GANKOTOSHI
GALLERY HOURS | 11:00–19:00
CLOSED | Sun., Mon., National Holidays
Akio Nagasawa Gallery is helding a new exhibition with vintage prints of the recently departed photographer Suda Issei, in order to celebrate its next new publication Gankotoshi, a photo book focusing on the “Eye” as the main subject, which master Suda Issei was working on before sadly passing away in March 2019.
A while ago, I received a request from Issei Suda, asking me for advice regarding a set of photographs he wanted to put together in a book. He explained to me that, among the snapshots he was taking day by day, there were always images containing eyes somewhere in the streets that caught his attention, and that he ended up shooting without really knowing why. But once he had developed those photos, he would quietly stare at the prints feeling that there was something special about them. So his idea was to collect them in a book that would outline what this series is all about. I didn’t even need to look at the pictures, but hearing about Mr. Suda’s plans alone was enough for me to reply to him that I wanted to do an exhibition of those photos, and publish a book of them.
– Afterword (Excerpt) by Akio Nagasawa
Artist
Issei SUDA
須田一政
Born 1940 in Tokyo. Graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography in 1962. Was hired as house photographer for Shuji Terayama’s experimental theater troupe Tenjo Sajiki in ’67, before commencing his work as a freelance photographer in ‘71. A Newcomer's Award from the Photographic Society of Japan for Fushi Kaden catapulted him into the limelight in 1976. He further received the Photographic Society of Japan’s Annual Award for the exhibition of the “Monogusa Syui” series in 1983, followed in ’85 by the 1st Domestic Photography Award at Higashikawa for “Nichijo no danpen”. In 1997, his book Human Memory received several awards including the Domon Ken Prize. In 2013, his large-scale retrospective exhibition “Nagi no hira – fragments of calm” was shown at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. His works capturing moments between reality and non-reality have lately earned a high reputation also outside Japan. Main photo collections include Fushi Kaden (’78), Waga Tokyo 100 (’79), Akai hana – scarlet bloom (2000), Fushi Kaden (definitive edition, 2012), Anonymous Men and Women (’13) and Rei (’15)
Publication
GANKOTOSHI
The “eye” is the main subject of this photo-book which photographer Suda Issei was working on before sadly passing away in March 2019.
A while ago, I received a request from Issei Suda, asking me for advice regarding a set of photographs he wanted to put together in a book. He explained to me that, among the snapshots he was taking day by day, there were always images containing eyes somewhere in the streets that caught his attention, and that he ended up shooting without really knowing why. But once he had developed those photos, he would quietly stare at the prints feeling that there was something special about them. So his idea was to collect them in a book that would outline what this series is all about. I didn’t even need to look at the pictures, but hearing about Mr. Suda’s plans alone was enough for me to reply to him that I wanted to do an exhibition of those photos, and publish a book of them.
– Afterword (Excerpt) by Akio Nagasawa