Hosoe, Barakei Sguei-sha

Hosoe, Eikoh. Barakei Sguei-sha. (Killed by roses). (Introduction by Yukio Mishima. Design by Kohei Sugiura). Tokyo, Shueisha (1963). Folio (42 x 27 cm.). [104] S. mit 43 Tafeln in Sheet-fed gravure. Illustr. OLn. mit Klarsichtschutzumschlag in illustr. Orig.-Pappkassette.

Auer 422. Heiting/Kaneko 368 f., 279. The Open Book 194 f. Parr/Badger I, 280 f. (mit mehreren Abb.). Roth, The Book of 101 Books 164 ff. – Erste Ausgabe, das wohl wichtigste japanische Fotobuch der 60er Jahre. – Von E. Hosoe und Y. Mishima im Impressum signiert. Eines von 1500 num. Exemlaren. – „Eikoh Hosoe’s first edition of Killed By Roses is so splendidly packaged that just opening it is a plearure – and the seduction doesn’t stop there. Within a black-and-white cardboard case printed an both sides with photos of carved pendants in thick chains and a fine shower of text is a glossy color cover featuring a photogram of symbolic elements plucked from Hosoe’s hallucinatory narrative, the title superimposed in classical Greek lettering. … The photos that make up the body of the book are inky, sometimes high-constrast gravures that bleed right to the edge of the page and often extend across the entire open spread, given extra impact to images that are already quite arresting. Even if the subject of Hosoe’s photographs weren’t zje author Yushi Mishima, the book would be remarkable for its humid mix of eroticism and myth, queer kitsch and high art“ (A. Roth). – „Both Japanese editions of Barakei (Killed by Roses) are significant, not only because of the remarkable collaboration between Eikoh Hosoe and Yukio Mishima, but also because they were designed by the two most influential Japanese graphic designers of the postwar years – the first edition by Kohei Sugiura and the second by Tadanori Yokoo. Each is an original working of the material in its own right, and the second, one of the most complex bookworks ever made, also memorializes a definingmoment in Japanese culture. … In his preface to the first edition, Mishima was equally disingenous: ‚One day without warning, Eikoh Hosoe appeared before me, and transported me bodily to a strange world.‘ That world, he continued, was ‚abnormal, warped, sarcastic, grotesque, savage, and promiscuous‘. Mishima allowed Hosoe unprecedented directorial freedom, but as in other such close collaborations between photographer and subject, just who had the ultimate control is open to question. What emerged was a series of extraordinary theatrical tableaux – Japanese surrealism meets Italien mannerism – that certainly contributed to the iconicity of Mishima, the samurai saviour of the country’s soul. Hosoe’s images were baroque, kitsch, frequently sadomasochistic, disturbingly narcissistic and clearly homoerotic, despite the presence of women in a number of the pictures“ (Parr/Badger). – Die Kassette teils stärker berieben, der Acetat-Schutzumschlag am Kapital etwas eingerissen, gutes Exemplar.