Synopses & Reviews
Japanand#8217;s brilliant and influential postwar photographer Shomei Tomatsu (b. 1930) has created some of the most dramatic images in the history of photography. Many of his photographs have become icons of the twentieth century. This important book is the first in-depth English-language study of Tomatsuand#8217;s work. Richly illustrated and handsomely designed, it features more than one hundred plates representingand#151;in ten thematic sectionsand#151;the full range of his career.
Tomatsu emerged in the 1950s with his sensitive pictures of postwar Japan. In the 1960s the artist turned his camera to the aftermath of the atomic bomb and the lingering presence of the U. S. military in his homeland. In subsequent decades his lens has captured the elation of Japanand#8217;s economic boom and the problems inspired by his cultureand#8217;s increasing westernization. Throughout, Tomatsuand#8217;s pictures have consistently resonated not only with Japanese society but also with American culture. Included in this book are essays by distinguished scholars on all aspects of the artistand#8217;s life and career as well as a selection of brief excerpts from Tomatsuand#8217;s own writings, many of which have never appeared in English.
Skin of the Nation (the bookand#8217;s subtitle) is both a literal and metaphorical reference to the surfaces that have appeared in countless pictures throughout Tomatsuand#8217;s career. For the artist, skin is more than just a surface, it is a kind of map in which one can read the story of Japanand#151;its essence and its future.
About the Author
Sandra S. Phillips is senior curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Leo Rubinfien is a photographer and frequent contributor to Art in America; John W. Dower is professor of history at M.I.T. and winner of numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; Daido Moriyama is one of the most important photographers living in Japan today.