Namio Harukawa

Namio Harukawa (春川ナミオ, Harukawa Namio, May 1947 – April 24, 2020) was a pseudonymous Japanese fetish artist best known for his works depicting female domination ("femdom"), with erotic asphyxiation through facesitting appearing as a frequent subject of his art. He depicted voluptuous women, who dominated and used men as human furniture.[2]

Namio Harukawa
春川 ナミオ
Born	May 1947[1] Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Died	April 24, 2020 (aged 72)
Nationality	Japanese
Known for	Erotic illustration

Biography

Harukawa was born in 1947[3] in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.[4] As a high school student he contributed artwork to Kitan Club, a post-war pulp magazine that published sadomasochistic artwork and prose.[4] He developed a career as a fetish artist in the 1960s and 1970s,[3] taking the pen name "Namio Harukawa": formed from an anagram of "Naomi", a reference to Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's novel of the same name, and actress Masumi Harukawa.[4] Though he worked in pornographic magazines for the majority of his career, his work received wider recognition and critical acclaim beginning in the 2000s.[3] His art has earned praise from Oniroku Dan, Shūji Terayama, and Madonna,[5][6] and favorable comparisons to works by Robert Crumb.[7][8]

His artwork typically features women with large breasts, hips, legs, and buttocks dominating and humiliating smaller men, typically through facesitting or other forms of sexualized smothering. Bondage and human furniture are depicted frequently in his art.[8]

Kyonyū Katsuai, a two-volume book of Harukawa's works, has been published in Japan.[9] Two volumes of works by Harukawa have been published by French publishing house United Dead Artists: Callipyge in 2009,[7][10] the first book of works by Harukawa published outside of Japan,[11] and Maxi Cula in 2012.[12][13] Works by Harukawa were exhibited at the Museum of Eroticism in Paris in 2013,[11] his first solo exhibition outside of Japan.[3] The exhibition featured 71 works by Harukawa, 59 of which were from his Garden of Domina series.[3] The Incredible Femdom Art of Namio Harukawa, an anthology of Harukawa's works, was published by Kawade Shobō Shinsha in 2019.[14]

Harukawa died on April 24, 2020.[15] His death was confirmed in a blog post by Yuko Kitagawa, the owner of a video production company with longstanding ties to Harukawa.[16]

References

1. "春川ナミオ プロフィール". HMV & BOOKS. Lawson Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
2. "Japanese femdom artist Namio Harukawa has passed away". Dazed. 27 April 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
3. "Fesses en plaine face". Libération. 16 July 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
4. "Namio Harukawa". Arts Factory. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
5. Harukawa, Namio (21 May 2019). The Incredible Femdom Art of Namio Harukawa. Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 978-4309921723.
6. "Knowledge is Power 📚. This is Art! By Harukama Namio". @madonna. Instagram. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
7. "Callipy". Graphzines (in French). Retrieved 24 October 2019.
8. Wist, Audra (27 August 2015). "The Glorious Joy of Facesitting". Autre Magazine. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
9. "Namio Harukawa: SM Kitan 1975". Kinbaku Today. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
10. "Callipyge". United Dead Artists. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
11. Giard, Agnes (15 July 2013). "Une exposition de face-sitting à Paris". Libération. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
12. "Maxi Cula". Graphzines (in French). Retrieved 24 October 2019.
13. "Maxi Cula". United Dead Artists. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
14. "Ｔｈｅ Ｉｎｃｒｅｄｉｂｌｅ Ｆｅｍｄｏｍ Ａｒｔ ｏｆ ＮＡＭＩＯ ＨＡＲＵＫＡＷＡ". Kawade Shobō Shinsha. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
15. È morto l’illustratore erotico giapponese Namio Harukawa (in Italian)
16. Kitagawa, Yuko (25 April 2020). "突然の悲しい知らせに涙が止まりません！". Kitagawa Production (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 April 2020.

Further reading

• Harukawa, Namio. Garden of Domina: An Illustrated Story. Pottoshuppan, 2012.
• Harukawa, Namio. The Incredible Femdom Art of Namio Harukawa. Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2019.