ISHIMOTO (Yasuhiro). Hana. - Lot 190

ISHIMOTO (Yasuhiro). Hana. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, undated [circa 1997]. Square quarto, illustrated hardcover by the publisher. A magnificent collection of photographs dedicated to the floral world of master Japanese photographer Yasuhiro Ishimoto (1921–2012), a major figure in 20th-century photography. Trained in the United States at the New Bauhaus in Chicago, Ishimoto developed an aesthetic of great purity, based on the balance of forms, light, and rigorous composition. In *Hana* (“Flower” in Japanese), the artist presents a series of black-and-white photographs of remarkable simplicity, in which tulips, petals, and corollas become true works of natural architecture. Set against neutral backgrounds, the flowers are observed with an almost sculptural precision that reveals their lines, volumes, and internal rhythms. This minimalist approach brings his work closer to the formal explorations of modernist photography as well as to Japanese aesthetic sensibility. The book features numerous full-page photographic plates, printed with great care, offering a collection of rare elegance in which botany serves as a pretext for a meditation on form and light. A beautiful copy of this sought-after publication, an important testament to Yasuhiro Ishimoto’s late work and his unique perspective on the plant world.