Gelatin silver print

58.1 × 46 cm. 22 7/8 × 18 1/8 in. (image); 61 × 50 cm. 24 × 19 5/8 in.(sheet)

Signed in English on the reverse
PROVENANCE
Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo

Eikoh Hosoe, Daido Moriyama, Nobuyoshi Araki
The Representative works of three Master Japanese Post-War Photographers

Japanese photography took off rapidly after World War II. Three important photographic styles, the anti-traditional beauty of Eikoh Hosoe's gloomy mystery, the roughness and defocusing of Daido Moriyama, and the rebelliousness of Nobuyoshi Araki, emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, reflecting an important turn of the Japanese photography, from the traditional documentary to the pursuit of aesthetics.

The Scene in Eyes, Thoughts in Mind
The Growth Testimony of the Godfather of Photography and the Avant-garde Queen

Eikoh Hosoe is known as a “ghost master” in the world of photography, and he also belongs to the first generation of “godfather of modern photography” in post-war Japan. His first solo exhibition was held in 1956, in which his dark and mysterious style astounded the world. In the following year, he created the important avant-garde photography group VIVO to contend with the mainstream “realistic photography movement” and show a more “personal” and “subjective” photography style. In 1963, the 30-year-old Hosoe presented the naked body of the famous writer, Yukio Mishima, to the public in Rose Punishment, and the masterpiece on body ushered him to the peak of his career.

In the following year, Hosoe went to New York to take pictures of Yayoi Kusama, who was active in the contemporary art world at that time. Yayoi Kusama (Lot 143) was his representative work at that time. In the picture, Kusama only wears underwear on her lower body, stepping on top of her classic soft sculptures. The soft sculptures symbolizing the male penis touch the private body parts of Kusama, filling the ambiguous atmosphere into the entire space. In the center, Kusama looks straight into the camera, showing the independence and confidence of the art queen! Hosoe shifts the camera naturally following Kusama's expression. The photographer shows a random and selfless state rarely seen in his creations, in order to capture Kusama's growing self-awareness. Kusama's psychology and the artistic world gradually completed in the pictures and Hosoe's distinctive personal style intertwine on the film, witnessing the avant-garde characteristics of Japanese contemporary art.

The Street Desire on the Monochrome Film
The Interpretation of Daido Moriyama

“People see all kinds of color spaces in their life, but they can find another reality with monochrome photography.”
----Daido Moriyama

In 1967, Daido Moriyama, who was the disciple and assistant of Eikoh Hosoe, won the “Japanese Photo Critics Association Newcomer Award” and became famous in the art scene. In the following year, he joined the creative team of the pioneering photography quarterly magazine Provoke. While inheriting the characteristics of Hosoe's “coarse-grained” photos, street photography was very explosive and full of unique perspectives, subverting mainstream photography at the time with exquisite beauty as the highest standard, gaining fame in the world.

Since the end of the 1960s, Moriyama has tried to use ink or paint to “transfer” his classic photographic works to different fabrics or canvas, expanding the boundaries of modern photography. Eros or Something Other than Eros (Lot 144) presented in this auction is his brand-new interpretation of his 1969 masterpiece of the same name in this form. On the canvas, sexy slightly opened lips occupy the entire field of vision. Through close-up composition, the photographer creates an impact on the viewers, transforming the external appearance presented into an imaginary space where ambiguous and abstract coexist. The vibrating sexuality and the expanding desire of the plump lips are the beauty that can be seen in such a bold expression. Through the “instinct” and “intuition” of the body, he emphasizes the “way of seeing”. The effect of “slightly swaying” on the picture, creating the “Snapshot” form that is flooding the lives of the people today, resulting in a great change in the history of contemporary photography.

Madman of Photography, Confession of life:
Nobuyoshi Araki's Erotic Code

The pursuit of Nobuyoshi Araki is very different from the rough aesthetics of the former two photographers. However, he also focuses on “eroticism” and “life and death”. He has been active in the art world since the 1960s, famous for photographing women. His Tokyo Novelle (Lot 141) created in 1995 initiated from the early Rope-bound Kimono theme of the artist's best-known Rope-bound series. A woman in a kimono with a naked lower body is suspended in mid-air. She leans backward, with the hem of the clothes hanging backward, as romantic as a girl on the swing, seeming to fly freely in the wind. The romance is crushed by the indentation of the rope tied to her body, like the bird restricted in the rope, like the prey in the trap. The naked lower body seems to be bohemian yet fails to escape the Japanese aesthetics of the kimono standardization. Araki once said, “I tie the women's bodies because I know I can't tie their souls. What is tied is only the kimono.” The hanging woman embodies the sparks and thoughts that collided under the conflict of tradition and modernity, fulfilling the protagonist with deeper sexuality and beauty.

The Reality of Being 77 years old

After 77 years old, Araki named himself “Old Man Who Crazes for Portraits.”, expressing his passion and craziness on photography. In his late years, he suffered from prostate cancer and retinopathy and lost his right eye vision. With the Photos of Old Man series, he continues his passion and devotion to life and art. Photographoary: Photo-Mad Old Man A Turning 77 on 5.25.17 (Lot 142) was created on Araki's 77th birthday, witnessing the important moment that Araki stepped into a new stage.

Unlike the young subject in Tokyo Novelle, Araki focuses the camera on a housewife who is marginalized by society, also known as a “married wife” here. The private part of the housewife's body in the picture is looming against the backdrop of the elegant clothes, revealing the breach of Japanese women's long-repressed desire for life. Araki is loved by women all over the world, through whose lens, people can face their own desires and gain the freedom of their souls. For example, in this quadruple photo, you can clearly feel the woman removing her clothes and looking directly at the camera with moving eyes. She embraces her desires without shyness and announces the specific trajectory to the world. The lizard under her feet appears on the scene as the representative of the artist. It does not lie on the female body like those in the pictures of early years, but protrudes under the woman and looks upward, presenting the maturity and wisdom of 77-year-old Araki.

Price estimate:
HKD: 30,000 - 60,000
USD: 3,900 - 7,700

Auction Result:
HKD: 42,000