One begins to acquire a new level of understanding of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s work – especially his seascape series – as the train gets closer to Odawara, where his art foundation is situated, crowned by the Enoura Observatory, Sugimoto’s architectural project that opened in 2017 after more than twenty years of planning. It helps if it rains, as it did on the day I visited, which makes the water of the Sagami Bay and its bordering sky look like two sheets of gray steel that meet at slightly different angles. “Sorry for the weather but Sugimoto prefers a rainy day, because the stones are very beautiful under the rain,” wrote his press office as I mulled changing the day of my visit. But of course he does. The rain highlights the specific melancholy beauty that comes out when you pay attention to the minute details of nature and of man’s respectful interference with it. There is a lot of such beauty in Japan, and though cliches like “wabi sabi” and “Japanese esthetics” are hard to avoid, this specific beauty, one that whispers and demands contemplation and slowing down and paying attention remains unmatched in its subtlety. Read Junichiro Tanizaki’s quiet masterpiece In Praise of Shadows, and you will understand.
Sugimoto is one of Japan’s most pre-eminent art photographers (although his sculptures are also pretty brilliant, and he has a thriving architecture practice) who for decades has enjoyed global recognition and success. The Odawara Art Foundation and the Observatory were set up by Sugimoto – who’s lived in New York since 1974 – in order to reexamine our relationship with art. The Observatory complex, which does offer beautiful seascape and nature views, consists of a 100-meter long gallery space and two performance spaces, as well as a teahouse. The architecture of these spaces is elongated cuboids that protrude from the hillside, and the landscaping around them seamlessly melts into the surrounding nature. The instructions for enjoying the space ask not to pick the citrus fruits, these belong to the local farmers. Stones wrapped in rope demarcate the end of public space. Everything in the observatory is designed to make your mind and body slow down and be present.
The art foundation is Sugimoto’s way of giving back to Japan, the country whose culture reared him. I was startled to learn from the press release that it was the same seascape-adjacent train ride that I took to the Observatory that first opened Sugimoto’s to the beauty of the Odawara region. “I established the Odawara Art Foundation with the aim of conveying the essence of Japanese culture to a wider audience,” he writes. It makes total sense when you are there, when you experience the mix of natural and man-made beauty, the sculptures in the bamboo groves, and yes, the beauty of stones.
Below is a photo essay of the Enoura Observatory. I tried to depict it just how I saw it with my own eyes. But you should see it in real life.
Photography by Eugene Rabkin | Post-production by Justin Urbi
