TADANORI YOKOO / Posthumous Works

Tadanori Yokoo
Posthumous Works, 1968
Softcover in publisher's slipcase, 124 pages
30 x 24cm
Heibonsha, Tokyo

Condition: Very good. Original dust jacket with light rubbing, a few minor creases and small areas of wear to the extremities. Boards are clean and sound with scattered foxing, most noticeable to the rear board. Internally, the pages are bright and clean, with strong colour reproduction throughout. A well-preserved example of this increasingly scarce first edition.

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Published by Heibonsha in Tokyo in 1968, Posthumous Works (横尾忠則遺作集) is Tadanori Yokoo's landmark first monograph and one of the defining Japanese art books of the post-war period. Conceived as a fictional retrospective for an artist who was still very much alive, the publication transformed the conventional exhibition catalogue into a conceptual artwork, announcing Yokoo's rejection of artistic convention and his embrace of self-mythology.

Bringing together paintings, posters, collages and graphic works produced during the 1960s, the book captures the visual language that made Yokoo an international figure. Drawing freely from Japanese popular culture, psychedelic design, advertising, political imagery, religious symbolism and traditional iconography, his densely layered compositions collapse distinctions between East and West, fine art and mass media, history and fantasy.

Published shortly after Yokoo represented Japan at the 1968 Venice Biennale, Posthumous Works established him as one of the most influential graphic artists of his generation. Today it is regarded as one of the essential Japanese artist's books of the twentieth century, prized for both its groundbreaking design and its enduring influence on post-war visual culture.