NOBUYOSHI ARAKI

Photographer

Born on May 25, 1940, in Minowa, Tokyo. Studied photography at Chiba University from 1959 to 1963 and began working for an advertising agency. In 1964, he achieved his first successes with photographs of children in the city. Since 1970, he has moved away from press and documentary photography and toward erotic, but also (according to European standards) masochistic images. The result: numerous censorship measures by the Japanese authorities. Exhibitions include the Vienna Secession and, as part of museum in progress, a bondage picture in the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard. Araki has published around 400 books, including Sentimental Journey, a photo book about his own honeymoon in 1965, Self, Life, Death, published in 2005 by Phaidon, New York, and Kinbaku, published in 2008 by the Jablonka Gallery in Berlin. The film “Arakimentari” by Travis Klose shows Araki's views on love and singer Björk's views on Araki.

Araki revolutionized Japanese photography with his uncompromising style. His persistence also led to more liberal art legislation in Japan. Western art critics find it difficult to come to terms with his bondage images and his erotic and pornographic photos. His mastery is undisputed across cultural divides.

Awards (Selection)
2012 Mainichi-Art Award
2008 Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art
1994 Japan Inter-Design Forum Grand Prix
1991 Higashikawa Prize
1990 Shashin-no-kai

Solo exhibitions (Selection)
2018 Impossible Love – Vintage Photographs. C/O Berlin Foundation, Berlin
2017 Nobuyoshi Araki. Over The Influence Gallery, Hong Kong
2017 Araki. Tokyo. Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
2016 Araki. Musée national des arts asiatiques - Guimet, Paris
2015 Pipe Dream. Galerie Andrea Caratsch, Zurich
2015 Eros Diary. Anton Kern Gallery, New York
2015 Nobuyoshi Araki: Polaroids. Shane Campell Gallery, Chicago
2014 Painted Photographs. Maruani Mercier Gallery, Knokke
2014 Unseen Existence. Hong Kong Arts Centre
2013 Nobuyoshi Araki. Michael Hoppen Gallery, London
2012 Flower. Aura gallery, Beijing
2011 It Was Once A Paradise. Galerie Alex Daniels Reflex, Amsterdam
2010 Araki: A Perspective. PRISM, Los Angeles
2008 Silent Wishes. Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Rupertinum
2008 Araki meets Hokusai. Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover
2007 Nobuyoshi Araki. Kulturhuset, Stockholm
2006 Tokyo, Sexteen 1969-1973. Pinakothek der Moderne, München
2005 Nobuyoshi Araki: Self, Life, Death. The Barbican Art Gallery, London
2005 Arakinema. Palais de Tokyo, Paris
2004 Nobuyoshi Araki. Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
2004 Hana Jinsei. Kitano Cultural Center, Nagano
2002 Suicide in Tokyo. Italienischer Pavillon, Venice Biennale
2002 La nature morte au Japon. Maison de la Photographie, Moskau
2001 Tokyo Still Life. Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
2000 Nobuyoshi Araki. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent
1999 Sentimental Photography, Sentimental Life. Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
1999 Alive. Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei; Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver
1998 The Photographers Gallery, London; Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; De Appel, Amsterdam; Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
1997 Arkinema: Tokyo Comedy. Secession, Vienna
1996 The Face, The Dead. Pace Wildenstein and Macgill, Los Angeles
1995 Journal intime. Fondation Cartier pour I’art contemporain, Paris
1993 Araki – Japanbilder. Museum Folkwang, Essen; Kunsthal, Rotterdam
1992 Akt-Tokyo: Nobuyoshi Araki 1971-1991. Forum Stadtpark, Graz

Group exhibitions (Selection)
2019 Now is the time: 25 Years Collection. Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg
2018 I-Photo. Japanese Photography 1960-1970. Rupertinum, Salzburg
2016 Provoke: Photography in Japan between Protest and Performance, 1960–1975. Albertina, Vienna
2015 For a New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968-1979. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
2014 „Araki Teller“. Galerie OstLicht, Vienna
2014 Conflict, Time, Photography. Tate Modern, London; Museum Folkwang, Essen
2011 Nackt (Nacked). Newton & Araki. Museum der Moderne Mönchsberg, Salzburg
2008 Araki, Miyamoto, Sugimoto: Japanische Fotografie der Gegenwart. Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg
2006 Why pictures now. mumok, Vienna
2005 Blumenmythos - Van Gogh bis Jeff Koons (Flower myth). Fondation Beyeler, Riehen
2002 Seoul Novel-Tokyo Story. Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul
2001 Fact of Love. Hayward Gallery, London
2000 Voyage sentimental. Centre national de la photographie, Paris
1999 Get Together. Kunsthalle, Vienna
1999 Szenenwechsel XV (Change of scenes). Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
1996 Nobuyoshi Araki, Thomas Struth, Christopher Williams, Larry Clark. Kunsthalle, Basel

Filmography (Selection)
2004 Klose, Travis (director): Arakimentari. Documentary film

Bibliography (Selection)
2017 Fondation Cartier (publisher): Araki - Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary). London: Thames & Hudson
2017 Hiromi Kitazawa: Nobuyoshi Araki - Sentimental Journey 1971 – 2017. Japan: HeHe
2009 Osterkorn, Thomas (publisher); Petzold, Andreas (publisher): Araki - Portfolio. Kempen: teNeues,
2008 Maggia, Filippo (publisher): Araki Gold. Milan: Skira
2005 Miki, Akiko [a.o.] (publisher): Nobuyoshi Araki - Self, Life, Death. New York: Phaidon
1997 Araki, Nobuyoshi: Araki - Tokyo Lucky Hole. Cologne: Taschen
1992 Frisinghelli, Christine (publisher): Akt-Tokyo - Nobuyoshi Araki 1971 – 1991. Graz: Edition Camera Austria