Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Gifts to a Friend @Stephenson

JTF (just the facts): A total of 22 black and white and color photographs, framed in black and matted, and hung against white walls in the main gallery space and the smaller viewing room. The images in the show were taken between 1948 and and 1996 and are a mix of vintage and later prints. There are 19 gelatin silver prints and 3 Type C prints on view. Sizes range from 8x10 to 11x14 (or reverse); no edition information was available. 15 of the prints come from a single collection and were gifts directly from Ishimoto. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Yasuhiro Ishimoto is probably best known to American audiences for his 1940s/1950s Chicago street photography. Ishimoto studied at the Institute of Design under Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind, and returned to the city on an artistic fellowship a decade later. This small show brings together a few prints from this early period and a tight cross section of work he made in subsequent years while living in Japan. It's a terrific one-stop introduction to a photographer who smartly harmonized his Japanese and American aesthetic influences.

Ishimoto's street shots cover familiar territory, but with an eye for layered compositions of people at different depths. Kids wear Halloween masks and pose on sidewalks or front stoops, while other images flatten adjacent strangers into intricate, interlocking spatial relationships. The later works on display here cover a broad swath of photographic genres: cut paper and light-on-water abstractions, elegant up-close still life florals, ephemeral melting footprints in snow and flimsy grass silhouettes, and even a single nude/rock study with echoing rounded forms. These pictures feel rooted in both his American artistic education and the intrinsic natural beauty of unbalanced Japanese forms. The exhibit also includes a few experimental multiple exposure color works that merge dark trees and cloudy skies with bright washes of overlaid expressionistic color, showing that Ishimoto continued to innovate even when he was exploring relatively traditional subject matter.

It's great to see an Ishimoto sampler on view here in New York, since his work has generally been more accessible in Chicago (where he has long been represented by Stephen Daiter (here)). He is a bridge figure, one who fills in gaps in the ID history, as well as connecting to Japanese photographic ideas. Overall, this small overview covers a lot of ground, but is full of intimate, well crafted 20th century photographs.

Collector's POV: The prints in the show are priced as follows. The black and white prints range in price from $2500 to $6000; the color prints are $800 each. The entire set of 15 gift images (sold as a single collection) is priced at $22000. Ishimoto's work has only been intermittently available in the secondary markets over the years; his well regarded book Chicago, Chicago is more often found in photobook sales. Prices have generally ranged between $500 and $3000, but this may not be entirely representative of his best or most notable work.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Obituary: Le Journal de la Photographie, 2012 (here)

Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Gifts to a Friend
Through November 3rd

L. Parker Stephenson Photographs
764 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10065

Hairdos and Parties: African Typologies by J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere and Malick Sidibé @Stephenson

JTF (just the facts): This is a two-person exhibit, with two relatively separate sections. The Ojeikere works are framed in black and matted and hung in the main gallery space. There are a total of 11 gelatin silver prints, 7 printed as larger single images (approximately 16x16 square), and 4 printed smaller (approximately 4x4 square) and framed together in a grid. All of the prints are modern prints (from 2007 or 2009) made from negatives taken between 1970 and 1975; the prints are not editioned.

The Sidibé works are framed in black and matted and hung in the back viewing room. There are a total of 4 works, each of which is comprised of between 15 and 22 individual gelatin silver prints (approximately 3x2 each), pasted onto a cardboard poster and annotated by the artist in pen. These vintage works were made between 1966 and 1968. This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Fifty-One Fine Art Photography in Antwerp (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: The best of African photography doesn't find its way to New York as often as it should, so we do our best to get out to see it when it does make a rare appearance. Private dealer Parker Stephenson has smartly paired images by J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere from Nigeria and Malick Sidibé from Mali in this intimate show, highlighting two bodies of work that have parallels with the conceptual typologies that have become commonplace in contemporary photography.
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Like the Bechers and their industrial structures, Ojeikere systematically documented Nigerian hairstyles in the 1960s and 1970s, making deadpan portraits of the backs of heads against monochrome backgrounds. In these works, hair has been transformed into a sculptural medium: it is variously woven, braided, pleated, knotted, twisted, and piled into elaborate, ornate creations. The designs run the spectrum from tribal to botanical, complete with abstract patterns and intricate decorations. The project operates both at the anthropological level (a careful document of vanishing cultural traditions) and at a more conceptual one (a process-centric, objective comparison of forms). The similarities to the approach of the Bechers are striking, but the individual images are also strongly reminiscent of the up-close New Objectivity florals of Karl Blossfeldt - astounding designs and geometries found in unlikely places.

While most collectors are already familiar with Malick Sidibé's funky 1960s studio portraits, complete with their eye-popping stripes and patterns, the posters on view here are a reminder of another facet of his work. As an active working photographer, Sidibé often attended parties and dances at all kinds of social clubs and venues, making casual pictures and simple portraits of the guests. The next day, he would gather the prints together on a poster outside his studio, complete with numbers underneath, so people could come by and order reprints of their favorites. These hand crafted maquettes are arrays of small black and white images, all the same size. Like his more formal studio portraits, the images capture the contagious energy of youth: the mix of traditional and Western dress, the obsession with new music (many people are shown holding up album covers), and the sheer joy of lively dancing and exuberant joking around. While these inadvertent typologies lack a rigorous conceptual construct, the multi-image display approach underscores the nuances of cultural change that were taking place.

All in, this is an intelligent exhibit of under appreciated work, well worth a quick visit. Most importantly, I came away with the unexpected conclusion that a formal array of a dozen 1970s Nigerian hairstyles on a large white wall might compare surprisingly well with gas tanks, coal mine tipples, or framework houses.

Collector's POV: The larger Ojeikere images are priced at $2500 each, while the smaller prints are $1000 each or $4000 for the grid of four. The Sidibé posters range between $18000 and $22000 each. Ojeikere's photographs have little or no recent secondary market history, so gallery retail is likely the only option for collectors interested in his work at this point. Sidibé's later print portraits and club scenes can be found at auction from time to time, ranging from $2000 to $5000 in the past few years. These vintage maquettes are however much more rare. Sidibé is officially represented by Jack Shainman Gallery in New York (here).

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

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Transit Hub:

• Pigozzi Collection (here)
• J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere: Photographs, 2000 (here)

Hairdos and Parties: African Typologies by J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere and Malick Sidibé
Through February 26th

L. Parker Stephenson Photographs

764 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10065

by appointment