Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo-based photographer. Araki completed his studies at Chiba University’s Department of Photography, Painting and Engineering with a focus on the study of film and photography. His photographic project “Satchin” earned him the prestigious Taiyo Award in 1964, shortly after he had joined the advertising agency Dentsu, where he worked until 1972. At Dentsu he met his wife Yoko, to whom he paid homage in Sentimental Journey, a photographic record of their honeymoon published in 1971. Eros and thanatos (sex and death) has been a central theme in Araki’s work; an abiding fascination with female genitalia and women’s bodies in Japanese bondage, flowers, food, his cat, faces and Tokyo street scenes.
“Tokyo Nude” : I felt that to express the “now” of Tokyo, I had to do double-page spreads with nudes mixed in with shots of Tokyo.
Nobuyoshi Araki, Araki by Araki, Kodansha Ltd., 2003
“Cherry Blossoms in full bloom, the morning after”, 2017
You have to read from this image to the other image to know that she woke up and had sex the night before.
Nobuyoshi Araki, February 9, 2017
His solo exhibitions include “Araki”, Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris (2016); ”Ōjō Shashū: Photography for the Afterlife – Faces, Skyscapes, Roards”, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art (2014); “Nobuyoshi Araki Photobook Exhibition: Arākī”, IZU PHOTO MUSEUM, Shizuoka (2012); “NOBUYOSHI ARAKI: Self, Life, Death”, The Barbican Art Gallery, London (2005); “Hana- Jinsei”, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2003); “Tokyo Still Life”, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2001); “Nobuyoshi Araki”, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent (2000); “ARAKI Nobuyoshi Sentimental Photography, Sentimental Life”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (1999); “Tokyo Comedy”, Wiener Secession, Vienna (1997); “Journal intime”, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris (1995); “Akt-Tokyo: Nobuyoshi Araki 1971-1991″, Forum Stadtpark, Graz (1992). Araki was a recipient of the Austrian Decoration of Honor for Science and Arts (2008) and the 54th Mainichi Art Award (2012).
