Text jap. - The 3 monumental issues of this Japanese avant-garde publication were published in 1968 (one issue) and 1969 (two issues). Recognized today as a turning point in Japanese photography, "Provoke" was published during a period of national upheaval, when protest and dissension rocked the country. A publication that creatively investigated the relationship between language and art, "Provoke" sought a new, more radical photographic language and was both a highly political and artistic manifesto. The publication brought together some of the most important photographers of the period, including Koji Taki, Takuma Nakahira, Yutaka Takanashi, and Daido Moriyama. It also influenced many more, including Nobuyoshi Araki who said, famously that "it was like a bomb in Japanese photography." Although only three issues were published, the Provoke style continued to find new forms of expression in these photographers'' later books. "Provoke" is wholly a product of its era, representing youth and rage, defiance and the crisis of identity, and a rough, unmediated, blurred aesthetic that rose above the constraints of culture and time. (Auct. Swann Photographic Litertaure & Photographs, sale 2166, lot 200, New York, NY, 12 Dec. 2008).