s Fall / Winter 06 07 - Steidl

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A Letter from Japan: The Photographs of John Swope
Edited by Carolyn Peter
As one of the first American photographers to set foot on Japanese soil at the end of World War II, even before Japan
had officially surrendered, John Swope experienced and recorded a critical, peculiar, and fragile moment in the history
of Japan and a war-torn world. His powerful photographic essay is complemented by a 144-page letter that he wrote
to his wife, the actress Dorothy McGuire, which describes, in detail, his experiences and emotional reactions to all that he
saw and photographed.
Swope went to Japan as part of the elite team of Edward Steichen Naval photographers to document the release of Allied
prisoners of war, but he went far beyond his official duties. During a three-and-a-half-week period he took photographs
that vividly convey the impact of World War II on the local population and the land, as well as the Allied prisoners. Having
visited Japan as a young man fifteen years before, Swope struggled in 1945 with the numerous contradictions he
observed and felt. His photographs, together with his words, convey a poignant, highly personal view of this world in
limbo expressing a great sense of humanity and sensitivity for people on both sides of the conflict. The book gives insight
into Swope’s larger pursuit of capturing the universal human experience by including highlights from his work as a
Hollywood photographer, from his Life magazine career, and from his international travels from the 1930s to the 1970s.
John Swope (1908–1979) began his photographic career in the 1930s capturing unexpected images of behind-thescenes
Hollywood. This series became the subject of a book entitled Camera Over Hollywood published in 1939.
During World War II he collaborated with John Steinbeck on a book entitled Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team
Written for the Army Air Force (1942). After the war, Swope had a successful career as a freelance magazine
photographer working primarily for Life magazine. He had several exhibitions in the 1950s and 60s at museums
including The Albright-Knox Gallery of Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
Co-published with the UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.
A Letter From Japan: The Photographs of John Swope
Edited by Carolyn Peter
Essays by Carolyn Peter, John W. Dower
and a letter by John Swope
Book design by Lorraine Wild, Victoria Lam
and Hilary Greenbaum of Green Dragon Office
256 pages with 114 plates
10.5 x 8.5 in. / 21.6 x 26.7 cm
Clothbound hardcover with two tipped-in images
US $ 45.00 / £ 28.00 / R 40.00
ISBN 3-86521-267-0
ISBN-13 978-3-86521-267-2
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