A girl at play
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Closed on Monday,Tuesday and National holidays
“A girl at play” (1964) is a series of photographs of an American-Japanese girl.
In Japan at the time, foreign looking children were still an uncommon sight, and when I saw this girl for the first time, she looked to me like a fairy. I felt strongly attracted during these shootings.
--Hajime Sawatari
AKIO NAGASAWA GALLERY GINZA is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition "A girl at play" showcasing works by photographer Hajime Sawatari.
With series like “Nadia” and “Alice,” Hajime Sawatari brought a fresh sensitivity to Japanese photography with a number of works focusing on female models in the 1970s.
Made in 1964, “A girl at play” is a masterful series that represents Sawatari’s early work, while at the same time marking the photographer’s origins in an encounter with a girl that went on to define the future direction of his photographic work.
Artist
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
A girl at play
A girl who looked like a foreigner was rare in Japan at that time, and hence I thought she was like a fairy when I found her.
So I was strongly attracted by her and asked her if I might take her pictures.
– Hajie Sawatari
It is Hajime Sawatari who ushered in a new era of Japanese photograph world with the works such as Nadia and Alice in the 1970s and has published a number of works on the theme of women. A girl at play shot in 1964 is a masterpiece representative of the early stage of Sawatari,which a series that can be said to be the origin of Sawatari in which the encounter with an decided the direction after that.