Masahisa Fukase - Yoko - 2025
Starting bid
€ 1
Add to your favourites to get an alert when the auction starts.
Catawiki Buyer Protection
Your payment’s safe with us until you receive your object.View details
Trustpilot 4.4 | 139803 reviews
Rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
Description from the seller
Yoko
Masahisa Fukase
"Masahisa Fukase, the Timeless Masterpiece 'Yoko' -- A Miraculous Reprint Edition!
Originally published in 1978, Masahisa Fukase's 'Yoko' stands as a defining series in his body of work, yet it had long been out of print. Now, nearly half a century later, this extraordinary photobook returns, brought to life with the full support of Yoko Miyoshi (formerly Fukase), Fukase's model and muse, and under the careful supervision of Tomo Kosuga, director of the Masahisa Fukase Archives. This new reprint edition faithfully includes all photographs and texts from the original edition.
In addition, it features newly incorporated elements: contemporaneous texts referenced at the time of the original publication, an essay by Masako Toda, and a heartfelt message from Yoko Miyoshi on the occasion of this reissue. Every aspect of the book's design and composition has been meticulously crafted to reaffirm the significance of this masterpiece and the passage of time it has endured.
Fukase and Yoko met in 1963 and were married in 1964. In the 1960s, they lived together as newlyweds at the Soka-Matsubara public housing complex, where Fukase began photographing Yoko. In the 1970s, he continued to capture her in various locations, including his hometown of Hokkaido, her birthplace of Kanazawa, as well as Izu, Kyoto, and other places. In the autumn of 1973, Fukase created a series titled Untitled (From the Window), capturing Yoko's elegant poses every morning as she left for work, taken from the fourth-floor window of their home using a telephoto lens. These photographs were published intermittently between 1964 and 1976 in the magazine Camera Mainichi.
In 1974, Fukase's works were included in the New Japanese Photography exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. During this period, the couple traveled to New York, and the scenes from this journey were also captured in his photographs.
Fukase's relentless pursuit of self-exploration led him to consistently turn his camera toward himself and his family.
As Tomo Kosuga noted, Fukase's private life became art, making the personal public and gradually leading to "a paradox in which they seemed to be together solely for the sake of photography." (Excerpts from "Masahisa Fukase 1961-1991 Retrospective") The couple divorced in 1976, and two years later, the photobook Yoko (published by Asahi Sonorama) was completed. The cover featured a photograph of Yoko in a kimono, gazing back through shattered glass radiating outward, a powerful and poignant image that captured the essence of their complex relationship.
For this new reprint edition, the book's format has been expanded to amplify the presence of each photograph, and the cover has also been renewed. In addition, the pages featuring ravens--ominous yet poetic symbols that seemed to foretell the future of the couple--are now arranged with greater stillness and deliberation, inviting viewers to engage more deeply with every image.
In revisiting 'Yoko,' one must ask: What, ultimately, did Fukase capture through his lens? Against the backdrop of the era's spirit, the photobook contemplates the essential question of photography--the nature of relationships between two individuals.
We hope that this 'Yoko,' with its liberated scale and profound sensitivity, spreads its wings and takes flight once more, soaring freely into the present and resonating anew in our time.
"Whether we call it love or a mirror, it is undoubtedly one and the same--the profound communion with the other."
── Masako Toda (Photography historian)
"Here is the record of photographs taken by one man of one woman over a period of more than ten years."
── Shoji Yamagishi
Seller's Story
Dartbooks is a specialized photography bookshop based in Barcelona, dedicated to photobooks, rare and out-of-print editions, and historically significant publications. With a strong focus on Japanese photography, Dartbooks was founded to provide continuity to a field that requires depth, expertise, and careful curation.
The bookshop was established after the closure of Kowasa, a landmark reference for photography books in Spain. Its disappearance left a clear gap for photographers, collectors, and institutions in need of a space with a serious and knowledgeable approach to the photobook. Dartbooks emerged in response to that need, not as a replacement, but as part of the natural evolution of a cultural ecosystem.
Dartbooks operates with a curatorial mindset, shaped by long-term engagement with photography and book collecting. The project functions as a book hunting platform for collectors, professionals, and libraries worldwide, and also provides advisory support to other bookshops seeking to develop coherent and specialized photography collections.
The catalogue includes new publications, rare and out-of-print titles, monographs, retrospectives, self-published works, signed copies, and editions produced directly by photographers through their own imprints. The selection reflects a sustained commitment to photography as a form of visual narration, where images construct meaning beyond text.
Although rooted in the Gràcia neighbourhood of Barcelona, Dartbooks serves an international audience. Its community includes collectors, professionals, and institutions from France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and beyond, both through the physical space and the online platform.
Dartbooks understands the photobook not merely as an object of consumption, but as a cultural artifact that documents artistic practices, historical contexts, and personal visions. The bookshop functions simultaneously as a place of discovery, an archive in constant growth, and a point of connection between photographers, publishers, and readers.
Yoko
Masahisa Fukase
"Masahisa Fukase, the Timeless Masterpiece 'Yoko' -- A Miraculous Reprint Edition!
Originally published in 1978, Masahisa Fukase's 'Yoko' stands as a defining series in his body of work, yet it had long been out of print. Now, nearly half a century later, this extraordinary photobook returns, brought to life with the full support of Yoko Miyoshi (formerly Fukase), Fukase's model and muse, and under the careful supervision of Tomo Kosuga, director of the Masahisa Fukase Archives. This new reprint edition faithfully includes all photographs and texts from the original edition.
In addition, it features newly incorporated elements: contemporaneous texts referenced at the time of the original publication, an essay by Masako Toda, and a heartfelt message from Yoko Miyoshi on the occasion of this reissue. Every aspect of the book's design and composition has been meticulously crafted to reaffirm the significance of this masterpiece and the passage of time it has endured.
Fukase and Yoko met in 1963 and were married in 1964. In the 1960s, they lived together as newlyweds at the Soka-Matsubara public housing complex, where Fukase began photographing Yoko. In the 1970s, he continued to capture her in various locations, including his hometown of Hokkaido, her birthplace of Kanazawa, as well as Izu, Kyoto, and other places. In the autumn of 1973, Fukase created a series titled Untitled (From the Window), capturing Yoko's elegant poses every morning as she left for work, taken from the fourth-floor window of their home using a telephoto lens. These photographs were published intermittently between 1964 and 1976 in the magazine Camera Mainichi.
In 1974, Fukase's works were included in the New Japanese Photography exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. During this period, the couple traveled to New York, and the scenes from this journey were also captured in his photographs.
Fukase's relentless pursuit of self-exploration led him to consistently turn his camera toward himself and his family.
As Tomo Kosuga noted, Fukase's private life became art, making the personal public and gradually leading to "a paradox in which they seemed to be together solely for the sake of photography." (Excerpts from "Masahisa Fukase 1961-1991 Retrospective") The couple divorced in 1976, and two years later, the photobook Yoko (published by Asahi Sonorama) was completed. The cover featured a photograph of Yoko in a kimono, gazing back through shattered glass radiating outward, a powerful and poignant image that captured the essence of their complex relationship.
For this new reprint edition, the book's format has been expanded to amplify the presence of each photograph, and the cover has also been renewed. In addition, the pages featuring ravens--ominous yet poetic symbols that seemed to foretell the future of the couple--are now arranged with greater stillness and deliberation, inviting viewers to engage more deeply with every image.
In revisiting 'Yoko,' one must ask: What, ultimately, did Fukase capture through his lens? Against the backdrop of the era's spirit, the photobook contemplates the essential question of photography--the nature of relationships between two individuals.
We hope that this 'Yoko,' with its liberated scale and profound sensitivity, spreads its wings and takes flight once more, soaring freely into the present and resonating anew in our time.
"Whether we call it love or a mirror, it is undoubtedly one and the same--the profound communion with the other."
── Masako Toda (Photography historian)
"Here is the record of photographs taken by one man of one woman over a period of more than ten years."
── Shoji Yamagishi
Seller's Story
Dartbooks is a specialized photography bookshop based in Barcelona, dedicated to photobooks, rare and out-of-print editions, and historically significant publications. With a strong focus on Japanese photography, Dartbooks was founded to provide continuity to a field that requires depth, expertise, and careful curation.
The bookshop was established after the closure of Kowasa, a landmark reference for photography books in Spain. Its disappearance left a clear gap for photographers, collectors, and institutions in need of a space with a serious and knowledgeable approach to the photobook. Dartbooks emerged in response to that need, not as a replacement, but as part of the natural evolution of a cultural ecosystem.
Dartbooks operates with a curatorial mindset, shaped by long-term engagement with photography and book collecting. The project functions as a book hunting platform for collectors, professionals, and libraries worldwide, and also provides advisory support to other bookshops seeking to develop coherent and specialized photography collections.
The catalogue includes new publications, rare and out-of-print titles, monographs, retrospectives, self-published works, signed copies, and editions produced directly by photographers through their own imprints. The selection reflects a sustained commitment to photography as a form of visual narration, where images construct meaning beyond text.
Although rooted in the Gràcia neighbourhood of Barcelona, Dartbooks serves an international audience. Its community includes collectors, professionals, and institutions from France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and beyond, both through the physical space and the online platform.
Dartbooks understands the photobook not merely as an object of consumption, but as a cultural artifact that documents artistic practices, historical contexts, and personal visions. The bookshop functions simultaneously as a place of discovery, an archive in constant growth, and a point of connection between photographers, publishers, and readers.
Details
Number of books
1
Subject
Photography
Book title
Yoko
Author/ Illustrator
Masahisa Fukase
Condition
As new
Publication year oldest item
2025
Height
24.5 cm
Edition
Reprint
Width
24.5 cm
Language
English, Japanese
Original language
Yes
Publisher
Akakaa Publishing
Binding/ Material
Hardback
Number of pages
168
