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Anonymous Man and Woman (Tokyo 1976-78)
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Artist Stamp&Numbered / Limited Editions of 600
Just like there exists no flower that has no name, there are no nameless humans existing in reality.
If we consider those figures that our history books tell us about as protagonists, most human beings are reduced to mere supporting actors. However, needless to point out, a slight change of perspective will present them as subjects of their unique personal histories. While seemingly buried in the casualness of daily life, all of them carry their own individual power and toughness, concealed deep within.
That’s exactly how revolutions used to happen, initiated by such anonymous, ordinary citizens. […] Their time may have been just a passing moment that is long gone, but as a photographer, I seem to feel the repercussions and the significance of their existence still today.
Issei Suda
※Excerpt of a statement made during his lifetime
Editorial note
“Anonymous Men and Women” is a series of one hundred photographs taken between 1976 and 1978 in Tokyo. 49 of them were published in the November 1978 issue of Camera Mainichi, and around the same time, all 100 prints were exhibited at Nikon Salon (Shinjuku/Ginza).
However, these works were not compiled in a photobook at the time of their initial publication, but remained separated up to this day, with several items from the series being included in such photobooks as Waga Tokyo 100 (Nikon Salon Books, 1979: 25 items), Ningen no kioku (Creo, 1996: 3 items), Tokyokei (Zen Photo, 2013: 3 items), and Childhood Days (Akio Nagasawa Publishing, 2015: 3 items), and one being featured at an exhibition in 1982 as part of the “Monogusa Syui” series.
As there is presently no chance to inspect the entire “Anonymous Men and Women” series as it was when it was first released, this book is an attempt to bring all of the one hundred photographs back together and restore the series as Issei Suda had originally envisioned.
- Book Size
- 207 x 216 x 20 mm
- Pages
- 160
- Printing
- Hardcover
- Publication Date
- 2021
- Publisher
- Akio Nagasawa Publishing
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)
Publications of Issei SUDA
