Ishimoto Yasuhiro Profile

Born 1921 in San Francisco. Left the USA to relocate with his parents to their Japanese home province Kochi at the age of three. Graduated from Kochi Prefectural Agricultural High School in 1939. Returned to America in the same year, shortly before the Pacific War broke out and Ishimoto experienced life at an internment camp. After the war, he studied photographic techniques at the Institute of Design (also known as New Bauhaus) in Chicago, and further trained his sense of shape that would become the foundation of his work. Later became highly regarded for works rediscovering the modernism of the Katsura Imperial Villa, and widely known for photographs depicting numerous works of Japanese leading architects including TANGE Kenzo, KIKUTAKE Kiyonori, ISOZAKI Arata and NAITO Hiroshi.

Person of Cultural Merit. Received the Kochi Prefecture Cultural Award. Passed away on February 6, 2012, at the age of 90. Shoshii, Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.

Selected photo books
Someday, Somewhere (1958)
KATSURA: Tradition and Creation in Japanese Architecture (1960)
Chicago, Chicago (1969)
The Mandalas of Two Worlds: The Legend of Shingonin (1977)
HANA (1988)
Ise Jingu (1995)
Toki: Moment (2004)

Selected solo exhibitions
“Yasuhiro Ishimoto: A Tale of Two Cities”, The Art Institute of Chicago (1999)
“Yasuhiro Ishimoto: Chicago and Tokyo”, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (1998)
“Ishimoto Yasuhiro Shashinten 1946–2001″, The Museum of Art, Kochi (2001)

Public collections
The Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
Kawasaki City Museum
Yokohama Museum of Art
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Art Institute of Chicago