Leading Japanese American Photographer born in San Francisco and raised Kochi City, Japan. In 1939, due to concerns of him being drafted he returned to the United States where he studied agriculture at the University of California (1940-42). He moved to Chicago in 1944 and began to study architecture at Northwestern University.
From 1942 to 1944, he was interned with other Japanese Americans at the Amache Internment Camp (also known as Granada Relocation Center) in Colorado. It was here that he began to learn photography.
in 1946 when he met photographer Harry Shigeta and took up photography seriously. Two years later Ishimoto transferred to the Institute of Design where he studied with Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Gordon Coster(1948-52). In 1961 he returned to Japan (Tokyo), where he has lived ever since. Ishimoto showed his devotion to his adopted city, Chicago, in his book, Chicago, Chicago (Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, 1969) Working with assurance and with a spontaneity that was very different to the earlier work he made a portrait of the city as it was at the end of the nineteen-fifties. His quizzical, sometimes acerbic gaze is what gives the book its force and Chicago Chicago, published in 1969, cemented his reputation. He returned to Japan once more in 1961 and became a naturalized citizen in 1969.
Combining a modernist aesthetic with such traditional subject matter gave a depth and resonance to his work that is exemplary.
He maintained his American connections and was included in Steichen's Family of Man exhibition at MoMA, a show that marked the zenith of a particular approach to photography and one that had considerable influence.
The following years were taken up with a succession of teaching positions and a copious outpouring of work. He published many more books on subjects as widely varied as the celebrated Mandalas in the Toji temple in Kyoto, the pots of Lucie Rie, and a wide ranging study of Islamic architecture over the greater part of the historical and geographic range of Islam. He also made a significant body of work that explored purely abstract and non-camera methods of making photographs, perhaps in acknowledgement of his early exercises in photography at the Institute of Design and taking into account in his own works the earlier tradition of the photogram and related creative photographic techniques.
He received many honours and awards over his long career but perhaps the one that gave him the greatest satisfaction was when he was named a Man of Cultural Distinction by the Japanese State in 1996. He preferred the title he was given to that had he been declared a national treasure.
His devoted wife of many years, Shigeruko, predeceased him in 2006. He is survived by his nephew Takashi Ishimoto.
From 1942 to 1944, he was interned with other Japanese Americans at the Amache Internment Camp (also known as Granada Relocation Center) in Colorado. It was here that he began to learn photography.
in 1946 when he met photographer Harry Shigeta and took up photography seriously. Two years later Ishimoto transferred to the Institute of Design where he studied with Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Gordon Coster(1948-52). In 1961 he returned to Japan (Tokyo), where he has lived ever since. Ishimoto showed his devotion to his adopted city, Chicago, in his book, Chicago, Chicago (Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, 1969) Working with assurance and with a spontaneity that was very different to the earlier work he made a portrait of the city as it was at the end of the nineteen-fifties. His quizzical, sometimes acerbic gaze is what gives the book its force and Chicago Chicago, published in 1969, cemented his reputation. He returned to Japan once more in 1961 and became a naturalized citizen in 1969.
Combining a modernist aesthetic with such traditional subject matter gave a depth and resonance to his work that is exemplary.
He maintained his American connections and was included in Steichen's Family of Man exhibition at MoMA, a show that marked the zenith of a particular approach to photography and one that had considerable influence.
The following years were taken up with a succession of teaching positions and a copious outpouring of work. He published many more books on subjects as widely varied as the celebrated Mandalas in the Toji temple in Kyoto, the pots of Lucie Rie, and a wide ranging study of Islamic architecture over the greater part of the historical and geographic range of Islam. He also made a significant body of work that explored purely abstract and non-camera methods of making photographs, perhaps in acknowledgement of his early exercises in photography at the Institute of Design and taking into account in his own works the earlier tradition of the photogram and related creative photographic techniques.
He received many honours and awards over his long career but perhaps the one that gave him the greatest satisfaction was when he was named a Man of Cultural Distinction by the Japanese State in 1996. He preferred the title he was given to that had he been declared a national treasure.
His devoted wife of many years, Shigeruko, predeceased him in 2006. He is survived by his nephew Takashi Ishimoto.
Leading Japanese American Photographer born in San Francisco and raised Kochi City, Japan. In 1939, due to concerns of him being drafted he returned to the United States where he studied agriculture at the University of California (1940-42). He moved to Chicago in 1944 and began to study architecture at Northwestern University.
From 1942 to 1944, he was interned with other Japanese Americans at the Amache Internment Camp (also known as Granada Relocation Center) in Colorado. It was here that he began to learn photography.
in 1946 when he met photographer Harry Shigeta and took up photography seriously. Two years later Ishimoto transferred to the Institute of Design where he studied with Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Gordon Coster(1948-52). In 1961 he returned to Japan (Tokyo), where he has lived ever since. Ishimoto showed his devotion to his adopted city, Chicago, in his book, Chicago, Chicago (Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, 1969) Working with assurance and with a spontaneity that was very different to the earlier work he made a portrait of the city as it was at the end of the nineteen-fifties. His quizzical, sometimes acerbic gaze is what gives the book its force and Chicago Chicago, published in 1969, cemented his reputation. He returned to Japan once more in 1961 and became a naturalized citizen in 1969.
Combining a modernist aesthetic with such traditional subject matter gave a depth and resonance to his work that is exemplary.
He maintained his American connections and was included in Steichen's Family of Man exhibition at MoMA, a show that marked the zenith of a particular approach to photography and one that had considerable influence.
The following years were taken up with a succession of teaching positions and a copious outpouring of work. He published many more books on subjects as widely varied as the celebrated Mandalas in the Toji temple in Kyoto, the pots of Lucie Rie, and a wide ranging study of Islamic architecture over the greater part of the historical and geographic range of Islam. He also made a significant body of work that explored purely abstract and non-camera methods of making photographs, perhaps in acknowledgement of his early exercises in photography at the Institute of Design and taking into account in his own works the earlier tradition of the photogram and related creative photographic techniques.
He received many honours and awards over his long career but perhaps the one that gave him the greatest satisfaction was when he was named a Man of Cultural Distinction by the Japanese State in 1996. He preferred the title he was given to that had he been declared a national treasure.
His devoted wife of many years, Shigeruko, predeceased him in 2006. He is survived by his nephew Takashi Ishimoto.
From 1942 to 1944, he was interned with other Japanese Americans at the Amache Internment Camp (also known as Granada Relocation Center) in Colorado. It was here that he began to learn photography.
in 1946 when he met photographer Harry Shigeta and took up photography seriously. Two years later Ishimoto transferred to the Institute of Design where he studied with Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Gordon Coster(1948-52). In 1961 he returned to Japan (Tokyo), where he has lived ever since. Ishimoto showed his devotion to his adopted city, Chicago, in his book, Chicago, Chicago (Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, 1969) Working with assurance and with a spontaneity that was very different to the earlier work he made a portrait of the city as it was at the end of the nineteen-fifties. His quizzical, sometimes acerbic gaze is what gives the book its force and Chicago Chicago, published in 1969, cemented his reputation. He returned to Japan once more in 1961 and became a naturalized citizen in 1969.
Combining a modernist aesthetic with such traditional subject matter gave a depth and resonance to his work that is exemplary.
He maintained his American connections and was included in Steichen's Family of Man exhibition at MoMA, a show that marked the zenith of a particular approach to photography and one that had considerable influence.
The following years were taken up with a succession of teaching positions and a copious outpouring of work. He published many more books on subjects as widely varied as the celebrated Mandalas in the Toji temple in Kyoto, the pots of Lucie Rie, and a wide ranging study of Islamic architecture over the greater part of the historical and geographic range of Islam. He also made a significant body of work that explored purely abstract and non-camera methods of making photographs, perhaps in acknowledgement of his early exercises in photography at the Institute of Design and taking into account in his own works the earlier tradition of the photogram and related creative photographic techniques.
He received many honours and awards over his long career but perhaps the one that gave him the greatest satisfaction was when he was named a Man of Cultural Distinction by the Japanese State in 1996. He preferred the title he was given to that had he been declared a national treasure.
His devoted wife of many years, Shigeruko, predeceased him in 2006. He is survived by his nephew Takashi Ishimoto.
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