Year: 1997
Medium: gelatin silver print
Dimensions: image size : 42.2 x 54.2 cm (16 1/2 x 21 1/4 in.) sheet size : 47.6 x 57.6 cm (18 3/4 x 22 3/4 in.)
Edition: No. 21 of 25
Acquired from Phillips, 2023
Ueshima Collection has a series of the same title produced in 1998, which is a “Seascape” looking out over Sagami Bay from Atami. The light stretches long into the dark sea, while the unfocused and blurry scene enhances the atmosphere of subtle beauty. Sugimoto has been capturing seascapes since around 1980. He began photographing them with the thought this horizon, which ancient people must have seen, remains unchanged over the passage of time. Sugimoto’s photographs capture light and space in time. In his “Seascapes” series, he attempts to seize the unchanged scenery since ancient times, when the earth was divided into sea and sky. Although the horizon line appears to be a clear straight line, it is in fact something ambiguous and is not placed as a line in space. Similarly, as shown by the gentle gray tones, the time when Sugimoto released the shutter was neither in bright sunlight nor in darkness, but when surrounded by subtle light. This work was taken from Atami, facing the sea that is almost due east, likely captures twilight at dawn or bright moonlight. There are shades between light and darkness, which overlap with the boundary between the sky and the sea.
