Eikoh Hosoe
Kamaitachi #31

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Images(3)

Artist Eikoh Hosoe(Japanese, 1933–2024)Japanese, 1933–2024

CultureJapanese

Titles

Kamaitachi #31

Date1968, printed c. 1969

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 15 1/16 × 21 11/16 in. (38.2 × 55.1 cm)
Sheet: 15 13/16 × 22 1/16 in. (40.2 × 56 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the S. I. Morris Photography Endowment

Object number2013.331

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionEikoh Hosoe emerged in the experimental photography movement in the 1960s in Japan, particularly as a member of the photography collective VIVO that was established in 1959. Hosoe is known for his psychologically charged images, often exploring subjects such as death, erotic obsession, and irrationality. For his 1969 photobook Kamaitachi, with the choreographer and dancer of butoh Tatsumi Hijikata as a model, Hosoe created a series of images that reference stories of a supernatural being—“sickle-toothed weasel”—that haunted the countryside of Hosoe’s childhood in northern Japan. In the book, Hijikata is seen as a wandering ghost mirroring the stark landscape and confronting farmers and children.
ProvenanceArtist, Tokyo, Japan, c. 1969; Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 2012; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, 2013
Exhibition History"For a New World to Come: Experiments with Photography in Japanese Art, 1968-1978," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 8 March - 12 July 2015
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed in pencil on verso lower edge: (Japanese characters) Eikoh Hosoe

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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