William Klein: Tokyo 1961

After documenting the streets of New York, Rome, Paris and Moscow, William Klein is back at the Polka gallery with a series of photographs portraying 1960s Tokyo. Klein first discovered Tokyo in ’61, on an official visit to Japan. Shown around by government representatives, he found a way to sneak off into back streets of Tokyo and captures the essence of the city at a time when Tokyoites were recovering from war and preparing for the 1964 Olympic Games. Klein makes his way through the busy streets observing everyone he meets, from children fighting on a street corner to a Butoh dancer poised in a contorted position and geishas posing in their rooms. Intimate and full of life, Klein's images bear witness to a society in transition.