Kohei Yoshiyuki Explained

was a Japanese photographer whose work included "Kōen" (Park), photographs of people at night in sexual activities in parks in Tokyo.^{[1] [2]} Prints from The Park are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA); Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]} Examples from the series were included in the exhibition Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera at Tate Modern, SFMOMA and the Walker Art Center.^[8]

Life and work

He attracted much attention in 1979 with his exhibition "Kōen" (Park) at the Komai Gallery, Tokyo. The black and white photographs were presented in a book published in 1980 that is "nominally a soft-core voyeur's manual",^[9] with photographs of people at night in sexual activities in Shinjuku and Yoyogi parks (both in Tokyo), mostly with unknown spectators around them.^[10] The photographs were taken with a 35 mm camera, infrared film and a flash with a special filter.^{[6] [11] [12] [13]} Gerry Badger and others have commented on how the photographs raise questions about the boundaries between spectator, voyeur and participant.

He died on 21 January 2022, at the age of 76.^{[14] [15] [16]}

Publications

• Dokyumento: Kōen (Document: Park). Sebun Mukku 4. Tokyo: Sebun-sha, 1980.
  • The Park. Stuttgart/Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2007. . With an introduction by Yossi Milo, an essay by Vince Aletti, and a transcript of an interview between Yoshiyuki and Nobuyoshi Araki.
  • The Park. Santa Fe, NM: Radius; New York City: Yossi Milo, 2019. . With an introduction by Yossi Milo, an essay by Aletti, and a transcript of an interview between Yoshiyuki and Araki. Includes new images and documentary materials.
• Tōsatsu! Sunahama no koibito-tachi: Uwasa no rabu airando sennyū satsueiki . Sandē-sha, 1983. .
• Middonaito fōkasu: Mayonaka no sekigaisen tōsatsu . Tokyo: Tokuma, 1989. .
• Yoshiyuki Kōhei shashinshū: Sekigai kōsen . Tokyo: Hokusōsha, 1992. .

Collections

Yoshiyuki's work is held in the following permanent collections:

• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: 2 prints (as of 2 February 2022)^[4]
• Museum of Modern Art, New York: 4 prints (as of 2 February 2022)^[3]
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco: 5 prints (as of 2 February 2022)^[5]
• Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago: 4 prints (as of 2 February 2022)^[6]
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

2 prints (as of 2 February 2022)^[7]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• The Park, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, 2007^{[17] [18]}

Group exhibitions

• Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera, Tate Modern, London, 2010; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2010–12; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2011. Included work from The Park.^{[8] [19]}

External links

• "Down in the park: Yoshiyuki Kohei's nocturnes". English translation of an interview of Yoshiyuki by Nobuyoshi Araki, first published in Weekend Super in 1979. Aperture, no. 188, Fall 2007. Included within the press kit (PDF) for the Park exhibition at Yossi Milo Gallery.
• Yossi Milo Gallery, The Park

Notes and References

1. News: Philip. Gefter. Philip Gefter. 2022-02-02. Sex in the Park, and Its Sneaky Spectators. The New York Times. 23 September 2007. 0362-4331.
2. News: Philip. Gefter. Philip Gefter. Kohei Yoshiyuki captures Japanese voyeurism. International Herald Tribune. 24 September 2007.
3. Web site: 2022-02-02. Kohei Yoshiyuki. The Museum of Modern Art.
4. Web site: 2022-02-02. Search the Collection. www.metmuseum.org.
5. Web site: 2022-02-02. Yoshiyuki, Kohei. SFMOMA.
6. Web site: 2022-02-02. Museum of Contemporary Photography. www.mocp.org.
7. Web site: Works | Yoshiyuki Kohei | People | the MFAH Collections .
8. Web site: 2022-02-02. Voyeurism, Exposed. www.artnet.com.
9. Book: Martin. Parr . Gerry. Badger . Martin Parr . Gerry Badger . The Photobook: A History – Volume 2. Phaidon Press . 7 October 2006. 978-0-7148-4433-6. 297.
10. Web site: Sean. O'Hagan. Sean O'Hagan (journalist). 2022-02-02. Park life: how photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki caught voyeurs in the act. 20 September 2012. The Guardian.
11. Web site: 2022-02-02. Infrared Sex Scenes from Japanese Photog Kohei Yoshiyuki. 25 September 2007. The Village Voice.
12. Web site: 2022-02-02. Kohei Yoshiyuki and the voyeurs of Tokyo's parks. Numéro.
13. Web site: 2022-02-02. Juxtapoz Magazine - Best of 2013: Kohei Yoshiyuki's "The Park". www.juxtapoz.com.
14. Web site: 2022-02-02. In Memoriam : Kohei Yoshiyuki (1946-2022). 1 February 2022. The Eye of Photography Magazine.
15. Web site: Kohei Yoshiyuki, Voyeuristic Photographer with a Cult Following, Dies at 76. ARTnews. Tessa. Solomon. 31 January 2022. 31 January 2022.
16. Web site: 2022-02-02. Addio a Kohei Yoshiyuki, il fotografo voyeur delle folli notti di Tokyo. 1 February 2022. La Stampa.
17. News: 2022-02-02. Kohei Yoshiyuki. The Guardian. 18 October 2007. 0261-3077.
18. Web site: Jeremy. Sigler. 2022-02-02. Kohei Yoshiyuki. 3 October 2007. The Brooklyn Rail.
19. Web site: 2022-02-02. Art review: Exposed at Tate Modern. 27 May 2010. The Guardian.