Born in March 1933 in Yonezawa, Yamagata, Eikoh Hosoe graduated at Tokyo College of Photography in 1954 and became a freelance photographer, emerging in the experimental arts movement of post-World War II in Japan. He is considerated one of the leading figure of modern Japanese and international photography. He is known for his psychologically charged images, often exploring subjects such as death, erotic obsession, and irrationality. Pioneering a grittily expressionistic form of photography, his high-contrast, graphic, black and white photographs portray a mysterious interior world of surreal dreams that is both sensual and disturbing.
Through his friendships and artistic collaborations, he was linked with the writer Yukio Mishima, created the famous series “Ordeal by Roses” (Bara-kei, 1961–1962) and with 60’s avant-garde artists such as Butoh dancers Ohno Kazuo and Tatsumi Hijikata, he created the other famous series “Kamaitachi” in 1968, images that refer to stories of supernatural beings that haunted the Japanese countryside of Hosoe’s childhood. He was awarded The Royal Photographic Society’s Special 150th Anniversary Medal and Honorary Fellowship.
Eliseo Barbàra
京都グラフィー 国際写真フェスティバル
Kyotographie International Photography Festival
From April 13 to May 6, 2013
Eikoh Hosoe
Kodaiji Tacchu Entokuin
530 Shimogawara-cho, Kodaiji Higashiyama-ku
Kyoto, 603-8146
Japan
