Shoji Otake, born in 1920 in Shizuoka, was from the 1950s through the 1970s one of the top photographers of women in Japan. For five years from 1971, Otake photographed housewives and “OL (Office Lady)” nudes (sometimes together with their families) on Nippon Television; this work too was later collected into books.
Even so Shoji Otake was from an older generation than Shinoyama, Hosoe and Araki the mutual influences are clearly visible.
The images shown here are from his 1974 publication “Janet”. Much of the book will remind you of Shinoyama’s Nude Portfolio with its artfully distorted yet ultra-fashionable nudes set in the panoramic desert of the American southwest.
The truffel hunters of Bang Bang books
have a copy of this rare book for sale:
Janet. Shoji Otake. First edition, 1974. Japan. 30 cm x 21 cm, ca. 180 pp, color & b/w photos.
