There’s a Japan (several, actually) aside from all the lights and colour, away from urban futurism, spotless cleanliness and unnavigable manners. Head out to one of the country’s many mid-size industrial hubs and you’ll find filthy, dulled, bleak places, miserable in very harsh, hopeless, inescapable, mechanical sort of ways.
It’s that side of Japan that, for me, is captured by the likes of Kaoru Abe. Bootleg Winter 1972 exhibits Abe in his early 20s, a free jazzist whose frantic solo meandering feels more panicked and frightened than spiritual. Abe sounds like he’s playing under threat, like this is the only option and yet his sole reward is the solitary clapping of one audience member.
Princess Grace of Monaco and her children, Princess Caroline and Prince Albert, during their annual skiing vacation in Gstaad, Switzerland, on February 2, 1962.
Anjelica Huston wears a natural silver fox coat. By Oscar de la Renta. Bright red sweater by Korrigan, gray flannel pants and belt by yves Saint Laurent Rive gauche, knit and leather gloves, by Keyser, red muffler, by Echo, sunglasses, Riviera, thick-soled crepe shoes, by Shoe Biz. Hairdressing, Cinandre.
Anjelica Huston porte un manteau en renard argenté naturel. Par Oscar de la Renta. Pull rouge vif par Korrigan, pantalon en flanelle gris et ceinture par yves Saint Laurent Rive gauche, gants en tricot et cuir, par Keyser, cache-nez rouge, par Echo, lunettes de soleil, Riviera, Chaussures à semelles épaisses en crêpe, par Shoe Biz. Coiffure, Cinandré.
The mountain is high, the valley is low,
And you're confused on which way to go.
So I've come here to give you a hand
And lead you into the promised land, so...