The exhibition will include a reproduction, designed by GRAPH, of Un Homme Rodin, Hosoe’s 2010 accordion book made of Japanese paper primarily comprising images of August Rodin’s sculptures shot at the Rodin Museum in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, as well as four images printed using Somezuri (ink-jet) on Japanese paper made by the living national treasure Ichibei Iwano.

I started with the irreverent and reckless desire to express “human Rodin” rather than “photographs of sculptures.” I felt that this would be the best way to show my adoration and respect for Rodin. On my way to and from Paris, I decided that such an approach was absolutely necessary to photograph Rodin’s works in this day and age.
- Eikoh Hosoe

Starting in the 1950s, the earliest period of his career, Hosoe made important contributions to portrait photography with his works Man and Woman, Ordeal by Roses, Kamaitachi, and Embrace. In recent years, he has produced the series Kazuo Ohno and People Concerned with the Works, which show the continual growth of his unconventional methods of expression. The works included in the current exhibition are no exception. As Hosoe explains above, his intent was to capture the “human Rodin” and the resulting images attest to a unique perspective afforded by Hosoe’s experience of photographing a wide range of human subjects. The project is an important experiment in seeing the living human in figural sculptures. In conjunction with the current exhibition and with support from amanasalto, we will also produce an edition of platinum prints of images from the Un Homme Rodin series.

Under the auspices of : Embassy of France/Institut français du Japon

Courtesy of Taka Ishii Gallery