# Nobuyoshi Araki artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/nobuyoshi-araki/
Profile generated: 2026-08-18T17:15:16.559Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Japanese
- Common media: Photography, Photobooks and artist books, Photographic prints and editioned works

## About Nobuyoshi Araki

Nobuyoshi Araki (born 1940), also known professionally as Arākii, is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist whose extensive practice is closely associated with photography and the photobook. Authority records identify him in Japanese as 荒木経惟 and classify his roles across photography, art, authorship, and illustration. His work is widely recognized for bringing eroticism and bondage into a fine-art setting, while bibliographic records also document a sustained engagement with Tokyo through numerous publications. Araki's prolific book production is central to how his images circulate: collectors may encounter individual photographs and editioned prints as well as complete photobooks and other published projects. Museum and authority profiles maintained by MoMA, Tate, Getty, VIAF, and IdRef provide strong identity anchors for matching his work across collections, catalogues, and sale records. His substantial presence in Appraisily's matched auction data also means that careful comparison among formats, dates, editions, subjects, and conditions is especially important.

## Common works and media

Collectors are most likely to encounter Araki through photographs, photographic prints, editioned works, and photobooks. Documented subject areas include erotic imagery, bondage presented in a fine-art context, and Tokyo-centered projects. Because his images circulate both as individual works and within publications, an appraisal should identify whether an object is an original or later print, an editioned work, or a commercially published book, and should record its date, dimensions, inscriptions, edition information, and condition.

## Market and appraisal context

Nobuyoshi Araki's market should be assessed through closely comparable works rather than a single artist-wide price benchmark. For a photograph or print, relevant details include the photographic medium, dimensions, production date, edition size and number, signature or inscriptions, condition, provenance, exhibition history, and catalogue references. Subject matter, rarity, and attribution confidence may also distinguish one result from another. Photobooks require attention to the exact title, edition, publication details, completeness, condition, and any signature or association. Public auction results can help establish context, but reported totals may treat fees differently and may omit private transactions. Appraisily's collected page also presents inconsistent record totals, so coverage figures should be reconciled before they are used in published market claims.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist-identity research from museum and authority records with matched public auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Private sales, incomplete feeds, reporting differences, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q450696
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500116119
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/96542211/
- IdRef: https://www.idref.fr/034479155
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/7522
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/nobuyoshi-araki-2752
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobuyoshi_Araki
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/nobuyoshi-araki/