Masahisa Fukase is best known for his photobook The Solitude of Ravens, which was published in 1986. In 2010, a panel of experts voted it the best photobook of the last 25 years. Like all of Fukase’s work, it’s a stark book that reflects his melancholic and obsessive nature. The ravens, photographed in flight or resting on branches in grainy monochrome, are symbols of his grief at the breakdown of his marriage to his beloved second wife, Yoko.
Yoko is also the subject of a fascinating series called From Window that Fukase made in 1974. It is currently on show at Les Rencontres d’Arles as part of Another Language, an illuminating group exhibition of eight Japanese photographers curated by the Tate’s Simon Baker. The work has never been shown in Europe before and includes well known photographers like Daido Moriyama and Eikoh Hosoe as well as trailblazing newcomers like Daisuke Yokota and Sakiko Nomura.
