Le Bossu. Otaru, Hokkaido

"Le Bossu, Otaru, Hokkaido" (The Hunchback, Otaru, Hokkaido) from 1952 depicts a physically disabled man from the port city of Otaru on Japan's northern island — one of Jacoulet's most challenging and compassionate subject choices. His willingness to portray physical difference with dignity rather than as curiosity reflects the humanism that runs through his entire body of work. Otaru in the early 1950s was still a prosperous herring-fishing port, and the figure's placement in this northern city gives the print its specific geographic and social texture.