Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s and 1970s.

Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s and 1970s. Edited by Ivan Vartanian. Text by Ivan Vartanian, Ryuichi Kaneko. Aperture, 2009. 240 pp., illustrated throughout, 9x12". Images from here.

Book description:

"During the 1960s and '70s in Japan, the photobook - through a combination of excellence in design, printing, and materials - overtook prints as a popular mode of artistic dissemination.

This process has expanded to an extent where any discussion of Japanese photography now has to include the book.

Today, the most famous works - such as Nobuyoshi Araki's 'Sentimental Journey' and Eikoh Hosoe's 'Man and Woman' - continue to inspire artists internationally.

'Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s and '70s' presents forty definitive publications from the era, piecing together an otherwise invisible history. Included are some of the most influential works along with forgotten gems, placed within a larger sociological context.

Each book, beautifully reproduced through numerous spreads, is accompanied by in-depth explanatory text highlighting important editors, designers, and themes. Lavishly produced, this unique publication is an ode to the distinct character and influence of the Japanese photobook.

Among the photographers: Nobuyoshi Araki, Ken Domon, Masahisa Fukase, Hiroshi Hamaya, Eikoh Hosoe, Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Miyako Ishiuchi, Kikuji Kawada, Keizo Kitajima, Kineo Kuwabara, Yoichi Midorikawa, Daido Moriyama, Takuma Nakahira, Ikko Narahara, Yasuzo Nojima, Kishin Shinoyama, Shomei Tomatsu, Hiromi Tsuchida."

Stevie 1974

Stevie Wonder performing a great half hour session on German TV show Musikladen/Beat Club in 1974.

The Artist Breakfast

Artist Breakfast - an 24-hour broadcasting event - by David Horvitz at post at MoMA, is now on-going.

[my breakfast:]

Sara Elgerot
Stockholm, Sweden
At 8.51am

First breakfast after childhood home is no longer a place to come to.

Black coffee
Spirulina, wheat grass, mint juice
Cucumber on vegan hard bread
Rosehip soup
Banana
(Two large glasses of tepid water, not pictured. Flowers from childhood garden, not eaten)

The Sun.

The Sun. By Noguchi Rika. Izu Photo Museum/Nohara, 2009. 80 pp., illustrated throughout, 19x25,5cm. Limited edition of 1000 copies.

Book description:

"Noguchi Rika’s work, 'The Sun', consists of photographic prints combined to create a one-of-a-kind artist’s book that was first shown in 2006.

It received a great deal of attention at the 55th Carnegie International in 2008 and at her exhibition at the National Art Center, Tokyo, in 2009. This work has been reproduced in a beautifully finished, limited-edition book that adheres faithfully to the original but with the addition of 18 new works.

This series was inspired a desire to "capture the colors of the sun", a subject to which everybody can relate but whose actuality cannot be easily grasped, and in this work she approaches to the sun in a direct fashion. Produced using a pinhole camera, a primitive form of lensless device, this ambitious work attempts to capture the sun’s true form.

Always on the move, she has produced work for this series in Africa, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and at her base in Berlin.

Created during the 21st Century, when photography is undergoing a transition from film to digital, this work can be said to challenge the possibilities of medium of film."