Tim Walker Makes Activist Artistry In 'An Artist of the Floating World' For Vogue UK December 2016

Tim Walker Makes Activist Artistry In 'An Artist of the Floating World' For Vogue UK December 2016

An Artist of the Floating World' (1986) is a historical novel by Kazuo Ishiguro set in Japan post WWII. The narrative belongs to Masuji Ono, an aging painter who -- in the buildup to WWII -- broke away from his teacher to pursue nationalistic propagandistic art.  Much like the McCarthy era in America's 1950s, where America's artists were regularly rounded up and jailed as Communists, Ono took an active role in Japan's ideological witch hunt. 

Master photographer Tim Walker produces another of his breathtaking editorials, 'An Artist of the Floating World'. Shooting for the first time on location in Japan, Walker captures models Rianne van Rompaey, Chiharu Okunugi, Maaya Yoshiyama, Yukihide Harada, Mari, and Yubi joined by talents Yoshito Ohno, Masaharu Imazu, Yuta Ishiyana, Masashi Nakamura, Barabbas Okuyama and Hiroshi Ishiguro styled by Kate Phelan./Hair by Shon; makeup by Sam Bryant

The timely nature of Walker's creative impulse for 'An Artist of the Floating World' is surely the rise of nationalism worldwide and specifically the rise of Donald Trump and his embrace of nationalistic, alt-right, ideological purity in America. ~ Anne