Daido Moriyama: Dear Mr. Niépce (Signed)

One of Daido Moriyama’s ongoing series of silkscreen printed on canvas covered signed and numbered limited edition books published by Akio Nagasawa, Tokyo.

There once was a scientist named Joseph Nicephore Niepce, who 196 years ago passionately captured the summer scenery that he saw from the window of a certain house in that town. The resulting image was titled “View from the Window of Le Gras,” and became known as the first “photograph” in history.

Published 33 years ago, was my own photo book Lettre a St. Loup.

Then, about 15 years after that, I actually went to see that sacred place, Saint-Loup-de-Varennes.

Another couple of years later, I traveled to Texas, USA, to see with my own eyes the “View from the Window of Le Gras” in the photograph – now no longer showing a discernible image –- that was on display at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin.

From there, that scenery from 196 years ago, composed exclusively of parts of light and shadow, has continued to provide me with a quiet impulse and certain stimulus over a long period of time.

This book, Dear Mr. Niepce, contains photos of all kinds of things at Niepce’s old work place in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes that I had shot during my visit, as well as snapshots of the surrounding scenery, and one picture capturing the view from the window, juxtaposed with various images taken in and around my own place in Ikebukuro.

Niepce worked with a large photographing apparatus, while I used a compact camera that easily fits into the pocket of my jeans – definitely operating on quite a different scale."



Title: Uwajima
Publisher: Akio Nagasawa, 2023
Photographer: Daido Moriyama
Format: Softcover, silkscreen-printed canvas cover
Size: 21 x 29.7 cm, 104 pages
Edition: Signed & numbered limited edition of 350 copies