Christian with Keloidal Scars
Shomei Tomatsu
Japanese, 1930–2012
1961
A gelatin silver print in which Shomei Tomatsu tightly crops two figures and a dog, using stark light and deep shadow to compel a close, uneasy confrontation with aged, scarred skin and withheld emotion.
What strikes first is the extreme chiaroscuro—the white sweep of hair and the dog’s back blazing against an almost absolute black as a face above emerges like a carved mask, every wrinkle and textured scar rendered with piercing clarity.
Taken in 1961, the image exemplifies Tomatsu’s turn from straightforward reportage to a more subjective, expressive portraiture that made visible the bodily and social aftershocks of postwar Japan and helped reshape documentary photography into a medium for psychological and historical inquiry.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
12 15/16 × 8 1/2" (33 × 21.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the artist
Accession
696.1978
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
