FUKASE, Masahisa; Inada NADA (introduction); Yamagishi SHOJI (afterword). Homo Ludence. Tokyo: Chūōkōron-sha. 1971.
4to. Original white boards, lettered in black to upper board and spine, typographic purple dust-jacket; pp. [120]; photo-illustrated throughout, a little scuffing to boards with some staining to top-edges, minimal creasing and shelf wear to jacket, wraparound with creasing to upper left corner and front flap tear (repaired); three circular marks in red ink to p. [32] (see below); blue ink Japanese ownership stamp ‘Exlibris Mrs Nagatomi’ and ink inscription ‘purchased ‘71. 7. 7.’ (trans.) to p. 120; very good.
First edition, first impression from 1971.
Homo Ludence was published as the fourth instalment in the important ten-volume series of monographs, Eizo no Gendai, a study of contemporary Japanese photographers. Masahisa Fukase’s first publication, Homo Ludence reproduced photographs taken over the course of ten years, including many portraits of the photographer’s then wife, Yōko Wanibe. The book contains six of Fukase’s early photographic series: ‘Slaughter’, ‘Congratulation’, ‘Frolic’, ‘Memento’, ‘Mother’, and ‘Music’. They traverse the documentation of slaughterhouses, newly-wed domesticity, Tokyo underground youth scenes, as well as Motherhood and family connection.
The photo illustration on page 32 of this copy of Homo Ludence has been altered with the addition of three circular lines in red ink. Especially in his later career, Fukase would experiment with intervening on his photographs, drawing upon prints and negatives in coloured inks, sometimes red. The similarity between the photographer’s embellishments and the red marks in our copy is remarkable.
SKU: 2125383