BOOK:Daido Moriyama in Color,Skira Editore
Daido Moriyama was born in 1938 in Osaka, where he studied photography before moving to Tokyo in 1961. There, having worked as an assistant to Eikoh Hosoe, a Japanese photographer and filmmaker, he began to produce his own collection of photographs depicting the forgotten areas and darker side of cities. Shortly afterwards, he was awarded the New Artist Award from the Japan Photo-Critics Association. Moriyama’s images are now noted for capturing the breakdown in Japan’s traditions. His work captures life during and following the American occupation of Japan after World War II, in particular the effects of industrialisation and the consequential shift in urban life in which some areas were left behind the rapidly changing city. Predominantly, Moriyama’s work is black and white with shades of grey and this, along with the dark and grainy style of his photographs, echoes the subject matter. However, Moriyama’s complete works also include colour, Polaroids, screenprints, films, installations and now silkscreens. “Daido Moriyama in Color” by Skira Editore is a limited luxury edition dedicated to the godfather Street photography. For the first time, Moriyama’s color photographs are available in a limited edition artist book edited by Filippo Maggia and designed for art and book lovers searching for the magic of a unique and invaluable collector’s item. The book is available in three limited editions, each containing a different original framed photograph signed by Moriyama, the book Daido Moriyama in Color: Now and Never Again, and a black cloth slipcase designed especially for this special edition. Bibliophiles and collectors have a choice between three of Moriyama’s photographs: “Yokusuka” In Moriyama’s most iconic image, a young girl runs down a narrow alleyway resembling the ones still found today in Shinjuku. “Self-portrait” The pictures in which Moriyama actually appears are rare & “Nocturnal Nude” A young woman seems to emerge from the darkness as a companion to the night. The book will be available on November 2017.-Dimitris Lempesis
