Akito Mizutani
Shimmering Snow : A Masterpiece Revived

About the exhibition

The FUJIFILM SQUARE Photo History Museum is pleased to present an exhibition of photographs by Akito Mizutani, whose body of work is mainly sports photography.

After a career of more than half a century focused on sports photography, Akito Mizutani (1940– ) continues to publish photographs that are at the forefront of the genre. Mizutani discovered skiing in the 1960s when he was in the process of becoming a mountain photographer. He first showed his work at Ski, Pushing the Limits (Fuji Photo Salon, 1970), a solo exhibition of ski photographs. Nothing like traditional ski photography, the coarse-grained closeups of skiers and the unpredictable dynamic compositions won Mizutani instant recognition as someone who had broken new ground in the field of ski photography.

An early masterpiece, the Shimmering Snow series, shot mainly from the latter half of the 1960s to the 1980s, marks the emergence of Akito Mizutani, the photographer. With compelling power of composition, he captures world-class skiers gliding through the majestic natural landscape, their skis tracing beautiful forms in a world of shimmering white snow. Shot by a photographer with an exquisite feeling for esthetics, sharply honed vision, and well-tempered physical intuition, these photographs transcend the bounds of sports photography and ski photography to form a unique world only Mizutani is capable of expressing. Acclaimed in Japan and overseas, the series of photographs has recently regained the spotlight as a masterpiece that should occupy a special place in the history of Japanese photography.

The exhibition presents new gelatin silver prints of about twenty carefully selected works from the Shimmering Snow series that launched the career of Akito Mizutani. The dynamic and beautiful works expressed in rich gradations of black and white represent both the starting point of photography, which is to record a specific moment, and the essence of photography, which is to express the photographer’s point of view. The photographs also shed light on the consistent and unique esthetic in Mizutani’s work, an esthetic that continues to this day. In an age when anyone can easily snap pictures, these photographs remind us of the value of universal photographic expression.

We hope you will enjoy the revival of Shimmering Snow, Akito Mizutani’s masterpiece, more than half a century after its inception.