Eikoh Hosoe, widely recognized as Japan’s greatest living photographer, explores the human subconscious through symbolic, provocative imagery. His work challenges individual identity within Japanese society, often drawing on his spiritual background and personal experiences.

Spanning three decades, his retrospective includes ten major series. Ordeal by Roses (1963), featuring author Yukio Mishima, blends eroticism and martyrdom with religious symbolism, foreshadowing Mishima’s suicide. Kamaitachi (1969) reflects Hosoe’s childhood wartime evacuation and sense of alienation through surreal rural imagery. In Embrace (1971), intertwined nude bodies become sculptural forms, while The Cosmos of Gaudi animates Gaudí’s architecture with organic, human qualities.

Born in 1933 to a Buddhist priest and raised in a Shinto shrine, Hosoe turned to photography after winning a contest in 1951. He co-founded the influential VIVO collective and has published several acclaimed books. His work is held in major international museums, and he currently teaches photography at Tokyo Institute of Polytechnic.

WORKS
191

DIMENSIONS

16 x 20 to 31 x 25 (inches)

SPACE REQUIREMENTS

Aprox. 420 linear feet

INQUIRIES

exhibitions@curatorial.org
626.577.0044