13 - Go Mishima (Tsuyoshi Yoshida) (Japanese, 1924-1988)

Go Mishima (Tsuyoshi Yoshida) (Japanese, 1924-1988) Go Mishima's Book of Pictures of Young Men [Mishima Go gashu Wakamono], 1972. Portfolio of Twenty-One of Twenty-Four (21 of 24) Offset Lithographs, accompanied by a cover page, colophon, and the original portfolio case. Published by Daini Shobo (distributor of Barazoku Magazine). Each: 16 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. (41.9 x 29.5 cm) Notes: In the late 1940s, the artist Tsuyoshi Yoshida would find himself a part of the nascent gay culture of Post-War Japan immersing himself in the nightclubs, cruising boxes (hattenba), saunas, and gyms of Tokyo. He would assume his pseudonym “Go Mishima” after his friend, the infamous poet and political figure Yukio Mishima (1925-1970), who he had met through the bodybuilding community in Tokyo. Mishima had encouraged Yoshida to pursue his erotic illustrations depicting traditionally masculine Japanese men, in line with Mishima's unique traditionalist-nationalistic views. A key figure in the earliest gay centered publications in Japan in the 1970s, Go Mishima's artwork filled the early issues of Barazoku and eventually Sabu, both publications becoming pioneers in gay male aesthetics in Japan. Yoshida, and his contemporaries Go Hirano and Sadao Hasegawa, came to define the aesthetic of Japanese homoerotic art and future gay manga, by depicting masculine figures with thick body hair, toned musculature and cropped haircuts. Yoshida in particular focused on yakuza-styled figures, often with irezumi tattoos and wearing traditional fundoshi underwear. Provenance Property of a Private California Collection. Condition Tears and surface damage across cardboard case; Each print has pin marks on all four corners of the sheet; Corner crease present on the lower right of each sheet; Some prints have tears or surface damage outside of the image; inquire for the full condition report. For further condition details or additional images, please contact info@vallots.com