In 1950, while studying fashion drawing in Japan, Toshiko Okanoue had no confidence in her ability to draw and claimed to know almost nothing about the history of art. Working with scissors, paste and a stack of lifestyle and fashion magazines, she cut out the photographs that - in her own words - 'fit my dreams' and arranged them on black flocked paper. 'Those scraps of my fantasies turned into strangely interesting things, she said, 'things I would not have thought of. Emboldened and delighted by the results, I made one collage after another.' When an exhibition of her work opened in Tokyo in 1953, Okanoue's collages were described as 'a contemporary version of Alice in Wonderland.' Surreal in appearance, they are perhaps most remarkable for what they represent: a young Japanese woman's perception of the Western way of life, as seen through her artless rearrangement of images clipped from such magazines as Life and Vogue. The work reproduced here was made between 1951 and 1956. In 1957 Okanoue married the painter Kazutomo Fujino and ceased making pictures. Introduction by Ryuichi Kaneko.

Drop of Dreams

Arts & Photography

Toshiko Okanoue

Photography & Video

Nazraeli Press

<p>Following our monograph, 'Drop of Dreams', Toshiko Okanoue's collages were exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The exposure generated from that exhibition, coupled with Okanoue's inclusion in The History of Japanese Photography book and exhibition, created a great demand for Okanoue's work among private and institutional collectors. With most of her original collages now in the holdings of museums in Asia, Europe and the United States, we are pleased to announce a limited-edition portfolio of Okanoue's work. Beautifully printed in four-color sheetfed offset on heavy art paper, the 12 images selected for this portfolio represent the best of Okanoue's output between the years 1951 and 1956, described at the time as 'a contemporary version of Alice in Wonderland.' Surreal in appearance, they are perhaps most remarkable for what they represent: a young Japanese woman's perception of the Western way of life, as seen through her artless rearrangement of images clipped from such magazines as Life and Vogue. Presented in a custom clamshell box, The Miracle of Silence portfolio is limited to 250 signed and numbered copies.</p>

The Miracle of Silence

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Toshiko Okanoue. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Toshiko Okanoue

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Toshiko Okanoue. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Drop of Dreams

The Miracle of Silence