Shoji Ueda – Special edition

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Shoji Ueda

Shōji Ueda

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Special edition

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Shoji Ueda (1913-2000), one of Japanese photography’s most remarkable figures, remained profoundly attached to his birthplace of Tottori, on the Sea of Japan, which he used as a backdrop for the vast majority of his work.

Ueda was a sedentary adventurer, ceaselessly exploring the dunes that sculpted the landscape throughout the seasons. His keen eye was drawn to everything around him: a map of the world, a wheat field caressed by the wind, a boy in roller skates, the graceful figure of his wife, Norie…When Ueda wasn’t out wandering, he composed still lives of seasonal fruit and incongruous objects, small treasures found here and there.

This publication is the first trilingual monograph devoted to his work, and brings together a great many previously unpublished photographs, in both black and white and colour. For the occasion, Chose Commune has given carte blanche to the writer Toshiyuki Horie (Yukinuma and Its Environs, The Bear And The Paving Stone), whose text is like musical notes resonating with the photographer’s distinctive universe.

Shoji Ueda (born 1913 in Sakaiminato in Japan and died 2000) is one of the great figures in the history of Japanese photography. At the age of 15, his father bought him his first camera, and in 1932 he graduated from the Tokyo Oriental Photography School. Until his death in 2000, he devoted his life to photography in his native region, far from the profusion of Tokyo, claiming to be an amateur. Known for his distinctive ‘Ueda cho’ style, he is best known for his famous series of photographs taken in the surreal setting of the sand dunes of his native Tottori prefecture.

Edition of 30, comprising a first edition book with one of three inkjet prints (18 x 24 cm, stamped and numbered on the reverse), housed together in a 24 x 31,5 cm embossed clamshell box.

Nominated at Prix Nadar 2015.

Nominated at Kassel Fotobookfestival 2016 by Alec Soth (Magnum Photos): "If I was a critic, I could probably articulate why this book is so successful. I’m sure I would mention the editor’s keen sequencing and the designer’s exquisite craftsmanship. But I’m not a critic, and my love of this book is not analytical. I treasure Ueda the way I treasure my favorite music: it makes me feel good. And no other book has made me feel this good in the last year."

Selected as Best Book 2015 by Simon Baker, Sonia Berger, Yumi Goto & Tomoki Matsumoto.

Shoji Ueda