Issei Sagawa is a Japanese man who in 1981, while in Paris, murdered and cannibalized a Dutch woman named Renée Issei Sagawa is a Japanese man who in 1981, while in Paris, murdered and cannibalized a Dutch woman named Renée Hartevelt. After his release, he became a minor celebrity in Japan and made a living through the public's interest in his crime.. After his release, he became a minor celebrity in Japan and made a living through the public's interest in his crime. After eating portions of Hartevelt's body, he tried to dump the corpse in a remote lake. Witnesses saw him and he was soon arrested. According to reports, Issei uttered the following to the French police who raided his home: “I killed her to eat her flesh.”

French psychologists found Sagawa to have been legally insane at the time of the crime and, therefore, unfit to stand trial. He was subsequently exempted from prosecution. He returned to his homeland, where Japanese authorities tried to put him on trial for murder. French justice officials refused to hand over the necessary documents to carry on and he was again set free.

Two 4" X 6" prints on professional processed glossy photopaper. These prints were copied directly from the original photographs which were personal photographs belonging to Sagawa. The photographs are not dated or signed but both appear to have been taken around the same time period as one another.