Chicago, Chicago 2 Yasuhiro Ishimoto

This is a photobook by Japanese photographer Yasuhiro Ishimoto.

Born in San Francisco, Ishimoto returned to Japan at the age of three and spent his childhood in Kochi Prefecture. At eighteen, he went back to the United States, where he experienced the harsh realities of being interned in a Japanese-American detention camp. After his release, he studied architecture at Northwestern University in Chicago and later enrolled in the newly established Institute of Design (ID) in Chicago, a school carrying on the principles of the German Bauhaus. During his studies, Ishimoto honed his sense of form and design, earning top honors twice from László Moholy-Nagy, the school’s director, before graduating.

From 1953 to 1958, Ishimoto returned to Japan at the request of MoMA to conduct research for an exhibition on Japanese architecture. During this period, he deepened friendships with leading postwar cultural figures, including architect Kenzo Tange and graphic designer Yusaku Kamekura. One of his first stops upon returning to Japan was the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto, where he spent a month photographing the villa. These photographs were later published as "KATSURA: Tradition and Creation in Japanese Architecture (1960)", establishing Ishimoto’s reputation both in Japan and internationally.

This book collects previously unpublished works that were not included in his earlier photobook "Chicago, Chicago (1969)", along with images captured during a return visit to Chicago in 1982. It spans three key periods of his life: his student years at ID from 1948 to 1952, his extended stay in Chicago from 1958 to 1961, and his 1982 visit. Across these decades, Ishimoto’s work consistently showcases his refined compositional sensibility, rooted in Bauhaus principles, and his exceptional eye for discovering compelling subjects.