Simon Yotsuya + Eikoh Hosoe, Hajime Sawatari, Tenmei Kanoh
Gallery hours:11:00-19:00
Closed on Monday,Tuesday
We’d like to inform you about the following change in our gallery hours.
【December 16th will be closed at 18 o'clock】 for for preparing Screening & talk event.
We appreciate your understanding.
Akio Nagasawa Gallery announces the opening of the exhibition “Simon Yotsuya + Eikoh Hosoe, Hajime Sawatari, Tenmei Kanoh”
The idea behind this show was inspired by an exhibition of portraits of Simon Yotsuya by ten photographers that was held at Kinokuniya Gallery back in 1972. In addition to dolls made by Simon Yotsuya as a centerpiece, shown here are pictures of Simon Yotsuya taken by three of the photographers featured in the above-mentioned 1972 exhibition – Eikoh Hosoe, Hajime Sawatari and Tenmei Kanoh.
Featured works were made in the following years:
Yotsuya: 1973, 1975, 2011
Hosoe: 1971, 2002
Sawatari: 1971, 2016
Kanoh: 1971, 2016
(The works by Sawatari and Kano made in 2016 were specially created for this occasion)
By introducing works that each of the four artists made in the 1970s and in the 2000s, the exhibition aims to illustrate a little over forty years in the eccentric life of Simon Yotsuya by way of his own dolls and portraits shots by three extraordinary photographers. At the same time, reliving those four decades in the doll-maker’s life will be an opportunity for us to reflect on how we have spent our own respective past. This is what we were having in mind when working out the exhibition’s contents and layout.
Nonetheless, all of the works featured in this show are of course excellent and deserve being watched and worshipped one by one, so we hope you will enjoy the displays regardless of the underlying concept.
Published concurrently with the exhibition will be two limited-edition photo books, “Simon, The Actor” by Hajime Sawatari and “Simon 1972” by Tenmei Kanoh, each limited to 600 signed and numbered copies.
Artists
Eikoh HOSOE
細江英公
Born 1933 in Yamagata. Entered the Tokyo College of Photography (now Tokyo Polytechnic University) in 1952. Developed his own artistic concept while deepening exchange with Ei-Q, leader of the Democratic Artists Association dismissing the existing art system. The solo exhibition ”An American Girl in Tokyo” was held in 1956. In ’59, he established the self-managed photo agency VIVO with the likes of Kikuji Kawada, Shomei Tomatsu and Ikko Narahara, and became a driving force of Japanese photography with his personal creative work. In 1960, he won the Japan Photo Critics Association Newcomer's Award for Man and Woman, and continued to produce a number of outstanding works including his depiction of the aesthetic world of Yukio Mishima in Barakei (Ordeal by Roses), and Kamaitachi, containing photos of Butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata shot in rural Akita. In addition to his works as a photographer, Hosoe has been contributing to the popularization and development of photography, and received several awards including the Arts Encouragement Prize from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture in 1970; the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1998; and in 2008, the Mainichi Art Award. His most well-known books are Barakei (‘63), Kamaitachi (‘69), Eikoh Hosoe (’86) and Simon: A Private Landscape (’12).
Hajime SAWATARI
沢渡朔
Born 1940 in Tokyo. Began to publish his works in photography magazines and elsewhere while still enrolled at the Department of Photography, College of Art, Nihon University. After working for Nippon Design Center, he became a freelance photographer in 1966. While working mainly as a fashion photographer, he has been publishing his works in numerous magazines such as Camera Mainichi. He produced a large number of masterful works including Alice, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and Nadia, containing photos of an Italian fashion model (both 1973), and has since been continuously operating in the front lines of his field. Photo books include Nadia: Forest Sprite, Alice (both 1973), Taste of Honey ('90), 60's and 60's 2 (2001), and kinky ('09) and Nadia('16).
Publication
Simmon: A Private Landscape
Eikoh Hosoe stages the artist of situation Simon Yotsuya in the urban sites of Tokyo, making its performance in front of the camera like a meditation about the question of genre and a metaphoric introspective journey.
Simon, The Actor
Simon, The Actor is a series of works presented at the exhibition of “Portraits of Yotsuya Simon by Ten Photographers” held at the Kinokuniya Gallery in 1972 and is mostly made up of unpublished works. Please look at the encounter between the phenomenal Simon Yotsuya and the unparalleled photographer, Hajime Sawatari.
SIMON, 1972
“Simon, 1972” is a series of works presented at the exhibition of “Portraits of Yotsuya Simon by Ten Photographers” held at the Kinokuniya Gallery in 1972 and is mostly made up of unpublished works.
This occasion marks the long awaited publication after 44 years since it was photographed.