TOKI/MOMENT: PHOTOGRAPHS BY YASUHIRO ISHIMOTO

Tokyo, Japan: Heibonsha Ltd. , 2004. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. Tokyo, Japan: Heibonsha Ltd. , 2004. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 216 pages. Retrospective collection of photographs. One of the most beautiful art photography books of our time. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. An austerely elegant production by Tetsuya Ota: Oversize-volume format. Gray cloth boards with titles in Japanese and English embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Yasuhiro Ishimoto. Poem, "The Angel's Hut: Time Defined by Light", by Takashi Tsujii. Essay, "Life with Yasuhiro Ishimoto", by Shigeru Ishimoto. Afterword, Profile, and Acknowledgments appended at the end. All of the texts are presented "en face", with the Japanese original on the left-hand and the English translation on the right-hand side. Gray paper slipcase with cream wraparound band. Printed on Tri-Pine Velvet Natural 135kg glossy stock paper by Tokyo Inshokan Company to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with black titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Yasuhiro Ishimoto's "Toki"/"Moment". Serene, contemplative photographs of earth, water, and sky that evoke both metaphor and memory. Images of leaves on the ground, rain, clouds, gray landscapes of autumn, pristine-white vistas of winter, beverage cans, and footprints in the snow are interspersed with photographs of people in Tokyo's busy streets. The latter are photographed in frenetic motion while the leaves seem to have a "still life" quality about them. Ishimoto's project is a meditation on change captured in one moment that says, "I am still here, I am still alive". "All living things eventually fade away. I thought I understood that years ago, but it was only an intellectual understanding. Now, I am more than 80, confronted with a reality I can no longer escape. Look up and you see clouds, some with magnificent shapes, others fading away to wisps. Look down at a river and you see ripples and strange patterns on the water. These things keep changing all the time. I will keep taking pictures of things that are continually changing, things that show just how strange reality is" (Yasuhiro Ishimoto). "The most beautiful Ishimoto book since 'Chicago, Chicago' " (Stephen Daiter). Yasuhiro Ishimoto died on February 6, 2012 at the age of 90. His stature as "photographer's photographer" will remain secure. An absolute "must-have" title for Yasuhiro Ishimoto collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen by Yasuhiro Ishimoto. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great art photography book. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Even in Japan, Yasuhiro Ishimoto was known for being averse to book signings. There is NO American Edition. A rare signed copy thus. Yasuhiro Ishimoto's "Someday, Somewhere" and "Chicago, Chicago" were selected as two of the greatest photography books in "The Photobook". One of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER YASUHIRO ISHIMOTO TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 4582277527.