Ekō - Japan in two visual narratives

From 5 March 2026, The National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam presents the exhibition Ekō – Japan in two visual narratives. Curated as artists conversing across time, the exhibit juxtaposes early photographs of Japan from the museum's own collection, including those by Felice Beato, with the contemporary work it inspired as captured by photographer and visual artist Anaïs López.

In 1859, photography flourished in Japan after the country opened its ports to international trade. As gateways to areas still unknown to the West, port cities were inextricably linked to photography. The photographs collected by the Dutch consul Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek (1833-1916) are among the oldest taken in Japan. Although De Graeff was not a photographer himself, his support proved indispensable to the most influential foreign photographer of the time: Felice Beato. From a European perspective, the Anglo-Italian Beato created a carefully staged image of Japan that met the expectations of a Western audience. Reprints and copies of his pictures spread far and wide, encouraging a visual blueprint of a supposedly exotic country — a blueprint that continued to influence photographers well into the present day.

When artist Anaïs López travelled to Japan in 2016, she unknowingly brought Beato's images, whose work resonate in her photography like an echo (Ekō) from the distant past. In search of the golden turtle Kami, López followed the Kamo River and ventured into the mountains. During her journey, she drew inspiration from a local artist and centuries‐old techniques, allowing a new visual language to unfold. The Turtle and the Monk reveals an artist turning their gaze inward to tell a layered story about grief, the urge to control nature, and the magic of imagination.

The consul and the photographer

The exhibition features the three photo albums that Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek left behind from his time in Japan (collection of The National Maritime Museum). These include the oldest album produced by Beato in Japan (1863) and a precursor to his famous Photographic Views of Japan — albums of souvenir photos that he began marketing in 1868. Beato collaborated with Japanese experts from block printing workshops, who coloured the photos by hand—a practice built on existing Japanese image traditions.

The photos in De Graeff's albums are of great cultural and historical value. They were produced during the Bakumatsu, the period in which Japan rapidly transformed from a feudal state into a modern empire. De Graeff's albums serve as a primary source for research into early photography in Japan. The exhibition highlights the role that the Dutch diplomat played in the creation of these early images.

‍