Yasuhiro Ishimoto. Lines and bodies

Ishimoto. Lines and bodies presents the emblematic series by Yasuhiro Ishimoto (1921-2012), combining the formal approach of Chicago’s New Bauhaus with the quintessence of Japanese aesthetics. This monograph allows us to rediscover the work of a photographer who published very little during his lifetime. The singularity of his vision and his work on the motif, which sometimes went as far as abstraction, made Ishimoto a key figure in the art world, shaking up the Japanese photographic scene in the 1960s. Conceived in close collaboration with the Ishimoto Yasuhiro Photo Center, the book accompanies the eponymous exhibition at Le BAL, curated by Diane Dufour with Mei Asakura, director of the Archives.

Widely considered an outsider by his peers, Ishimoto brought a formalist perspective to the Japanese photographic scene of the time. Street scenes, portraits of children dressed up for Halloween, billboards, building facades in working-class neighborhoods: his images testify to his mastery of framing as well as his sensitive perception of textures and motifs.

Four fold-outs featuring the photographer’s iconic series punctuate this publication. These include the Chicago, Beach series, in which the legs of beachgoers together create a graphic, infinite composition; and Kyoto, Katsura, one of Ishimoto’s most emblematic series, which captures details of the Japanese villa – its streamlined structure, its gardens and stone paths.
The book, which focuses on the first decades of his work, includes an introduction by Diane Dufour and a critical apparatus consisting of three texts examining the artist’s influence in the various territories to which he was linked.