Tokyo:Asahi Sonorama 1st edition,In Japanese and English,1978,Hardcover with dust jacket
Condition:Good,The spine is fading as usual this fragile yellow colors. Some stains on edges and back of dust jacket
This photograph collection comprises two parts : " Sand Dune " and " The Four Seasons of Children . " " Sand Dune " is a collection of photographs taken in Ueda ' s native Tottori Prefecture in the sand dune zone , using nature as his studio . These belong to the initial period of Ueda ' s recent photographs . Especially noticeable in " Sand Dune " is pictorial composition . Some people say there is influence from Magritte and Tanguy . This may be because Ueda originally wanted to be an artist . Ueda ' s " Ar ranged Photographs " went almost without notice when announced . At that time , most Japanese photo graphers were interested mainly in documentary photography , with the slogan of " absolutely no prearrangement . " In modern eyes , however , it is a miracle that such modernism was developed in one of the cities of western Japan during the prewar period . And some of the photographs of that time are fresh and new , even today . " Sand Dune " was the starting point for Shoji Ueda .
In " The Four Seasons of Children " .
Ueda photographed the nature and children of the " Sanin " | area during the four seasons . Some of these photo graphs are very old , some of very recent , but the theme running through all of them is the corre spondence between nature and children . They are attempts at photographing things hidden in nature which the eye cannot see . This is well demonstrated by the photograph of a shaven headed child holding a flower at the beginning of the part . At the same time that he is a child , he is also the herald of spring . Or he could just as well be called the spirit of " Ma tasaburo of the Wind " in the legend from northeast Japan . Also , the third photograph showing a boy wearing a fox mask jumping on a hill shows a young fox which has come to a village where there is a feeling of spring and , at the same time , it is the expression of this in dance . Masks are one of the presistent elements in Ueda ' s photographs . This is because the symbolism of the mask is a common method of drawing out reality through his art . Ueda ' s photographs include those that appear to be completely natural snapshots , some of skilled manipulation and some that are produced in the darkroom . This is because Ueda is able to get qualities out of a subject that the eye cannot see . And this is the greatest feature that separates Ueda ' s photographs from those of the many local photographers .
Akira Hasegawa
