This year’s third Ishimoto Yasuhiro Collection Exhibition focuses on photographs taken in Ishimoto’s “second hometown” of Chicago, USA.

Even though he was supposed to take over the family business when he went to America in 1939 to study agriculture, what Ishimoto encountered there was photography, and in 1948, he eventually enrolled at the Institute of Design (ID) in Chicago. During the four years at the Institute, he was so deeply immersed in photography that his classmates called him “working 29 hours a day on photography,” and through assignments at the ID for university and the casual snapshots he took in the streets, he acquired both theoretical and technical knowledge on the matter. While working as a photographer also after returning to Japan, Ishimoto later had an opportunity to spend time in America again, and the destination he chose was no other than Chicago, the city where it all started for him in terms of photography. The book Chicago, Chicago contains photographs shot during that second prolonged stay in the city, and has won high acclaim as one of the most representative publications showcasing the photographer’s work.

The enormous amounts of photographs taken in Chicago include a significant number of shots that reflect the characteristics of each of the four seasons. This exhibition focuses on the winter season in particular, divided into a first part featuring works that figuratively frame snow-covered surfaces, cars and doors, and a second part collecting works that portray the city and the people’s daily life in “Chicago in the snow.” The photographs are displayed alongside other related materials.

Taken during the cold winter with temperatures often dropping below freezing point, and developed by Ishimoto himself in beautiful shades of black and white, these sets of photographs highlight the exquisite contrast between gently dancing snowflakes, and piles of snow on things like cars and doors. See people walking in heavy winter coats; children playing happily in the snow; buildings, parks, and just about everything else in the city covered in snow, through Ishimoto’s eyes, and feel just as if taking a walk around the winterly Chicago.