Japan Art Revolution: The Japanese Avant-Garde, from Angura to Provoke

Ravalec, a filmmaker and author of the photo book Japan Visions, revels in the wild world of 1960s and ’70s Japanese counterculture in this riotous collection. In the rocky era between postwar reconstruction and the 1980s economic bubble, a small, inventive group of Japanese artists shaped an art scene where, in the words of illustrator Tadanori Yokoo, “something new was created and broken down every day.” The book homes in on the era’s changes in photography—especially from the groundbreaking journal Provoke, which mixed “raw, grainy, and high-contrast images” with “philosophical texts and manifestos”—but also includes generous examples of painting, collage, poster art, experimental theater, and performance art, accompanied by the artists’ recollections. Much of the work highlighted is politically charged, including striking photographs of Hiroshima’s aftermath and student protests against the Vietnam War. But there’s also plenty of room for the playful, the sexual, and the bizarre, including works of psychedelia, Neo-Dada, ero guro nansensu (erotic grotesque nonsense), a sexy photo shoot featuring novelist Yukio Mishima, and erotic rope bondage. The book’s stylish, Pop Art–inspired layouts set a funky and edgy mood, and the text enriches the art rather than crowding it out. The result is an energetic, eye-popping peek into the history of the Asian avant-garde. (Jan.)