Discover 6 Milestone Moments from Hiroshi Sugimoto’s 50-Year Career

1. Polar Bear, 1976.

This early photograph was inspired by Hiroshi Sugimoto’s visits to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where he moved in 1975. Observing the taxidermy animals in the institution’s dioramas with one eye closed made the creatures look very real. “I had found a way to see the world as a camera does,” he has said.

2. Mediterranean Sea, Cassis, 1989

Discussing his “Seascapes” series, which he began in 1980 and can be identified by its variations in horizon lines and rippling waves, Sugimoto has said, “Everytime I feel a claming sens of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a voyage of seeing.”

3. Diana, Princess of Wales, 1999

Commissioned by the Deutsche Guggenheim, Sugimoto’s “Portraits” series presented three-quarter-length views of wax figures removed from their museum settings and ethereally illuminated to conjure Rembrandt-esque depictions. His images, such as this photo of the beloved royal, challenge notions of time and history. This is just one of the iconic works on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia retrospective in Sydney, “Time Machine,” through October 27.

4. Lightning Fields 225, 2009

Influenced by early pioneers in the field of electricity, such as Benjamin Franklin and Michael Faraday, whose colleague William Henry Fox Talbot patented the calotype process, Sugimoto applied electrical discharges to photographic dry plates in his darkroom to capture these bursts of energy on film.

5. Opticks 586, 2023

For Sugimoto’s debut exhibition at Lisson Gallery this summer, the photographer took cues from Isaac Newton and utilized a prism to deconstruct white light into its rainbow of hues. “It is difficult to overstate the significance of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s work, not just in photography but in the broader scope of art history,” says Lisson CEO Alex Logsdail. “It’s truly remarkable to witness such an established artist creating some of his most stunning and profound pieces at this stage in his career.”

Odawara Art Foundation, 2009

Sugimoto established the Odawara Art Foundation in 2009 to showcase Japanese culture with an international perspective by staging theater productions, hosting art exhibitions, and carrying out research into art history. To accomplish his mission, he designed the Enoura Observatory in 2017, a sprawling arts center overlooking Sagami Bay in Odawara, Japan, complete with a Noh stage, gallery space, and a tea ceremony room.

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Fall Issue in the “Milestone” section.  Subscribe to the magazine.