CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 12/20/2016

Provoke: Between Protest and Performance, Photography in Japan 1960–1975

BACK IN STOCK! The first printing of Steidl's exquisite, 680-page compilation of the ground-breaking black-and-white Japanese photography journal of the late 1960s sold out upon arrival. At last, a second shipment has arrived—perfectly timed for the current mood of post-election distress and protest. On many "Best of 2016" lists this holiday season, it is a book that "deserves to be on the shelf of any serious scholar, critic or artist who cares about photography in the 20th century," in the words of Adam Bell, writing for Photo-Eye. Founded by critic Koji Taki, poet Takahiko Okada, and photographers Takuma Nakahira, Yakata Takanashi and Daido Moriyama, it was published just three times over a period of nine months, yet it toppled artistic, political and social authority, obliterated traditional commercial photography and photojournalism and essentially changed postwar photography forever. Featured image, by Koji Taki, is from Provoke 3, 1969.