Masahisa Fukase
1934–2012 · Japan
Turning personal experience into sequences of images.
The story
Masahisa Fukase grew up around a family studio, studied photography and then worked in Tokyo. His series engage with those close to him, animals and his own presence. Ravens, published in 1986, constructs an associative narrative in which ravens recur as an obsessive motif. Other groups of works, notably those devoted to his family and his cat Sasuke, reveal a practice combining play, intimacy and loss.
Understanding the work
Look at repetitions rather than searching for a linear story. Grain, silhouettes and changes in distance carry a mood between otherwise very different subjects.
Key works and series
Ravens; Family; Yoko; Sasuke; Private Scenes.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
2 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
