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A journey through the work of Michael Kenna, where silence becomes vision and language

In 1603, as Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed shōgun by the emperor – marking the beginning of the Edo period and, with it, laying the foundation of ukiyo-e in Japanese art - in Europe Elizabeth I of England drew her final breath, and Shakespeare was bringing The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark on the London stage. Thousands of miles apart, man became both the creator and creature of an era that would change history forever. In Japan, as in Europe, distinct seasons were dawning, yet both echoing with shared questions: the fragility of time, the depths of the inner self, or the changing face of a world in transformation…

Though often framed as a clash, the encounter between civilizations may be better seen as an exchange rich with creation and transformation. This dialectic unfolded vividly in the 17th century, when Giuseppe Castiglione travelled to China as a missionary, becoming Lang Shining (Peace in the World), and breathing the figurative culture of the Renaissance into the court of the Celestial Emperor.

Figura 1 Vase of flowers by Giuseppe Castiglione

Centuries later, Vincent van Gogh, a titan of Western art, found himself infatuated by the charm of Japanese culture, channelling its spirit into works like such as Bridge in the Rain or Japonaiserie...

Figura 2 Japonaiserie by Vincent van Gogh

How can we today, in the shadow of the protagonists of the traditions behind us, interpret the infinite stimuli of this planetary dialogue? This question has long stirred many minds, and one particularly interesting answer comes from Michael Kenna, a leading figure in contemporary minimalist photography. Though his oeuvre has been celebrated through hundreds of books and exhibitions, Kenna’s engagement with Asia remains surprisingly underexplored: yet his reflections on East Asian art resonate deeply, approached with both technical mastery and ethical sensitivity. In fact, Kenna’s monochrome landscapes evoke a photography of silence, slowness, balance, meditation, and recalls the subtle art of ink-and-wash painting, or the spare beauty of Japanese haikus ... Haikus d'argent is indeed the title of the exhibition held at the Musée Guimet in Paris, with the aim of highlighting the deep links between his work and the arts of Asia. The exhibition demonstrated how, centuries after the era of Tokugawa Ieyasu and William Shakespeare, the destinies of cultures – be they Japanese, British or global - are always destined to flourish through encounter and exchange.

Figura 3 Michael Kenna © Matteo Colla

The exhibition begins with a return to the origins of the world and nature. Michael Kenna's photographs serve as guardians of a primordial silence, untouched by human presence, in which water, rock, and vegetation are not mere scenic elements, but true protagonists of an ancestral narration. This is evident in his depictions of oceans, where the vast expanse of water, untraversed by ships and uninhabited by creatures, becomes a liquid solitude, a silent dialogue between sky and earth, or perhaps a cosmogonic entity, recalling the primordial waters from which, according to Hindu myth, all creation began...

Figura 4 Andaman Sea, Study 4, Phuket, Thailand. 2019

Figura 5 Bottle vase, Paris, Guimet Museum © GrandPalaisRmn (MNAAG, Paris) Thierry Ollivier

Similarly, his portrayals of mountains, such as the Huang Mountains in eastern China, move beyond descriptive intents and evoke fantastic silhouettes: in his works granite peaks emerge from an ocean of clouds, like floating islands in a Taoist dream...

Figura 6 Huangshan Mountains, Study 42, Anhui, China. 2010

Figura 7 Huangshan Mountains, Study 1, Anhui, China. 2008

Figura 8 Mountain Tree, Study 1, Danyang, Chungcheongbukdo, South Korea. 2011

Their dreamlike and ethereal shapes directly recall the great Chinese landscape painting, shan shui...

Figura 9 Wang Xuehao (vers 1754-vers 1832), Landscape in the style of Wang Meng, Paris, musée Guimet © MNAAG, Paris, Dist.

Equally interesting are the depictions of trees, which in Kenna's photographic work are not mere subjects, but intimate presences – old friends whom he returns to visit with constancy and respect. The great patriarchs of the plant world, but also the young saplings bursting of vigour, are welcomed with equal attention to their personality and history. Kenna does not photograph nature to possess it, but rather to celebrate it in its eloquent silence...

Figura 10 Kussharo Lake Tree, Study 1, Kotan, Hokkaido, Japan. 2002

Figura 11 Dakekanba and Snow Barriers, Hokkaido, Japan. 2020

The compositional balance he achieves is almost musical, made up of visual rhythms and tonal harmonies, showing himself faithful - in technique as in spirit – to the traditions of 19th- and 20th-century Japanese printing...

Figura 12 Kasamatsu Shira (1898-1991), Pin sous la pluie, Paris, musée Guimet © GrandPalaisRmn (MNAAG, Paris) Thierry Oll

But where is man in these ancestral landscapes? He is present, though unseen and unheard, perceived primarily through the traces he has left. Through this lens, his photographs explore different ways of interpreting the coexistence between man and nature: inhabiting the world with lightness or bending it to one's will...

Figura 13 Yuanyang, Study 3, Yunnan, China. 2013

Figura 14 Seaweed Farms, Study 3, Xiapu, China. 2010

In the temples of Asia, among the pagodas of Myanmar or the snow-covered shrines of Japan, Kenna captures spirituality as an invisible imprint. He does not depict the devotees themselves, but the echoes of their gestures, and the places where incense, prayer, and silence have risen. In this way, the act of photographing can become a meditative act, or a prayer, its visual language embodying a profound spiritual understanding of the world around us...

Figura 15 Shwe Inn Dain Pagodas, Inle Lake, Myanmar. 2019

Even where nature is absent - in fields cultivated as far as the eye can see, in sprawling industrial landscapes, on the outskirts of cities - Kenna neither judges nor condemns. Rather, he observes and documents, entering a silent dialogue with the Japanese tradition ukiyo-e, which, as early as the 19th century, recounted the overwhelming expansion of the city of Edo...

Figura 16 Ship Building, Study 1, Geoje, Gyongnam, South Korea. 2011

Figura 17 Hiroshige Utagawa (1797-1858), Le pont de Nihonbashi (vue matinale), Paris, musée Guimet © GrandPalaisRmn (MNAAG)

Michael Kenna, however, is not satisfied with merely depicting the world: his true aim is to interpret it, to reveal the invisible beneath the phantasmagoria of appearances. In his photographs, he pursues something elusive: moments suspended in emotion, or pure forms distilled through the compression of space. Suspended between figuration and abstraction, his photography becomes a form of visual calligraphy: the stark contrasts between deep shadows and bright white backgrounds are transformed into rhythms and enigmatic signs, almost hieroglyphics of existence. This artistic pursuit echoes the Japanese calligraphic tradition so profoundly that Kenna's images have often been likened to visual “haikus,” sharing with this poetic form its conciseness, formal balance, transcendence, and a profound invitation to contemplation. Set against uniform white backgrounds and created with long exposures, his subjects are sublimated into inner landscapes, venturing into abstract visionariness. This is especially apparent in his series on the valleys of Hokkaido, where space is compressed, time is dissolved, and what remains is pure form. Here, essential lines, gentle shadows, and suspended volumes seem to emerge from a rarefied, timeless world...

Figura 18 Torii, Study 1, Takashima, Honshu, Japan. 2002

Figura 19 Teshima Tairiku, calligraphy of the character Kan, Japan, 2010, ink on paper, Guimet Museum, gift of Teshima Tairiku.

Figura 20 Photo @Nicolas Fagot

Michael Kenna's photographic universe is ultimately a place where space dissolves, time expands, and the essential is revealed. Each image becomes a visual meditation, a haiku of light and shadow, inviting us to see beyond appearances and, at the same time, to gently open ourselves to encounters with other cultures. This openness does not aim to disperse the multiple origins and trajectories from which we come into a superficial eclecticism, but rather embraces them within a dimension that reflects a tolerant, open, multi-ethnic society and art. We should not fear losing our roots: rather, we must seek to strengthen them in continuous comparison with others. In this vision of the world, our specificities - ethical, aesthetic, cultural, religious, political, ethnic - are no longer inherited burdens or insurmountable barriers, but spaces to be freely chosen, in the infinite stimuli and opportunities of a planetary dialogue. Art, more than any other human expression, shows how difference is not a threat but an opportunity: for dialogue, discovery, and wonder!