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[Hide] (302.8KB, 1267x1920) Venice,_1964.jpg
[Hide] (781.8KB, 792x1200) These ones were also a success, this guy was just hitting them out of the park, but in context there were some serious heavy hitters at the same time as Ikkō that supposedly were better and also predated him by a couple of years (pending investigation). The Eyes of Ten exhibition happened around 1957, showing the public 10 of the most well-known young photogs of the day (at least in preppy Tokyo) here Ikman would see face to face what those guys were about. And well, that event basically created a new style in the eyes of the critics.
Our wee lad here wouldn't be easily discarded, although it seems by documentation that he respected them a lot, after a while (actually soon after the Domains exhibition) he contacted some of these monsters and seems to have ended up making frens. Another exhibition dubbed the same (Eyes of Ten) happened and at that point it was pretty much established, from those 10 it looks like 6 talked shop and stroke a partnership, soon they would establish the photographic cooperative agency Vivo, which i don't know much about at this point but they seem to enjoy legendary status among the hobby's history.
Really, i feel stupid writing about it knowing it might as well be like somebody just discovering Led Zeppelin or something, still let's waddle on mentioning their legacy includes the solid manifestation or conclusive proof of a stylistic trend that had been observed over those years in post-war Japan but always in small examples, so-called "the image school" which bent the usual street/documentation photography rules of that era that based themselves in a realistic representation of events by the photographer's eye.
By that i mean these guys composed, shot and tried to fool the viewer's eye with images that show stuff in either a very personal manner, showcasing lack of discernible visual barriers V.O.I.D. and/or using subjects in unorthodox compositions based on their intrinsic nature/meta.
In short, visual games, abstraction and rule-breaking for the playful/pervs. They don't seem to have worked in constant artistic cooperation but rather in a sanctuary office space sharing expenses between all of them, everyone basically did what they wanted, sometimes made money in side-activities, and released stuff for art's sake without worrying about agents or jobs: Their fame was secure.
It lasted only 3 years in full swing, pretty shit duration to be honest... but the influence their cheap publishing exploits made became the norm for the new wave of japanese visual styles, ranging from the actual new wave of japanese photographers of the 60's and 70's (in which our old buy Suda here is a product) to even some cinema efforts (Nagisa Ōshima's social degeneration movies of the late 60's). Some examples of Narahara from those years can be seen in the first two posts from this series, particularly Sumo Guy and Checkers.
Another hit for the guy here, so much that after the movement died out he was invited to Europe to showcase some stuff, he ended up being given some jobs here and there which in part gave the man the will to live in the old Continent for a while. From 1962 to 1965 he resided in France, Spain and Italy, pulling some exhibitions on the latter two, even books. One called Europe: Where Time Has Stopped (ヨーロッパ・静止した時間 / Yōroppa: Seishi Shita Jikan) and for Spain another called España: Grand tarde (スペーン・偉大なる午後 / Supēn: Idai Naru Gogo), i didn't find many pics from those but here goes. After that he returned to Japan and decided to might as well, finish it with Japanesque (ジャパネスク / Japanesuku) which we previously mentioned with Zen Boys.