Paru le 17/11/2005 | Cartonné 719 pages
Tout public
Nobuyoshi Araki is one of Japan's greatest living photographers, and certainly its most controversial. Over the last forty years he has published more than 250 books, which bear testimony to his inexhaustible creative energy, while his work, which often challenges social taboos surrounding sex and death, has drawn critical attention both at home and abroad.
In 1971 Araki privately published Sentimental Journey, an intimate account of his honeymoon with his wife Yoko. In the Preface to this book Araki declared that his `point of departure as a photographer was love ... and the idea of an "I-novel"'; a form of Japanese fiction written autobiographically and in the first person. With this, Araki established a new genre, `I-photography', in which his own life and feelings became the central subject of his work. This idea was to have a great impact on a new generation of Japanese photographers, especially in the 1990s.
Through his immense body of work Araki has created his own universe, where the themes of sex, life and death are closely intertwined. Tokyo, Araki's home city, often plays a leitmotif in his work, while his rich visual vocabulary is drawn from the erotic ukiyo-e prints of the Edo period (1600-1868) as well as the glossy imagery of the new commercial culture. Through his innovative approach to photography - sometimes combining painting, drawing and film - Araki has become an important and influential figure in the contemporary art world.
This major publication provides the most comprehensive overview yet of Araki's highly prolific forty-year career. Araki's key series of works are included alongside many new and previously unpublished photographs. Featuring an interview and essays by writers from Japan and Europe, this book examines Araki from a broad range of perspectives and gives a cultural context to his work. Also included is a wide selection of Araki's writings, translated into English for the first time, as well as an illustrated and annotated bibliography of his own books. Reflecting Araki's photographie principle, `I-photography', the book is divided into three sections that follow the main recurring themes in his work: Self, Life and Death.
Akiko Miki is a curator at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, and contributor to art magazines including Bijutsu Techo, Studio Voice, Tema Celeste and Exit Express. She curated the exhibition Nobuyoshi Araki: ALive at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 1999.
Yoshiko Isshiki has worked closely with Araki for over ten years and has curated all of his exhibitions outside of Japan.
Tomoko Sato is a curator at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, where she has organized and curated a wide range of exhibitions. She has edited and published a number of books, including Japan and Britain: An Aesthetic Dialogue 1850-1930 (1991).
Ian Jeffrey is an art critic, lecturer and photography historian. He has written many books, including Photography: A Concise History (1981), The Photography Book (1997) and Revisions: An Alternative History of Photography (1999).
Yuko Tanaka is a Professor of Japanese Literature at Hosei University, Tokyo, and has written extensively on Japanese literature and culture of the Edo period (1600-1868).
Jonathan Watkins is Director of the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. He was the Artistic Director of the 11th Sydney Biennale (1998) and has curated many exhibitions, including Nobuyoshi Araki: Tokyo Still Life (2001).
Hans Ulrich Obrist is a curator, art critic and interviewer. He has recorded interviews with over 400 of the world's leading artists, photographers and scientists, from Vito Acconci to Anton Zeitlinger. He is currently a curator at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Kotaro Hzawa is a photography critic and writer. He is the author of many books on Japanese photography, including Araki! The Legacy of a Prodigy (1999). He was also the editor of Déjà-vu magazine, which he founded in 1990.
