西岸 | WEST BUND

Photography from the 20th Century: The Private Collection of Jin Hongwei

2015.05.22 - 07.22

Exhibition

	2015.05.22 Friday - 07.22 Wednesday

Dates	2015.05.22日-07.22
Opening	2015.05.22 18:30
Venue	Shanghai Center of Photography
Curator	Jin Hongwei

Shanghai Center of Photography | SCôP is pleased to announce the opening of “Photography from the 20th Century: The Private Collection of Jin Hongwei”. An overview of the development of photography, the exhibition spans the vast array of forms which comprise this diverse and continually evolving medium. It includes works from photographers who shaped the evolution of the medium from the early days of glass plate photography to contemporary explorations of digital photomontage.

The century began with early pioneers Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen championing photography’s ability to “create” images rather than simply record reality. By the mid-century, individuals like Harold Edgerton, a scientist at MIT, were contributing technological innovations that enabled photographs of events previously unseen by the human eye.

Photojournalists and documentary photographers were human vision by furthering understanding of the sociopolitical events which shape our lives. Lewis Hine worked for the National Child Labor Committee; Dorthea Lange documented migrant laborers for the Farm Securities Administration; Joseph Koudelka depicted the plight of the Romani people; W. Eugene Smith photographed poor southerners and Robert Capa captured moments that defined the reality of war.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the most illustrious names in the medium, produced a seminal body of photography that influenced a generation of photographers, such as Elliot Erwitt whose whimsical photographs feature prominently in the collection. Nature features prominently in this collection with iconic work by Ansel Adams, who produced transcendental depictions of the American Wilderness. Jerry N. Uelsmann offers a more surrealist take on landscape employs a collection of motifs such as water, clouds, and eyes, provoking the viewer to contemplate what exists beyond the visible.

Moving in closer, the exhibition takes in a broad scope of portrait photography, from the sociological surveys of August Sanders, to the artist portraits of Berenice Abbot; the classicism of Karsh and Robert Mapplethorpe, to the evocative color portraits by Annie Leibovitz; the questioning nature of portraits taken by women photographers Diane Arbus, Sally Mann, Judy Dater and Cindy Sherman, which tackle the role of photography in a social context.

About Curator

Starting his career as photo editor of Shanghai Pictorial, Mr. Charles Jin Hongwei left China to study in the US in 1989. In 1992 he earned a MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art before settling in Atlanta. In 2006, he began to collect works of 20th century photography. To this point, his collection contains over 1,600 works.