Katsura Imperial Villa. Photographs by Ishimoto Yasuhiro

18 January – 12 March 2012

Katsura Imperial Villa, which was constructed in the 17th century and is located in the environs of Kyoto, held great fascination for many European architects who travelled to Japan, including Walter Gropius and Bruno Taut. Ishimoto Yasuhiro numbered among the very few people who were allowed to photograph the villa’s interior rooms and spaces. The exhibition features black-and-white photographs taken by Ishimoto in 1954. Born in 1921 in San Francisco and trained in the tradition of the New Bauhaus in Chicago, Ishimoto portrayed the centuries-old imperial villa within a modernist approach, thus documenting a new view of traditional Japanese architecture. The exhibition is a cooperation with The Japan Foundation.

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