Fukase, The Solitude of Ravens, p. 71 Fukase, Fukase Masahisa, pl. 34, variant Holborn, Black Sun: The Eyes of Four, pp. 60-61, variant
Catalogue Essay
Masahisa Fukase's Ravens series is one of the most celebrated bodies of work within the history of Japanese post-war photography. Fukase began photographing ravens in 1976, at a time when his marriage to Yoko Wanibe, a principle subject of much of his previous photography, was beginning to disintegrate. Fukase turned his camera to the ubiquitous and ominous forms of ravens, flying and still, solitary and en masse. In the image offered here, Fukase captures a tree filled with ravens silhouetted against the night sky, their eyes bright against the darkness. Both tonally and emotionally dark, the photograph is a document of Fukase's inner turmoil. Fukase published his raven images in 1986 in Karasu, a book that has now attained the status of a classic of photographic literature.
1977 Gelatin silver print, printed 1986. 11 x 16 1/2 in. (27.9 x 41.9 cm) Signed in ink in the margin; annotated ‘Ishikawa-ken Kanazawa-shi’ in Japanese and dated ‘1977’ and ‘1986’ in pencil on the verso.
Estimate $15,000 - 20,000
Sold for $37,500
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The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something Foundation, Part 1