The Katsura Detached Palace — photographed by Ishimoto Yasuhiro in the 1950s — was originally built as the villa of the Japanese Imperial Family on the Katsura River, on the western outskirts of Kyoto, in the early Edo period (17th century). The villa maintains the traditions of Japanese architecture — namely, simplicity and harmony with nature — in the composition of the Shoin-style buildings, based on straight lines; the diagonal arrangement of its buildings; and the rhythmical arrangement of the stepping stones along its path. The exhibition presents Ishimoto's attempt to liberate tradition through a contemporary view
From what I gather, Ishimoto's first was attracted to architecture and studied at Northwestern University in Chicago before WWII broke out and he was interned at Amache Internment Camp in Colorado. There he found photography to be his calling and after the war, he went back to Chicago and studied under Harry M. Callahan and Aaron Siskind at the Chicago Institute of Design in 1948
In 1953 on commission from the New York Museum of Modern Art, he return to Japan to photograph Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto , eventually releasing a book called "Katsura;: Tradition and creation in Japanese architecture" in 1960.
In 1982, he revisited the villa, this time photographing in color and published as "Katsura Villa: Space and Form".
Currently at UCLA and only in town for a few weeks, this exhibition has been traveling the United States with previous stops in Washington DC and Chicago earlier this year. This exhibition ends May 21, 2010.
Perloff Gallery
UCLA Department of Architecture
1317 Perloff Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1467
LINK
Art Daily "Iconic Architecture Photographs by Ishimoto Yasuhiro ..."
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