
While Sakae was not the only performer that day (you can see another young dancer in the far right of the second photo), the decorations and the crowd suggest a fairly high social status for this little girl. When Sakae eventually married, her husband took her family name. Tanaka sensei told me that she passed away about 10 years ago.
