Provoke: First Abandon the World of Certainty

Tokyo: Tabata Shoten. 1970. 8vo.; perfect bound; illustrated throughout in b&w; burgundy endpapers; pictorial wrappers; held in custom cloth slipcover and case.

$5000

First edition. Signed by Moriyama on the first page. A lovely copy of this seminal Provoke publication. As Kotaro Iizawo explains in The History of Japanese Photography, the aim of the enormously influential Provoke movement was to “rethink the rigidified relation between word and image, and to create ‘new language, in short, new thought.’” Founded by Koji Taki and Nakahira Takuma in late 1968 (Daido Moriyama joined the group for their second issue), the group produced “fragmented images that completely demolished the established aesthetic and grammar of photography.” In keeping with the tumultuous events of that year, the artists of Provoke were fierce in their desire to do away with received ideas and meanings (“the world of pseudo-certainty”). And, in true avant-garde spirit, theirs was a frontal assault on the medium and the institutions in which they were working. As individuals, however, they were constantly at odds with one another; Provoke, their house organ, ceased publication in August 1969 after only three issues. This volume, published a year after the dissolution of the group, represents their final statement. It contains five portfolios, Provoke 1-5, and six texts, Predict 1-6. The portfolios are by Nakahira, Moriyama, Takanashi, Taki, and Taki & Moriyama. The texts are by Taki, Okada, Moriyama, Amano, Takanashi and Nakashira.