This anthology presents a selection of work by Japanese photographer Chotoku Tanaka, whose career reaches back to the early 1960s. Ordered chronologically, “Anthology 1964–2016” takes the reader on a journey through Tanaka’s life, from Tokyo in the 1960s to Vienna, Graz, and Salzburg in the 1970s, New York, Prague, and Budapest in the 1980s, and Telč, Amsterdam, Prague, New York, Vienna, and Berlin in the late 1990s and 2010s.
Tanaka, although he never ascended to the heights of fame of contemporaries like Daido Moriyama, produced a substantial body of work published in more than 135 photobooks. “Anthology 1964–2016” brings together the best of his remarkably sensitive snapshot photography.
“One of my favorite authors, Taruho Inagaki, once wrote a 1000-page manuscript before the war, only to have it rejected by more publishers than he had fingers. During the firebombing of Tokyo, he wrapped it in a furoshiki and ran through the burning city to save it. It wasn’t until after the war that the manuscipt was finally published. Serious creative work often comes with hardship. In my case, however, it was the opposite: on my 77th birthday, I threw out all my film.
To me, the original negatives were nothing more than a burdensome relic of my life, something that would only trouble others after I was gone. Unless you’re a world-famous photographer, I believe the best choice for someone like me, a minor one, is to let go of those things ahead of time.
Thankfully, som dedicated collectors had been saving my work over the years.”
― from Chotoku Tanaka’s afterword
