Fifteen years after the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, Tōmatsu Shōmei began producing the stark black-and-white images published in this volume. For many in rural parts of Japan, who had experienced less of the intensive bombing than city-dwellers, the book was a poignant reminder of the recent past that lay just below the surface of the new order.
Tomatsu’s work represents a radical departure from the social realism which prevailed amongst other documentary photographers of his generation. 11:02 Nagasaki offers moving fragments of Tomatsu’s experience of the postwar city rather than attempting to serve as an objective document. Photographs of hibakusha (bomb victims) turned slightly away from his camera, Americans striding through the streets, and salarymen engrossed in their newspapers are interspersed with views of busy city life and mangled remnants of the bombing. Tomatsu’s masterful ability to render simple objects and straightforward images into powerful symbols made 11:02 Nagasaki one of the most important records of twentieth-century Japan.
First edition hardcover with artist’s wetstamp and cardboard slipcase, comprising black and white gravure photographs. Features text by Tamaki Motoi and interviews with survivors. 25.8 x 18.6 cm.
