Proceedings of 1st International Symposium for Color Science and Art 2019

Les Mémoires des Couleurs:
Preserving the Color Works ofShoji Ueda and Creating the Digital Archives
Hitoshi Tanaka, Ryota Katsukura, Keiji Takashima, Kazuyo Kitase, Toru Ueda
Tokyo Polytechnic Univ., 2-9-5 Honcho, Nakano, Tokyo 164-8678, Japan
Shoji Ueda Museum of Photography 353-3 Sumura, Houki-cho,Saihaku-gun, Tottori, 689-4107,JapanTEXT
Preservation:

ABSTRACT

Shoji Ueda’s birthplace, Sakai-minato City, is a port town,
located near the ocean. It is a traditional Japanese-stylewooden house built in the Meiji era (1868-1912), which
has been constantly extended and renovated over theTaisho (1912-1926) and Showa (1926-1989) periods.
Because of its location, this makes the environment highly
humid and unfavorable for the preservation of film works,
resulting in the growth of mold on many of these originalfilms. Additionally, they are not well organized; most are
just piled up in cardboard boxes according to theapproximate production period. In order to simplify thepreservation procedures, we hierarchically stored themwithout identifying the exact production age at the time ofremoval. When the films were severely deteriorated due
to mold, we physically removed these spots without theuse of chemicals and stored them in acid-free storageboxes that also included mold mitigation materials. After
categorizing them into the same size groups, we assigned
a temporary serial number on each film. In some cases, aunit of several shots is stored in a preservation sleeve andin other cases a single shot is attached to a mount. For
digital archiving, we converted them electronically by wayof either shooting them with cameras or capturing themwith scanners. Technically, we used a Phase Onecamera with a 100,000,000 pixel capture rate and aCanon EOS III camera with 23,000,000 effective capture
pixels for shooting, and EPSON DS-G20000 (2,400dpi x4,800dpi) for scanning.

This study concerns preserving the original color works
and creating a digital archive of the film works of Shoji
Ueda (1913-2000), one of the Japan’s leading
photographers. We are undertaking this study based on
the large collection of his photographic works left at hisbirthplace upon his death in 2000.
INTRODUCTION
Photographer Shoji Ueda was born at Sakai-minato City,Tottori in 1913. What makes him unique among his peers
is that there is a large-scale photography museum
dedicated to collecting and exhibiting his work. Even after
his death in 2000, he has remained popular and continues
to enhance his reputation by the continuous publication ofphoto books. Given the fact that Ueda’s exhibitions inrecent years are frequently held overseas, it is fair to say
he is one of the Japan’s leading photographers. Many of
his works have been collected by the Tokyo Photographic
Art Museum, Yonago City Museum of Art, and Shimane
Prefectural Museum of Art, in addition to the Shoji Ueda
Museum of Photography. Nevertheless, the scope of
those collections is limited to prints, which are regarded
as artworks, not to his original photo films in either
negative or positive form. This study aims to preserveand create a digital archive of his color works, focusing on
the original films left unorganized at his birthplace.

Shoji Ueda’s birthplace
Shoji Ueda Museum of Photography

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Proceedings of 1st International Symposium for Color Science and Art 2019
Status:Shoji Ueda started photographing in 1928, and began
focusing on color work after World War II (1945). The
earliest color films presently identified as his are fromapproximately 1949. There were some color films thathave been identified as being produced prior to 1949, but
their authenticity as being Shoji Ueda’s is currentlyunresolved.	  Kodachrome, a Kodak product is a color
reversal film, which is a coupler-developer type film withno coupler contained within the film emulsion. Images
made on this type of film, still retain a high level of color
saturation and image clarity. On the other hand, someshots on coupler-in-emulsion type film have severe
discoloration with images barely recognizable.
Shoji Ueda used a variety of camera models, leaving his
work in varied sizes and formats. These formats include
many of the standard sizes, 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x17, in
addition to the traditional 35mm sizes, and 35mm Polaroid
reversal film, which Polaroid produced for a short periodof time. As no detailed shooting records exist, it isextremely challenging for us to identify the exact
production date of many of these films.

Discolored original plate; date and location unknown	 	 Shoji Ueda Photograph; Kodachrome Transparency Film;
circa 1949

Next Steps:

We now plan to identify and categorize those stored color
works and formulate data based on when and where they
were photographed. If discoloration is severe, restoration
work may be required. However, we should avoid
handling these works of Shoji Ueda in an experimentalmanner. We have an obligation to both preserve for
future generations and to pay respect to the nature ofworks. We need to discuss in depth with the stakeholders
on the pros and cons of the preservation process.
Furthermore, we would also like to consider how to fully
utilize the digital archive that will be produced.

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