"Erimo Cape, 1976", from the series Solitude of Ravens
Masahisa Fukase Japanese
Not on view
This coarse-grain photograph by Fukase Masahisa is from a series exploring the dark, mysterious forms of ravens in various poses and settings. Some images capture a solitary bird, as in “Erimo Cape”; others depict flocks of birds in flight or settling on trees or buildings. In “Kanazawa,” the eyes of ravens glint eerily as single points of light against black heads.
The entire series conveys a sense of vague foreboding with which the birds are often associated in both Western and Japanese cultures. The ominous atmosphere of the series anticipates the tragedy of Fukase’s own life: his career as an artist came to a sudden halt after falling down a flight of stairs following a bout of drinking in Shinjuku, Tokyo. He remained hospitalized in a coma for the following twenty years until his death in the summer of 2012.
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