Issei Suda, The Tension Between the Ordinary and the Extraordinary
Published in 2011, ‘The Work of a Lifetime – Photographs 1968—2006…’ looks back on half a century of evolution in Japan.

Issei Suda © Priska Pasquer
Providing a unique panorama with an undeniable degree of nostalgia, this photo book brings together images of children, streets, and the daily lives of the inhabitants of Tokyo, all captured by Issei Suda. The attention is focused on the gestures, perspectives, postures, and details that render each moment unique. The photographs illustrate the effect of time on an environment undergoing change, and present a reality that sometimes escapes what we see on the surface. Throughout the course of these images, we see the energy that gave birth to the evolution of Japanese society.
Born in 1940 in the Kanda district, the Japanese photographer Issei Suda captured the markers of Tokyo as an epoch disappeared in front of his eyes. He began working as a documentary photographer in 1967 for the avant-garde theatre group Tenjo Sajiki, and then became an independent photographer in 1971 before his death in 2019.
A singular approach
Throughout the pages of The Work of a Lifetime – Photographs 1968—2006…, 90 photographs in black-and-white retrace 40 years of his career, immersing the reader in the daily lives of his subjects, often children wandering alone through the streets, mysterious portraits imbued with a quiet power. In the series Fûshi Kaden, the artist draws us into another universe, one of Noh theatre, practiced in the early 15th century and combining art, music, and dance.
According to Ferdinand Brueggemann, historian of photography and director of the Priska Pasquer Gallery in Cologne, ‘what is so special about Suda is this tension between the ordinary and the extraordinary, between tradition and modernity. This precise observation and description, the mystery arising from the inherent tension in these images, make the work that Suda was doing so different from that of other artists in this period.’
The Work of a Lifetime – Photographs 1968—2006… (2011), by Issei Suda is published by Only Photography.

Issei Suda © Priska Pasquer

Issei Suda © Priska Pasquer

Issei Suda © Priska Pasquer

Issei Suda © Priska Pasquer

Issei Suda © Priska Pasquer

Issei Suda © Priska Pasquer
TRENDING
-
Paris, Tokyo: Robert Compagnon
With his co-chef and talented wife, Jessica Yang, Robert Compagnon opened one of the top new restaurants in Paris: Le Rigmarole.
3:31 -
Recipe for Ichiraku Ramen from ‘Naruto’ by Danielle Baghernejad
Taken from the popular manga with the character of the same name who loves ramen, this dish is named after the hero's favourite restaurant.
-
The Fighter Jet-Shaped Mazda RX500 in the Words of its Original Designer
The Mazda RX500 was not a mere show car, but a prototype vehicle, developed as the successor to [the Mazda] Cosmo Sports.
-
Hajime Sorayama's Futuristic Eroticism
The illustrator is the pioneer for a form of hyperrealism that combines sensuality and technology and depicts sexualised robots.
-
The Tradition of the Black Eggs of Mount Hakone
In the volcanic valley of Owakudani, curious looking black eggs with beneficial properties are cooked in the sulphurous waters.