Gelatin silver print

32.5 × 21.3 cm. (image) 12 3/4 × 8 3/8 in. ; 35.5 × 27.9 cm. (sheet) 14 × 11 in.

Signed in Japanese and English on the reverse

LITERATURE (different size)
May 1987, Shashin Jidai – “How to Create Beautiful Pictures 6” Feature, May Issue, Byakuya-Shobo CO., LTD, Tokyo
1987, A Journey to Nakaji, Sokyu Sha, Yokohama
2001, Daido Moriyama, Phaidon Press Limited, New York, front cover and p. 111
2003, Daido Moriyama, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, p. 57
2003, Daido Moriyama: Hunter of Light, 1965-2003, Shimane Art Museum, Shimane, p. 228, pl. 348
2003, Daido Moriyama: The Complete Works Vol.2 1974-1992, Daiwa Radiator Factory, Hiroshima, p. 407, no. 2661
2013, Daido Moriyama, Shashin O Kataru, Uni-Books, Taipei, p. 345
2013, Daido Moriyama, Tate Publishing, London, p.49
EXHIBITED (different size)
10 Oct 2012 – 20 Jan 2013, William Klein + Daido Moriyama, Tate Modern, London

PROVENANCE
Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation, Tokyo
Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation, Tokyo

The Golden Generation of Japanese Photography
The Classic Moments of Moriyama Daido & Araki Nobuyoshi

Moriyama, who refers to himself as a “stray dog”, regards the street as a palace and proposes the revolutionary aesthetic principles of vibration, blurriness and graininess. He completely overthrows the existing photographic aesthetic system with a radical style and is regarded as the most famous photographer in contemporary Japan.

To Challenge Realism and to Capture People's Heart
Taken in 1971, Stray Dog (Lot 147), Misawa is Moriyama's most acclaimed masterpiece. Walking from his hotel to the street in an early morning, Moriyama encountered a wandering dog. The morning light glided over the dog's black eyes. Moriyama raised his camera and his classic piece was born. Moriyama pioneered the snapshot photography method, which emphasizes a vigorous visual impact like shooting that in turn, gives the viewer corporeal pleasure. For instance, in this high-contrast black-and-white image, the stray dog's eyesight is sharp and tilted to the left, full of unstableness and tension. This work documents the postwar spirit of Japanese people in miniature and metaphorically presents a complex mental state of fear but seeking the opportunity to take action at the same time. It also portrays the paradox of the metropolitan dwellers who are lonely and indifferent yet are looking forward to connecting with others. In 1999, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art held Moriyama's solo exhibition, which named after the Stray Dog piece and used this photo as the catalogue cover, significantly raised the importance of this artwork.

In 1987, titled How to Create a Beautiful Picture (Lot 146), Moriyama took a series of photos in abstract and repeated formats. Silk Stockings, one of the themes, became the representative work of the second stage of Moriyama's creation. How to Create a Beautiful Picture 6: Tights in Shimotakaido is the work that has won critical acclaim for this series. The fishnet silk stocking occupying the whole image envelops viewer's vision, and the female private parts represents the long-suppressed sexuality in Japanese culture, looming under the ambiguous cover. By appreciating the distorted image that has been extremely magnified and distorted, Moriyama pulls the viewers out of the visual fantasy and push them back to real life with unique critical and visual tension.

Private Photography: The Beauty of Desire
Opposite to Moriyama Daido's rugged aesthetics, Araki Nobuyoshi, the pioneer of Japanese erotic photography, in his solo exhibition Koki No Shashin: Photographs of A Seventy Year Old (Lot 148), also claims not to definite an image by what people can see. He likes to photograph women the most, freezing the image of beauty to the frame through bondage. In 2010, Chiro, the cat that has been Araki's companion for 22 years passed away, and for the first time, the grief-stricken Araki physically felt close to death. In Koki No Shashin: Photographs of A Seventy Year Old that he created in the same year, he has lit up the private and dark scenes and exposed the sadness, violence and the intertwining of death and life that has been hidden beneath the erotic images for the first time. The anger, sadness, tears and sex appeal of the woman in bondage are incisively and vividly shown, displaying the beauty of being alive. In the bottom right corner, the artist's embodiment, a Godzilla, turns his head to the wall, mumbling to himself, which is just like when the artist said goodbye to his beloved wife, Yuko, 20 years ago.

Price estimate:
HKD: 20,000 – 40,000
USD: 2,600 – 5,200

Auction Result:
HKD: 47,200