Early Summer Nerves/ Shoka Shinkei (初夏神経)
Tucson, AZ: Nazraeli Press, 2005. Limited edition. Spiral bound. 1/100. Unpaginated. 50 pages. Spiral bound with etched zinc boards. Text in black on the front cover. Housed in the publisher 's cardboard box. This is copy #68 from a total of a limited number of 100 copies numbered on the colophon at the rear. A beautiful facsimile reprint of acclaimed Japanese photographer Kiyoshi Koishi's (1908-1957) influential work of modernist photography, originally issued in 1933. Bilingual text booklet laid in at the front in English and Japanese.
From the publisher: "In 1933, Japanese photography was highly institutionalized, and pictorialism was the overwhelmingly dominant mode. Kiyoshi Koishi's work was a reaction against this; he explored the new path forged by his European counterparts László Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray, employing their photographic techniques but from a distinctly Japanese perspective. The ten images in this work -- exhibited in Osaka in 1932 and published a year later under the title 'Shoka Shinkei' (Early Summer Nerves) juxtapose movement with stillness, nostalgia with violence, and the appealing fluidity of water and light with the menacing rigidity of steel. Palpable energy and use of modern materials in his photographs reflect Japan's shift to the Modern era, exemplified in the cover of the book, which is made of zinc. Koishi's accompanying poems plead for Nature to have a less diminished place in modern life, but he acknowledges his fascination with 'the birth of something new.' With most copies of 'Shoka Shinkei' having been destroyed through time, the elements and war, we are delighted to offer an absolutely faithful facsimile of this important work.." As new, in publisher's shipping box. Item #48642
ISBN: 1590051459
Price: $900.00