Nobuyuki Wakabayashi - Lunar Eclipse - 1972

Lunar Eclipse (Included in *The Japanese Photobook 1912–1990*)

Nobuyuki Wakabayashi
Photo Japan/1972/Japanese/180*258*3

Japanese photographer Nobuyuki Wakabayashi’s photo book, *Lunar Eclipse*. Active in the commercial world from the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II through the 1970s, Nobuyuki Wakabayashi has left behind numerous original works through his diverse creative endeavors. His representative works include *Adam and Eve* (1970), inspired by the story of the origin of humanity in the Book of Genesis of the Old Testament; *Ah! The Women Who Popped Out* (1971), a dramatization of happenings in which women emerged from homes and cars to appear in various locations on the outskirts of the city; and *The Children of Shimotsui* (1972), set in the fishing port of Shimotsui in his hometown of Okayama, are among his best-known works. This book is a collection of photographs taken in the red-light districts of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, and Okayama. From the 1950s through the early 1960s, when the photographer was in his late teens to early twenties, he captured forbidden scenes of everyday life while hiding a compact camera in the pocket of his jacket. It was a secret world—not only for the women working there but also for the men who visited. These works also pioneered the “out-of-focus, blurred, and out-of-place” aesthetic even before the “Provoke” generation.