Nobuyoshi Araki: To The Past

Nobuyoshi Araki (荒木 経惟) is perhaps the most prolific photographer of all time, yet he remains best known in the West for much of his provocative nude works. From high art, through to commercial commissions, fashion shoots, and vivid still lifes, the scale of Araki’s range of work is unsurpassed. Often displaying a wicked sense of humour, Araki is also notable for a distinct humanistic vein of sentimentality that has spanned his career. A profound example is the documentation of his relationship with his wife, capturing the euphoria and lust of their honeymoon through to the sadness and longing resulting from her decline and untimely death from cancer. 

'To The Past' focuses on his auto-dated photo diary B&W photographs, spanning monumentally from Araki’s adoption of the process in 1979, up until the day of the great Japanese earthquake in March 2011. Ordered ‘chronologically, Araki’s masterful editing defines a clear narrative of passing time and life over 32 years. While an inherent honesty and nostalgia are hallmarks of much of Araki’s previous work, the level of reflection and openness on display in 'To The Past' can clearly be read as the tenderising influence of age, illness, and experience.

About the photographer:

Araki (b. 1940) is a renowned Japanese photographer and contemporary artist. He studied photography during his college years and joined the advertising agency Dentsu, where he met his future wife, the essayist Yōko Araki. After their marriage, Araki published a book of pictures of his wife taken during their honeymoon titled Sentimental Journey. She died in 1990 from cancer. Araki is the most prolific producer of photography books, having published more than 400 photobooks in his long career. His works are largely associated with bondage, S&M, eroticism or pornography. His photographs are held in numerous museum collections including the Tate and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Araki's life and work were the subject of Travis Klose's 2005 documentary film Arakimentari.

LAST COPIES AVAILABLE! 

Published by Little Big Man Books in 2012

13.5"x9.5"

Strictly limited edition of 350 numbered copies.

Each book is linen bound, debossed and foil stamped, then housed within a printed and silkscreened foil casing and wrapped in a removable obi-band.