The Wall. Die Mauer. Le Mur by Tajiri, Shinkichi

Baarlo, Netherlands: X-Press, 1971. Oblong 12mo. (10 x 22.5 cm). Original illustrated cardboard covers; 92 pp. Limited edition of 100 copies, hand-signed and numbered to front cover by Tajiri. Some slight rubbing and soiling, very small tear to binding along spine, overall very good. Shinkichi Tajiri (1923-2009) was a Japanese-American sculptor, painter, photographer, and cinematographer from Los Angeles. In 1942, his family was evacuated to the Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona, and in 1943 he and his brother joined the war, serving in the European theater. After getting wounded in Italy, Tajiri returned to the United States to study at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1949 he traveled to Europe, associating with artists like Fernand Léger and Karel Appel, and won a Golden Palm at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival for his first short film, The Vipers. He moved to the Netherlands in 1956 and lived there until his death.

In 1969, Tajiri received a guest professorship from the Hoschschule der Künste (HdK) in Berlin, and over the next two years undertook a project to photograph every part of the Berlin Wall, creating a photobook in honor of the Wall's 10th anniversary. Tajiri was quoted as saying, "During my bi-monthly trips to Berlin, I explored the Wall. It was the most fascinating piece of architecture in Berlin, and it drew me like a magnet." According to Tajiri's website, kept up by his estate, it took several weeks and more than 600 photos for him to photograph the entire thing. The text printed on the cover reads, "This book attempts to contain the entire 27 kilometers of the Berlin WALL which will be 10 years this month August 1971."

Scarce; as of April 2022, OCLC locates only one copy of this work in a North American library.