Eikoh Hosoe
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese
photographer and filmmaker who emerged in the experimental arts movement of post-World War II
Japan
. He is known for his psychologically charged images, often exploring subjects such as death, erotic obsession, and irrationality. Through his friendships and artistic collaborations he is linked with the writer Yukio Mishima
and 1960s avant-garde artists such the dancer Tatsumi Hijikata
.
While he was a student at the Tokyo College of Photography
in the early 1950s, Hosoe joined “Demokrato,” an avant-garde artist's group led by the artist Ei-Q
. In 1960, Hosoe created the Jazz Film Laboratory (Jazzu Eiga Jikken-shitsu) with Shuji Terayama
, Ishihara Shintarō, and others. The Jazz Film Laboratory was a multidisciplinary artistic project aimed at producing highly expressive and intense works such as Hosoe's 1960 short black and white film Navel and A-Bomb (Heso to genbaku).
With Mishima as a model, Hosoe created a series of dark, erotic images centered on the male body, Killed by Roses or Ordeal by Roses (Bara-kei, 1961–1962). The series (set in Mishima's Tokyo house) positions Mishima in melodramatic poses. Mishima would follow his fantasies, eventually committing suicide by seppuku
in 1970.
With Hijikata as a model, Hosoe created Kamaitachi, a series of images that reference stories of a supernatural being — "sickle-toothed weasel" — that haunted the Japanese countryside of Hosoe's childhood. In the photographs, Hijikata is seen as a wandering ghost mirroring the stark landscape and confronting farmers and children. The Kamaitachi series was published in book form in 1969.
Hosoe has been the director of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts
(Kiyosato
, Yamanashi
) since its opening in 1995.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
photographer and filmmaker who emerged in the experimental arts movement of post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He is known for his psychologically charged images, often exploring subjects such as death, erotic obsession, and irrationality. Through his friendships and artistic collaborations he is linked with the writer Yukio Mishima
Yukio Mishima
was the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...
and 1960s avant-garde artists such the dancer Tatsumi Hijikata
Tatsumi Hijikata
was a Japanese choreographer, and the founder of a genre of dance performance art called Butoh. By the late 1960s, he had begun to develop this dance form, which is highly choreographed with stylized gestures drawn from his childhood memories of his northern Japan home...
.
Biography
At birth Hosoe's name was “Toshihio”; he adopted the name "Eikoh" after World War II to symbolize a new Japan.While he was a student at the Tokyo College of Photography
Tokyo College of Photography
The was set up in Nakano, Tokyo in 1958, as Tokyo Photo School ; its current name dates from 1960. During the 1960s, it moved to Hiyoshi , where it has remained....
in the early 1950s, Hosoe joined “Demokrato,” an avant-garde artist's group led by the artist Ei-Q
Ei-Q
was a renowned Japanese artist who worked in a variety of media, including photography and engraving.Ei-Q, whose early work was done under his real name of Hideo Sugita , was born in Miyazaki-machi , Miyazaki Prefecture on 28 April 1911...
. In 1960, Hosoe created the Jazz Film Laboratory (Jazzu Eiga Jikken-shitsu) with Shuji Terayama
Shuji Terayama
was an avant-garde Japanese poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. According to many critics and supporters, he was one of the most productive and provocative creative artists to come out of Japan. He was born December 10, 1935, the only son of Hachiro and Hatsu Terayama in...
, Ishihara Shintarō, and others. The Jazz Film Laboratory was a multidisciplinary artistic project aimed at producing highly expressive and intense works such as Hosoe's 1960 short black and white film Navel and A-Bomb (Heso to genbaku).
With Mishima as a model, Hosoe created a series of dark, erotic images centered on the male body, Killed by Roses or Ordeal by Roses (Bara-kei, 1961–1962). The series (set in Mishima's Tokyo house) positions Mishima in melodramatic poses. Mishima would follow his fantasies, eventually committing suicide by seppuku
Seppuku
is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
in 1970.
With Hijikata as a model, Hosoe created Kamaitachi, a series of images that reference stories of a supernatural being — "sickle-toothed weasel" — that haunted the Japanese countryside of Hosoe's childhood. In the photographs, Hijikata is seen as a wandering ghost mirroring the stark landscape and confronting farmers and children. The Kamaitachi series was published in book form in 1969.
Hosoe has been the director of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts
Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts
The is a gallery of photography in the Kiyosato regionof the city of Hokuto, Yamanashi .The gallery was founded in 1995; Eikoh Hosoe has been its director since its inception....
(Kiyosato
Kiyosato, Yamanashi
is a locality in the city of Hokuto, Yamanashi, Japan. It is a popular resort area.It is serviced by Kiyosato Station on the Koumi Line.-External links:...
, Yamanashi
Yamanashi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Kōfu.-Pre-history to the 14th century:People have been living in the Yamanashi area for about 30,000 years...
) since its opening in 1995.
Books by or devoted to Hosoe
- Hosoe, Eikoh, and Yukio Mishima. Killed by roses. Tokyo: Shueisha, 1963.
- Hosoe, Eikoh. 鎌鼬 = Kamaitachi. Tokyo: Gendai Shichosha, 1969.
- Hosoe, Eikoh, Tadanori YokooTadanori Yokoois a Japanese graphic designer, illustrator, printmaker and painter.Tadanori Yokoo, born in Nishiwaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in 1936, is one of Japan's most successful and internationally recognized graphic designers and artists. He began his career as a stage designer for avant garde theatre in...
, and Yukio Mishima. Ordeal by roses reedited. Tokyo: Shueisha, 1971. - Hosoe, Eikoh. 薔薇刑 = Ba*ra*kei = Ordeal by roses: photographs of Yukio Mishima. New York: Aperture, 1985. ISBN 0893811696.
- Hill, Ronald J. Eikoh Hosoe. Carmel, CA: Friends of Photography, 1986. ISBN 0933286465.
- Hosoe, Eikoh. Eikoh Hosoe, meta. New York: International Center of Photography, 1991. ISBN 0933642164.
- Holborn, Mark. Eikoh Hosoe (Aperture Masters of Photography). New York: Aperture, 1999. ISBN 0893818240.
- Hosoe, Eikoh. 鎌鼬 = Kamaitachi. New York: Aperture, 2005. ISBN 1931788804. Reprint edition.
- Hosoe, Eikoh, and Kazuo OhnoKazuo Ohnowas a Japanese dancer who became a guru and inspirational figure in the dance form known as Butoh. It was written of him that his very presence was an "artistic fact."...
. Butterfly dream. Kyoto: Seigensha, 2006. ISBN 4861520924. - Hosoe, Eikoh. Deadly ashes: Pompeii, Auschwitz, Trinity Site, Hiroshima. Tokyo: Madosha, 2007. ISBN 9784896250862.
- Hosoe, Eikoh. 鎌鼬 = Kamaitachi. New York: Aperture, 2009. ISBN 9781597111218. Trade edition.
Other books showing Hosoe's works
- Furuta, Miyuki. Why, mother, why?. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1965. With photographs by Hosoe.
- Lifton, Betty Jean. Taka-chan and I: a dog's journey to Japan. New York: W.W. Norton, 1967. With photographs by Hosoe.
- Lifton, Betty Jean. A dog's guide to Tokyo. New York: W.W. Norton, 1969. With photographs by Hosoe.
- Lifton, Betty Jean. Return to Hiroshima. New York: Atheneum, 1970. With photographs by Hosoe. Nihon nūdo meisakushū . Camera Mainichi bessatsu. Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1982. Pp.185–89 show nudes by Hosoe.
- Lifton, Betty Jean. A place called Hiroshima. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1985. ISBN 0870116495. (1990 paperback edition: ISBN 0870119613.) With photographs by Hosoe.
- Holborn, Mark. Black sun: the eyes of four. Roots and innovation in Japanese photography. New York: Aperture, 1986. ISBN 0893812110. Pp.17–32 discuss Hosoe's Kamaitachi series.
- Nihon shashin no tenkan: 1960 nendai no hyōgen / Innovation in Japanese Photography in the 1960s. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1991. Exhibition catalogue, text in Japanese and English. Pp.46–55 show photographs from "Ordeal by Roses."
- Baudelaire, Charles. Flowers of evil. South Dennis, MA: 21st Editions, 2006. With photographs and an afterword by Hosoe.