“A PHOTOGRAPHER LOOKS AT EVERYTHING, WHICH IS WHY HE MUST LOOK FROM BEGINNING TO END. FACE THE SUBJECT HEAD-ON, STARE FIXEDLY, TURN THE ENTIRE BODY INTO AN EYE AND FACE THE WORLD”
– Shomei Tomatsu
“TOMATSU IS THE PIVOTAL FIGURE OF RECENT JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHY, HIS IMAGES ARE AN INTUITIVE RESPONSE TO THE EXPERIENCE OF LIFE ITSELF.” – John Szarkowski
“Shomei Tomatsu (1930 – 2012) was perhaps the most influential Japanese photographer of the post-war era. His raw, grainy and impressionistic style signalled a dramatic break with the quiet formalism that had defined earlier photography. Influencing the anti-establishment Provoke photography movement in Japan in the late 1960s, he is hailed as the stylistic mentor of artists such as Daido Moriyama, Nobuyoshi Araki and Takuma Nakihara.”
-Michael Hoppen Gallery, http://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artists/64-shomei-tomatsu/overview/#/artworks/9760
The Incubator 