This comprehensive photo book was published in 2000 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Nobuyoshi Araki's birth. It features 201 photos, "randomly selected" from the vast collection of approximately 50,000 shots taken with the Plaubel Makina, a medium-format camera that Araki has used as his daily companion since 1982, and is arranged chronologically by the year of shooting. The book's organization allows readers to relive how Araki's perspective has fluctuated, deepened, and changed over the years.
The photographs cover a wide range of subjects, from his private daily life with his beloved wife Yoko and his beloved cat Chiro, to snapshots of his travels and on street corners, alluring nudes and bondage poses, and even portraits of cultural figures such as Daido Moriyama and Beat Takeshi. The photographs, which mainly date from the 1980s and 1990s, are sometimes gentle, sometimes humid, and sometimes intensely intimate, exuding a density that makes it seem as if Araki's "personal feelings" are directly embedded in the canvas.
All of the prints were made by Araki himself, and in this work, which he says he wanted to "speak his personal feelings," he captures his relationship with his subjects and even the emotional fluctuations. At over 300 pages thick, it covers almost all of Araki's major photographic motifs, and can be read as a self-assessment as he turns 60.
[Title] Photographic Personalism
[Publisher] Heibonsha
[Publication date] May 25, 2000 (1st edition)
[Number of pages] Unpaginated
[Size] Approx. 26.7 x 19.3 x 3.5 cm, 1.55 kg
[Format] Hardcover
[Title reading] Photography
[Author/Editor] Nobuyoshi Araki/Author, Seiichi Suzuki Design Office/Book Design
[Printing] Toppan Printing/Printing, Wada Bookbinding/Bookbinding
[ISBN] 4-582-27741-1 C0072
[Condition] Used [ 5 ] Average (Slight damage and stains on top and bottom of cover, slight damage on spine of endpapers, slight stains on top edge)
[Accessories] Obi
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Nobuyoshi Araki (1940-)
Born on May 25, 1940 in Minowa, Taito Ward, Tokyo.
In 1959, he entered the Department of Photographic Printing Engineering at Chiba University's Faculty of Engineering, graduating in 1963. After graduation, he joined Dentsu and worked as a promotional photographer. In 1964, he won the first Taiyo Award for "Satchin," demonstrating his presence as a photographer.
In 1971, he published a privately published photo book, Sentimental Journey, documenting his honeymoon with his colleague Aoki Yoko, establishing his style of "personal photography." In 1972, he left Dentsu to become a freelancer, photographing a wide variety of subjects, including nudes, cityscapes, flowers, his beloved cat Chiro, everyday life with his wife Yoko, and street snapshots. His style, which brings to the forefront fragments of everyday life and personal emotions, created a new trend in the world of photography.
Since the 1980s, he has been taking densely-spaced photographs of everyday life using medium-format cameras such as the Pentax 67, Plaubel Makina 67, and Leica. With an intimate gaze on his subjects and a sense of humour, he pursues expressions that blur the boundaries between private and public space. He has published over 500 photobooks, earning him high praise both in Japan and abroad.
His major photo books include "Sentimental Journey" (1971), "Tokyo Weather" (1977), "Photo-Mad Old Man A" (1990), "Photography Personalism" (2000), and "The Complete Works of Nobuyoshi Araki" (2008).
His awards include the Taiyo Prize, the Austrian Order of Science and Arts, the 6th Ango Prize, and the 54th Mainichi Art Award Special Prize. He continues to actively photograph today and is known worldwide as one of Japan's leading contemporary photographers.
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Nobuyoshi Araki,
