Shomei Tomatsu — Fundación MAPFRE, 2018

This is the major European monograph on Shomei Tomatsu, one of the most uncompromising and poetic photographers of postwar Japan. Published by Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid in 2018, the book accompanied a landmark retrospective and gathers an expansive selection of Tomatsu’s images—from his searing early work documenting U.S. military presence and atomic trauma, to surreal, symbolic studies of Okinawa, Nagasaki, and Tokyo street life.

Designed with clarity and depth, the book moves through key series such as Chewing Gum and Chocolate, Occupation, Nagasaki 11:02, and Oh! Shinjuku. What emerges is a portrait of a restless image-maker who turned away from classical reportage toward a visual language of metaphor, texture, and rupture. Tomatsu’s photography is both documentary and dreamlike—shell fragments, scarred skin, broken watches, cigarettes, soldiers, schoolgirls, sea.

In contrast to contemporaries like Araki or Moriyama, Tomatsu carried a quieter, more political urgency, making his work essential to any understanding of postwar Japanese identity. The Fundación MAPFRE edition brings this legacy into sharp focus for new audiences, with generous reproductions and rare material. It belongs in the Darwin archive as a cornerstone—elegant, radical, and historically exacting.

Technical Sheet
Title: Shomei Tomatsu
Artist / Author: Shomei Tomatsu
Date: 2018
Technique / Printing Method: Offset
Medium / Materials: Hardcover with cloth spine
Dimensions (cm): approx. 25 × 30
Language: Available in Spanish / English / Catalan
Publisher / Editor: Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid
ISBN: 978-84-9844-677-7
Condition: New