Keizo KITAJIMA "The Joy of Portraits" / 北島敬三『The Joy of Portraits』

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Split into two volumes and comprising more than 800 pages, “The Joy of Portraits” is a collection of Japanese photographer Keizo Kitajima’s portrait works.

Volume 1 consists of the more recent “Portrait” series, in which Kitajima rejects the aesthetics of choice and snapshot-like moments. For the series, he photographed more than 300 different models over a period of time – everyone wearing the same clothes, the same facial expression. It is, quite simply, an endless series of faces, shot with a seemingly indifferent gaze deprived of empathy, as Kitajima attempts to reach the “thing itself” in the photos.

With six of Kitajima’s most famous portrait series – from his earliest stuff shot in Koza in 1975 to portraits taken in the early 1990s in Europe – volume 2 offers the backstory to Kitajima’s experiment. Presented without further explanation or context, each single portrait in this massive tome nonetheless possesses the power to tell little stories.

Book Size: 285 × 220 mm
Pages: 874 pages
Binding: Hardcover, Slipcase
Publication Year: 2009
Language: English, Japanese