Lot 52: NARAHARA IKKO (b.1931)

NARAHARA IKKO (b.1931)
Engraved Arrow, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona from 'Where Time Has Vanished', 1972
gelatin silver print
signed, dated, numbered '8', '3228' and annotated 'USA 10 ARIZONA' in pencil on verso
13¼ x 9in. (33.6 x 22.8cm.)

Narahara, Where Time Has Vanished, Asahi Shinbunsha, 1975, fig.10; Ikko Narahara: Photographies 1954-2000, Maison européene de la photographie, 2002, front cover & p.105.

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Only one other vintage print of this image is known and it is held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

Where Time Has Vanished is arguably Narahara's best known body of work and was created during his 1970-74 sojourn in the US. In his photographs taken outside Japan, Narahara explores 'the sense of artificial construction that was distinctly at odds with the naturalist spirit of the Japanese'. (Anthology of the Photography of the Showa Period Vol.9: Narahara Ikko, Asahi Shinbunsha, 1983) In his final year in the US, his work was shown in the New Japanese Photography exhibition, curated by John Szarkowski and Yamagishi Shoji, at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. In Tokyo, Narahara participated in the seminal exhibition Eyes of Ten (1957) and with five other photographers from the exhibition founded the collaborative photo agency VIVO (1959-61). He is the recipient of many prestigious awards, notably a medal of honour from the Japanese government in 1996.