Fievres Nocturnes by Toshio Saeki

by Toshio Saeki

"An artist with a true cult following, Toshio Saeki is the inventor of a unique style, in a field that he has completely transformed, the ero guro – which can be translated as “erotic-grotesque scenes” . This genre, whose authorship is attributed to the writer Edogawa Ranpo, finds its source in the origins of classic Japanese drawing, nourishing numerous prints throughout time with monsters and nightmarish scenes. Saeki, by declining traditional motifs and mixing them with his own obsessions, echoed the anxieties of his generation, the youth of the 1970s, who believed they could free themselves from the conventions of a paternalistic society before experiencing disillusionment. .

Human society, its violence and its defects are the basis for scenes whose cruelty provokes fear or laughter, pushing the mechanics of fantasy to its limits. Sadomasochism does not cover any reality here, drawing from dreamlike a form of macabre poetry. Stimulated by the censorship that rages in Japan - it is prohibited to show the sexes - Saeki makes the prohibition an artistic constraint and deports the oldest subject in the world towards the absurd and dreamlike. His precise style, which reminds Europeans of the famous “clear line” of Hergé and Joost Swarte, remains strange for the Japanese reader as for the Western reader, each finding in this line of perfect simplicity a form of unprecedented exoticism. This perception can only be explained by the absolute originality of an extravagant picture book,

This second volume of the anthology follows the work 'Rêve écarlate' and compiles illustrations published between 1972 and 1974 in the magazine 'SM Selecto'" - Cornélius

192 pages, approx. 6.5" x 9.75", full color, hardcover with dust jacket. Published by Cornélius in Bordeaux, 2022.

Please enter code "PICKUP" at checkout to take off shipping for in-store pickup.
Please email [email protected] for international shipping