Shibata Toshio Landscape (Signed)

A photography collection titled "Landscape" by Japanese photographer Toshio Shibata. This catalog was published in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in 2008-2009. It reframes landscapes where artificial structures and nature intersect as a structure, presenting the fascinating forms found at the boundary between civil engineering and nature.

Unlike landscape photography that captures the beauty of nature, Shibata has focused on landforms and structures altered by human hands. He meticulously photographs civil engineering facilities such as dams, embankments, roads, and rockfall prevention nets with a large-format camera, bringing forth the rhythm created by straight and curved lines, repeating patterns, and symmetry within the frame. While these images reflect the meticulousness and craftsmanship of Japanese civil engineering, they also convey the dynamic tension between artificial structures and nature.

These landscapes are more than mere records. The serene images first present a beauty of form, then quietly prompt reflection on how nature has been transformed by human activity. A distinctive feature is the composition, which removes clues such as place names, making specific locations appear as if they are somewhere else. In addition to various locations across Japan, since the late 1990s, he has also photographed dams in the United States, allowing regional differences to subtly emerge from the details of the images.

The works are categorized into three types: "color," "nightscapes," and "monochrome," offering an overview of his artistic progression from the 1980s to his recent works. This volume compiles the work of an artist who revealed new charms in landscape photography through detailed depiction with a large-format camera and a structural perspective.

[Title] Landscape
[Publisher] Ryokoyomiuri Publications
[Publication Date] July 30, 2012 (3rd printing)
[Page Count] 64 pages
[Size] Approx. 258*364*8mm / 710g
[Format] Softcover
[Language] Japanese, English
[Title Reading] RANDOSUKĒPU
[Author/Editor] Toshio Shibata / Author, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography / Planning & Supervision, Satomi Fujimura / Planning
[Printing] Toppan Printing / Printing & Binding
[ISBN] 9784897522852
[Condition] Used. Signature in gold pen on the inside front cover. [8] Good to Very Good (slight dirt on colophon)
[Accessories] -
[Featured In] -
[Related Exhibition] 2008 "Landscape: Toshio Shibata Exhibition" Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (Tokyo)

Toshio Shibata (1949-)

Born in Tokyo in 1949. Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Painting, Oil Painting, and completed postgraduate studies at the same university.
In 1975, he received a scholarship from the Belgian Ministry of Education and enrolled in the photography department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, where he began his full-scale photographic work. He returned to Japan in 1979.

He gained recognition for his works capturing artificial structures within nature, such as dams, erosion control dams, and concrete retaining walls across Japan, using a large-format camera. Through meticulous monochrome prints and precise compositions, he presented the inherent structures and forms in modern Japanese landscapes. In 1992, he received the 17th Ihei Kimura Award for his photo collection "Nihon Teikei." In the same year, he was selected for "New Photography 8" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

He has held numerous exhibitions both in Japan and abroad, including a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, in 1997. Since the 2000s, he has also worked with color photography, expanding his range of expression. In 2008, he held a large-scale solo exhibition "Landscape" at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. In 2009, he received the Photographic Society of Japan Award (Photographer of the Year) and the Higashikawa Award (Domestic Photographer).

His works are held in major museums both domestically and internationally, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou, and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

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