Farewell Photography by Daido Moriyama

Photobook by Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama.

Moriyama, who had been a member of Provogue since its second issue, had already shown glimpses of the more radical expression of "are, shake, blur, and blur," but in this book, published in 1972, he reaches the extreme end of the spectrum at once. The fragmentary images of cuts made when winding up film, fallen negatives, posters, and television reproductions flood in like a flood. It is a work of such stupendous quality that it seems as if the world in which everything is reduced to an image is expressed directly in photographs, and it is understandable that he fell into a 10-year slump after that. At the end of the book is a dialogue with his friend and rival, Takuma Nakahira, which is also an important dialogue.

"At that time, we were using film, so you had to take a blank shot at the beginning. At that time, you would take a blank shot, and it would pop out, and that was photography, too. Also, I found things that Nakahira had thrown away in the darkroom. I collected all those things and made the film. It was excessive, for better or worse. At the time, there was almost no reaction. Some people said it was just a design. Some people said it was just a design; others said it was a photographic suicide. Only Nobuyoshi Araki said he was jealous." ─Daido Moriyama

-

Title: Farewell Photography
Artist: Daido Moriyama
Shashin-Hyôron-Sha, 1972
Softcover with dust jacket, perfect binding
230 x 185 x 21 mm
308 pages
Text in Japanese
First edition
¥187,000 -

Condition: Acceptable. There are some small peeling, stains, edge tears, crease marks, foxing, creases, price tag removal marks, and a large library stamp (signature) on the front endpaper, but these are not detrimental to viewing the work. Please contact us if you would like to see the details of the condition.