Keizo Kitajima
new York
Published by Byakuya Shobo, 1982
Size: 30.5 x 22 cm
93 Pages
Hardcover
Languages: Japanese, English
First Edition
Japanese photographer Keizo Kitajima's book (now a rarity in the world of photo books) transports us into the crazy life of this "city that never sleeps" in the early 1980s.
The young Kitajima (who studied under Daido Moriyama at the Workshop Photo School), intrigued by this country that had so profoundly changed Japan in the post-war period, arrived in the United States in the late 1970s. He immersed himself in the New York jungle and captured the frenetic rhythm of the streets and nightclubs, the strippers, the celebrities, the dispossessed, and all those who inhabit and make up the city. Kitajima's harsh lighting, strong contrasts of black and white, framing, and image pairing choices highlight the deafening tumult of the city, where decadence, misery, desire, violence, and melancholy seem to constantly intersect, oppose, and embrace each other. He received the prestigious Ihei Kimura Prize for this work in 1983.
This copy is the first edition, inscribed by Kitajima on the inside page of the famous Asahi camera, and dated November 25, 1982!!