The critic Koji Taki has died at the age of 82 on Apr 13 in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, it has been reported. A graduate of the art history program in the faculty of letters at Tokyo University, Taki wrote on a broad range of topics – including philosophy, politics and history – in addition to art. Along with Takuma Nakahira, in 1968 he was one of the founders of the seminal independent photo magazine Provoke, for which he provided the majority of funding. Other notable projects include editing the publication Nihon shashin shi 1840-1945 (A History of Japanese Photography: 1840-1945; Heibonsha, 1971), contributing to the architecture periodical 10+1 and writing books including Ikirareta ie (Lived-in Houses; Tabatashoten, 1976), Tenno no shozo (The Emperor’s Portrait; Iwanami Shoten, 1988) and Senso ron (The Theory of War; Iwanami Shoten, 1999). Taki is the latest among a generation of influential Japanese art critics and intellectuals who have died in recent years. These include Yoshiaki Tono (1930-2005), Ichiro Haryu (1925-2010), Yusuke Nakahara (1931-2011) and Shinichi Segi (1931-2011).
For architect and architecture critic Hajime Yatsuka’s obituary for Koji Taki in ART iT, Japan Edition, see here (JP only).