Chicago, Town

Yasuhiro Ishimoto is an American photographer with Japanese heritage who studied photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago from 1948-1952. His work is characterized by snapshots of street scenes, as in Chicago, Town. This photograph is part of Ishimoto’s photo collection titled Chicago, Chicago, published in Tokyo in 1969 but taken in Chicago from 1958-61 on a Minolta Fellowship. In this collection, he not only brought a unique foreigner’s perspective to a traditional American city and subject matter, but also acted both as a local and visitor.

Ishimoto’s style has been described as a ‘visual bilingual’ as he merges Western Modernism with a Japanese characteristic attention to fleeting moments and subtle beauty. As a prominent photographer, Ishimoto also contributed to Japanese photography and is credited for bringing back to Japan the essential philosophy and techniques of modern photography. Chicago, Town offers a balanced contrast between the white snow and the boy alone, creating an opening for a narrative taking place in everyday common life.