Sumo, Tokyo, 2009 by Jean-Michel (JM) Voge is a contemporary color photograph 23.5" x 16.5" printed on handmade Awagami Japanese paper by the artist. The archival pigment print is: Edition 1/5.
The work is from “Sumos - Coulisses” series - a portfolio of original photographs on Sumo culture captured in Tokyo in 2009. The monumental figure of the sumo wrestler (rikishi) is photographed in the starting position before the fight, with his fists resting behind the shikiri-sen (two parallel white lines in the center of every sumo ring), indicating each opponent’s half of the ring. For the photograph JM focuses on the wrestler’s tension leading up to the initial clash, as rikishi will stare each other down putting pressure on and anticipating their opponent’s next move.
Provenance: JM Voge Studio
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Artist’s Bio:
Jean-Michel (JM) Voge (b. 1949) is a fine art photographer, formerly editorial freelancer for magazines, such as Madame Figaro (1982-2010), Le Figaro Magazine, Point of View, Marie France, Town and Country, European Travel and LIFE, Fortune Magazine, and AD Spain. The French photographer published a critically-acclaimed monograph on portraits of Europeans, "Figures of Europe," which include portraits of influential Europeans through 1990. Among JM's personal projects, he photographed the Surma tribe in the Omo Valley in Ethiopia, Africa and the Sumo in Tokyo. JM travels for much of his material including extended trips to Greenland.
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