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Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

MFA-Houston: What A Nice Gift You Have

May has been a busy month: that’s why I have not yet had a chance to take note of the generous gift from photographer Yasuhiro Ishimoto to the Museum of Fine Arts in
2009-359X.jpgHouston that was announced on May 1. Ishimoto, born in San Francisco in 1921 to Japanese parents, gave MFAH 289 photos, spanning his career and including works from his major series. The museum purchased 11 more — bringing its total collection of his work to 400 photographs. 

Nearly seventy of the works are already
2009-375X.jpgon view in an exhibit called Ways of Seeing: The Photography of Ishimoto Yasuhiro, which runs until September 13.

Ishimoto learned photography while he was interned in Colorado during WWII, then studied with Harry Callahan at the “New Bauhaus” Institute of Design in Chicago and also with Aaron Siskind. Edward Steichen launched his career in earnest when he chose Ishimoto for the legendary Family of Man exhibition in 1955.

Yasufumi Nakamori, the MFAH’s Assistant Curator of Photography, has written about Ishimoto, who he says “brought the New Bauhaus and the American street
primgX.jpgesthetic to postwar Japanese art.”

Why the gift? Nakamori’s longstanding relationship with Ishimoto certainly helped prompt it. (He culled the acquired photos from about 5,000 pictures.) Ishimori also knows Anne Wilkes Tucker, the MFAH’s Curator of Photography, from an earlier exhibit she curated. 


The two black-and-white photos here are from his Tokyo series; both are untitled. At left is an untitled work from his Composition series.


 
Photo Credits: © Ishimoto Yasuhiro

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About Judith H. Dobrzynski

Now an independent journalist, I've worked as a reporter in the culture and business sections of The New York Times, and been the editor of the Sunday business section and deputy business editor there as well as a senior editor of Business Week and the managing editor of CNBC, the cable TV

About Real Clear Arts

This blog is about culture in America as seen through my lens, which is informed and colored by years of reporting not only on the arts and humanities, but also on business, philanthropy, science, government and other subjects. I may break news, but more likely I will comment, provide

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