CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 9/26/2018

Emptiness and unease, anger and protest in 'Shomei Tomatsu'

Featured image, from Shomei Tomatsu's 1962 Blood and Roses, Shinjuku, Tokyo series, is reproduced from RM & Fundación Mapfre's stunning new monograph on the influential Japanese photographer. "There is nothing hackneyed about Tomatsu's representations of the body and of sex," Juan Vicente Aliaga writes. "He opts for unusual framings in which the bodies seem fragmented, incomplete, often seen from the back, projecting a sense of discomfort. We are far from any complacent vision of a harmonious reality… A vague sensation of unreality floats in these images. There are more shadows than clarity; a sense of emptiness and unease… but also anger and protest."