In a career spanning over fifty years, Japanese photographer Shomei Tomatsu used his camera to poetically examine the post-war evolution of his country. Beginning as a traditional photojournalist, Tomatsu progressed beyond standard reportage to a more expressionistic documentary style. The environmental and cultural devastation of Japan during World War II influenced Tomatsu’s photographic sensibility, prompting him to investigate the transformative effects the war and Western influence had on his country and people. It is Tomatsu’s distinct vision, as seen in lots 39-41, that has made him a touchstone of post-war Japanese photography, and has indelibly influenced the subsequent generation of Japanese photographers. The major retrospective of his work organized by the San Francisco Museum of Art in 2005, Shomei Tomatsu: Skin of the Nation, is largely responsible for introducing his work to the American audience.