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Nobuyoshi ARAKI - Tokyo Nostalgia, 1998

Old Authentic Original Drawing Offset Print

Beautiful Famous photo!

Print size: 19.9 cm x 25.1 cm

This is a print that the printer had archived as a reference model and laminated on a support in order to be able to preserve it over time.

A wonderful testimony to traditional art printing which has totally disappeared these days.

Remarkable print, close to a photograph, very bright and contrasting, with colors of a beautiful density.

Its rendering as well as its sharpness, its definition with sharp details, and its shine, are absolutely magnificent.

Print made in 2006 by a former art printer - Archival model Imprimeur four-color printing enhanced with a glossy varnish

This unpublished print was found in the depths of an assembly workshop in the archive lockers of a former art printing works, preciously kept flat and protected from light in an envelope. Although it is old with its 17 years of age, it has remained in a good state of conservation. Presence of traces of dirt and marks on the back due to manipulations by the printer. On the other hand, the front is intact, in perfect condition and of a remarkable shine.

This copy was kept by the printer in order to serve as a reference for its setting and coloring on the machine during reprints.

This 1998 photograph is taken from his “Tokyo Nostalgia” series, of which he seeks the original core, at the center of life, being one of his fundamental impulses in his artistic quest, a woman with plastic forms.

A spontaneous photograph, mixed with a very modest sensuality, it is a naked woman with a milky body, standing up straight, who has just undressed, her panties hanging from the foot of the bed, her shoes on the floor, is more than a woman, it's a moment about herself, a short moment, far from conventional, pornographic or artistic nudes, Araki marks a break in the framing that refers to an amateur photograph, a fast image .

For him a good image is above all a composition, light, a pose and colors so that his lens can bite the bare flesh and settle on a white skin, made transparent by a carefully studied lighting, it is the search for an elegant balance, introducing an element of mystery, of ambiguity, close to an ancient role-playing game.

“If my photography is erotic, it is because the model is. » Araki

The woman occupies a central position in Araki's photographic universe, more than a muse, she is a sort of spiritual guide, a powerful and mysterious being who leads her on a quest for the feminine essence, both carnal and abstract. Araki strips his models, ties them up, transforms them into objects of desire, yet capable of keeping an independence as mysterious as it is fleeting.

“Women particularly interest me because they are mysterious and sometimes treacherous. Sometimes madonnas, sometimes prostitutes. They have so many complex aspects that they never bore me. So if I continue to photograph, it will always be women. » Araki

He is not only a photographer who takes out his camera in search of snapshots on the sly, he also uses it for carefully thought-out shots, making his life a visual performance, he is capable of being one or the other or to mix the two profiles.

Araki since the 1990s, has been composing series that are never finished, while creating new series, without respite, he adds other photos to the old ones, because his philosophy is that everyday images look alike, are equal are micro events that deserve to be reproduced.

Swinging between modern frankness and ancient poetry, his shots revive Japanese sexuality, an essential part of his outlook on the world. Whether capturing the iconic power of a woman's body or a flower, stealing the image of a face from the streets of Tokyo, or capturing the intensity of a sky in black and white, each time it produces a double of himself.

“When I release the shutter, I accumulate points which, together, reflect an inner lifeline. » Araki

He is not limited to film, but nevertheless it remains preponderant in his shots, he uses at the same time, Pentax 6x7 and Leica. Black and white as well as color photography with 24X36 or Polaroid, in automatic mode, with flash, allowing rapid work, industrial development, a disengagement of his photographic production, which gets carried away and gives him the possibility of restoring his life in thin and regular slices.

“My photos are my diary, period. And any photo is nothing but the representation of a single day. And this single day contains both the past and the projection of the future. » Araki

He is not the only photographer to work on these bases, photographers like Robert Frank have already paved the way. But Araki brings its specificity to the genre, desire is a powerful engine in its production, sexuality, the city are treated in the same way as the rest of social behavior.

At Araki, the photographic quality pays homage to beauty at the same time he transforms any object into a strange universe, the bodies transformed by their poses, suspend a reading of the image. Like his photographs of buildings, of flowers which are perfectly in the same line, sensual, sexual, oscillating between metaphor and literal sex.

He produces underground photographs, raw series that act more as a revealer of a sordid reality than material for fantasies. Pushing the limits ever further, he is regularly censored by the Japanese authorities. In 1992, one of his exhibitions deemed obscene had to close and he was sentenced to a large fine. A few months later, the gallery owners who sold his work “Erotos” were also arrested for disturbing public order and obscenity.

"My own memory disappears the moment I take the photo, it's the camera that serves as my memory. » Araki

“Photography is by definition about revealing yourself. » Araki

Nobuyoshi Araki (1940) Japanese photographer, born in Tokyo. His father, a small craftsman, practices photography as an amateur. In 1963 he graduated from the Engineering Department of Chiba University, majoring in photography and film direction. He becomes a cameraman and practices taking pictures. He began his photographic career with the Dentsū advertising agency where he met his future wife. In 1964, he received the Taiyō prize for “Satchin”, a series of photographs of children. In 1971, he married Aoki Yōko and produced a diary that he published at his own expense, the "Sentimental Journey" recounting, halfway between reality and fiction, his marriage as well as his wedding night, without any shame. In 1972, he left the Dentsū agency, became a freelance photographer and embarked on several projects. It is from this moment, during a performance, the "Super-Photo concert", the photos taken from this series are photocopied and sent by post to selected recipients. At the same time, he produced another series of photographs which stand out for the distortions he brings to his shots, the prints being made at very high temperature, then cooled and hung outside. Giving a result of transformation by light as well as bad weather, his photos as the photographer understands are the product of the present time, he indicates the date on each of them, thus signifying that the shot is a moment of the present, between the past and the future.

In 1974, he founded with Fukase Masahisa, Tōmatsu Shōmei, Hosoe Eikō and Moriyama Daidō the school of photography "Workshop". In 1977 he moved to Komae in the western suburbs of the capital and in 1982 moved again to Gōtokuji where he has resided ever since. Child, marked by Tokyo under the bombardments at the age of 5, he publishes a series of photos this time on Tokyo. In 1978 he took a series of black and white photographs of his wife on a daily basis, who undoubtedly became his muse, the book was called "Waga ai, Yoko" (Yoko, my love). In 1979, he went to New York for the first time for an exhibition. In 1981, he produced "Shashin shosetsu", a kind of black and white, sentimental and erotic photo novel and continued in 1984 with two other works, "Shojo sekai" (A world of girls) and "Tokyo wa aki" ( Autumn in Tokyo). But it was not until 1985 that he began to exhibit regularly abroad. Between 1988 and 1993, his work was the subject of scandal, the representation of genitals and pubic hair in his photographs being considered "obscene" within the meaning of Japanese law. The various controversies that follow contribute to a more tolerant application of the law in the case of artistic productions and soft porn. At the end of the 1980s, he used color photocopying as a means of reproduction and presentation for his images.

In 1990, his wife Yōko died of uterine cancer. This personal drama will affect him terribly, his work takes a turn of sensitive darkness for several years. In 2004, he published a book “Love Hotel” where he explained his way of working, exposing the situations that led him to photograph naked women. In 2008 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, underwent surgery which successfully removed the tumor. The same year he received the “Decoration for Science and Art” in Austria.

Today, recognized among the greatest photographers, his works are present in many museum collections, such as the "Tate Modern" in London and the "Museum of Modern Art" in San Francisco.

Having published over 400 books, Araki is considered one of the most prolific photographers in Japan and around the world. He is also a figure in the world of media and Japanese culture, publishing numerous essays and interviews.

“Photography is life, everyday life is an art. » Araki

Sale as is, no return.

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thanks a lot to the following photographers

Edward Weston

Daido Moriyama

Araki

Josef Koudelka

Saul Leiter

Ray K Metzker

Paolo Roversi

Helmut Newton,

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Ernst Haas

Harry Gruyaert

Annie Leibovitz

Peter Lindbergh

Guy Bourdin

Richard Avedon

Herb Ritts,

Ellen Von Unwerth

Comme des Garçons

Rei Kawakubo

Irving Penn,

Bruce Weber,

Edward Steichen,

George Hoyningen-Huene,

Hiro,

Erwin Blumenfeld

Bruce Weber,

Alex Webb

Robert Frank

Issey Miyake

Robert Doisneau

Steve Hiett

Gueorgui Pinkhassov

Andy Warhol

Yayoi Kusama

Magnum photos

Harry Callahan

Andre Kertesz

Elliott Erwitt

Bruce Davidson

Guy Bourdin

Steven Meisel,

Martin Munkacsi

Mario Giacomelli

Bruce Gilden

Sebastiao Salgado