Daido Moriyama

by Nobuyoshi Araki, Daidō Moriyama

A forty-year retrospective of the work of one of the leading figures in Japanese photography.

Born outside of Osaka in 1938, Daido Moriyama witnessed the dramatic changes that swept over Japan in the decades following World War II. The visual and existential turmoil brought on by this transformation was to become one of the core subjects in his work. His gritty photographs of Japanese streets and highways express the conflicting realities of modern Japan: the unexpected survival of age-old tradition within contemporary practice, the paradox of a culture disturbed yet fascinated by the changes it is undergoing.

This book brings together more than 200 photographs dating from the 1960s to the present and includes some of his most significant series of images. Profoundly influenced by Japanese photographers Hosoe and Tomatsu, Moriyama's vision was also enriched by his acquaintance with the work of two American photographers, William Klein and Robert Frank. Like them he practiced a new, more action-oriented street photography. Often out of focus, vertiginously tilted, or invasively cropped, Moriyama's images convey a sense of the disordered human condition. Distributed on behalf of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain. 130 photographs.

Genres: Photography, Art, Japan

160 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2004

About the author

Nobuyoshi Araki is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist. He is also known by the nickname Arākī.

Araki studied photography during his college years and then went to work at the advertising agency Dentsu, where he met his future wife, the essayist Yōko Araki. After they were married, Araki published a book of pictures of his wife taken during their honeymoon titled Sentimental Journey. She later died in 1990. Pictures taken during her last days were published in a book titled Winter Journey.

Having published over 350 books (and still more every year) Araki is considered one of the most prolific artists alive or dead in Japan and around the world. Many of his photographs are erotic; some have been called pornographic. Some of his most popular photography books are Sentimental Journey, Tokyo Lucky Hole, and Shino. He also contributed photography to the Sunrise anime series Brain Powerd.

The Icelandic musician Björk is an admirer of Araki's work, and served as one of his models. At her request he photographed the cover and inner sleeve pages of her 1997 remix album, Telegram.

Araki's life and work were the subject of Travis Klose's 2005 documentary film Arakimentari.

Reviews

[Ianluna · Rating 4 out of 5]

araki on daido. pretty much gives you the only mental picture you need.

[Aaron the Pink Donut · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely beautiful, sensual Black and White photos.