HOSOE, Eikoh, & Kazuo Ohno.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Kocho no yume. = The Butterfly Dream. First edition of this lavishly produced book, the result of a 40-year collaboration between the experimental filmmaker and photographer Eikoh Hosoe and the legendary Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno. Ohno pioneered this dance form with Tatsumi Hijikata, to whom this work is dedicated.Butoh emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War as a reaction to the horrors of conflict. Together with Hijikata, Ohno drew on his experiences of war to develop what was originally called ankoku butoh-ha, "the dance of utter darkness", incorporating existentialism, expressionism, and the grotesque. The British artist Anohni Hegarty (formerly Antony Hegarty) wrote of Ohno, "Using memories of maternal love and the archetype of the divine child as the basis for much of his tender expression, Ohno frequently reduced his audience to tears. Traversing the stage in a hypnotic reverie, he would gesture skyward with his long, curling hands. He was a masterful and exacting improviser".Eikoh Hosoe (1933-2024) emerged into the same experimental phase of Japanese art as Ohno and Hijikata, but in photography and film-making rather than dance. He photographed Hijikata as early as 1961, through whom he likely met Ohno. Hosoe's work has led him to be known as one of Japan's most iconic post-war photographers, receiving the Royal Photographic Society's 150th anniversary medal in 2003.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.