Katsura Imperial Villa, Ishimoto Yasuhiro Collection Exhibition
The Katsura Imperial Villa, located on the banks of Katsura-gawa river in the suburbs of Kyoto, was built as a retreat for the Hachijonomiya family in the early 17th century. The architectural complex that encompasses among others several shoin (main buildings) and tea houses, along with the surrounding gardens, has been evaluated as a high point of Japanese aesthetic. When Ishimoto visited the Katsura Villa for his first shooting session in 1953, he had just returned to Japan from the
Nude, Ishimoto Yasuhiro Collection Exhibition
After having received his education in cutting-edge modern design and photography in America, Ishimoto moved his base to Tokyo in 1953. While exhibiting the photographs he had taken as a student, he worked on his well-known “Katsura Imperial Villa” series, and at the same time, dedicated much of his time also to shooting photos for Japanese photography journals. Next to series focusing on children or sceneries of Tokyo, his nude photographs represent another noteworthy chapter in Ishimoto’s oeuvre. In the
Ishimoto Yasuhiro Centennial
Ishimoto Yasuhiro (1921-2012), a photographer with roots in Kochi, has been highly regarded in Japan and abroad for his clear focus on the essence of his photographic subjects, as well as strictly compositional concepts. Born in San Francisco as a son of agricultural immigrants, Ishimoto spent his childhood in Takaoka-gun (today Tosa City) in Kochi Prefecture, before moving back to the US to study cutting-edge modern design after the war. His studies at the Chicago school that is commonly known
