Imaging Disaster: Tokyo and the Visual Culture of Japan’s Great Earthquake of 1923

Focusing on one landmark catastrophic event in the history of an emerging modern nation―the Great Kanto Earthquake that devastated Tokyo & surrounding areas in 1923―this fascinating volume examines the history of the visual production of the disaster. The Kanto earthquake triggered cultural responses that ran the gamut from voyeuristic & macabre thrill to the romantic sublime, media spectacle to sacred space, mournful commemoration to emancipatory euphoria, & national solidarity to racist vigilantism & sociopolitical critique. Looking at photography, cinema, painting, postcards, sketching, urban planning, & even scientific visualizations, Weisenfeld demonstrates how visual culture has powerfully mediated the evolving historical understanding of this major national disaster, ultimately enfolding mourning & memory into modernization.

Gennifer Weisenfeld is Walter H. Annenberg Distinguished Professor of Art & Art History at Duke Univ. Her field of research is modern & contemporary Japanese art history, design, & visual culture. Her 1st book, Mavo: Japanese Artists & the Avant-Garde, 1905–1931 (UC Press, 2002) addresses the relationship between high art & mass culture in the aesthetic politics of the avant-garde in 1920s Japan. Her 2nd book, Imaging Disaster: Tokyo & the Visual Culture of Japan’s Great Earthquake of 1923 (UC Press, 2012; Japanese edition Seidosha, 2014) examines how visual culture has mediated the historical understanding of Japan’s worst national disaster of the twentieth century. Her 3rd book, Gas Mask Nation: Visualizing Civil Air Defense in Wartime Japan (University of Chicago Press, 2023) explores the anxious pleasures of Japanese visual culture during World War II. She has published extensively on the history of Japanese design, including a core essay for MIT’s award-winning website Visualizing Cultures on the Shiseido cosmetic company’s advertising…