Face of Washington Square. Photographs by Sumiharu Watanabe. Hasimoto Yuyudo, Tokyo. 1965. 211 pp. Small quarto. First edition. Stiff wrappers in photo-illustrated dust jacket. Original printed belly-band. Printed board slipcase.
One of the few great Japanese photobooks shot in America during in the style of 'Provoke' movement, Watanabe's Face of Washington Square combines the spirit of the 'happenings' movement of the sixties with a photographic sensibility that draws strength from some of the same preoccupations as those seen in the work of William Klein, Helen Levitt, and Robert Frank during this period. The images show the exuberant, almost pulsating diverse humanity at the heart of mid-60's Greenwich Village.
Very rare, even more so with the original slipcase and belly-band.
One of the few great Japanese photobooks shot in America during in the style of 'Provoke' movement, Watanabe's Face of Washington Square combines the spirit of the 'happenings' movement of the sixties with a photographic sensibility that draws strength from some of the same preoccupations as those seen in the work of William Klein, Helen Levitt, and Robert Frank during this period. The images show the exuberant, almost pulsating diverse humanity at the heart of mid-60's Greenwich Village.
Very rare, even more so with the original slipcase and belly-band.
