EROS, from the series Provoke 2, 1969

Limited to an edition of 150, and available through Aperture from September 29th through October 13th, 2020 only, we are pleased to offer these three limited-edition 8-by-10-inch signed gelatin-silver prints by Daido Moriyama for $275 each. Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama has been at the forefront of the medium for more than fifty years, first rising to prominence through his contributions to Provoke—a magazine founded by art critic Kōji Taki, photographers Takuma Nakahira and Yutaka Takanshi, and poet Takahiko Okada, which published from 1968–69 and fundamentally reshaped postwar Japanese photography. Moriyama has since become one of the world’s most recognized photographers, inspiring generations of image-makers. Shooting predominantly on the streets of Tokyo with a small, handheld camera, Moriyama’s signature grainy and blurry black-and-white photographs explore themes of urban street life, intimacy, pattern, and light. Throughout his career, Moriyama has published over 150 books—including Labyrinth (Aperture, 2012) and Printing Show—TKY (Aperture, 2011), a performative, DIY book, created live at Aperture Gallery in New York. “Photography is a medium open to everyone.” Moriyama states. “However, at present, original prints are sold upon request of the art market, often produced as a limited edition. I think this is the opposite of the original essence of photography. For this reason, I usually don’t add editions to my works. The value of a photograph is not higher if produced in a limited edition and lower if produced in larger quantities. No matter how many copies of an amazing photo are printed, its artistic value won’t be diminished. On the contrary, isn’t printing and distributing large numbers of photos around the world the best way to show the potential of photography? That said, it rarely happens that I issue a special edition of a photobook or any edition for a specific purpose, but since the purpose of this sale is to support Aperture, I decided to limit the edition and offer these prints at a lower price than usual.”

Gelatin-Silver Print
Paper Size: 8 x 10 inches
Edition of 150, available through Aperture for two weeks only
Signed and numbered by the artist

Please note: an adult signature is required for delivery of all limited-edition prints.

Daido Moriyama (b. 1938, Osaka, Japan) has been publishing and exhibiting his photography since the 1960s, with a bibliography of over three hundred monographs to his name, including Farewell Photography (1972), Hunter (1972), and Light and Shadow (1982). He received the Japan Photo Critics Association Newcomer’s Award for the photobook Japan, A Photo Theater in 1967. Solo exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fondation Cartier pour l’arte contemporain solidified Moriyama’s reputation. Moriyama became the first Japanese artist to receive the Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2012. He won the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography in 2019. His work has been featured in several issues of Aperture magazine, and his photobook Labyrinth was published by Aperture in 2012. Recent publications include Tights in Shimotakaido and Lips! Lips! Lips! (both 2018).