Ueda Shoji
Untitled

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Artist Ueda ShojiJapanese, 1913–2000

CultureJapanese

Titles

Untitled
from the series Portrait on a Sand Dune

Date1950

PlaceJapan

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 10 5/16 × 9 5/16 in. (26.2 × 23.7 cm)
Sheet: 13 15/16 × 11 in. (35.4 × 27.9 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the S. I. Morris Photography Endowment

Object number94.754

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionResponding to the devastation of World War II, Shoji Ueda found solace and inspiration in the beaches and sand dunes of his home, the coastal Tottori prefecture. Working outside the mainstream photography movements of postwar Japan, Ueda developed a style of staged photography that balanced a distinctive mix of lyricism and humor with compositional strength. In a series of photographs taken in the Tottori dunes, Ueda posed family members across the stark backdrop in haphazard groupings that verge on the surreal. The sense of dreamlike ambiguity is heightened by an uneven horizon, as the dunes roll beneath a cloud-filled sky.
Provenance[Gallery & Office RAM, U.S.A.]; purchased by MFAH, 1997.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed in pencil, recto, lower right below image: Shoji Ueda
Stamped in red ink and inscribed in pencil, verso, lower right quadrant: [in Japanese]

Signed in pencil, recto, lower right below image: Shoji Ueda

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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