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Lot Essay
LONG CHIN-SAN - THE FATHER OF ASIAN PHOTOGRAPHY
‘In terms of techniques, I advocate that we should learn the advanced technology of the Western world in order to make photography no longer a difficult task; but when it comes to the horizon of the art, be it the framing or colour tone, I believe that the savour of the traditional Chinese painting should be further studied.’ - Excerpt from Long Chin-san Chronological Biography and Quotes
Long Chin-san was the pioneering photographer who was in the vanguard of the development of modern photography in China. In the early 30s, Long earned a worldwide reputation in the art photography for his ‘composite photographs’. He was one of the core members of the China Photographers Association and also the first artist in the history of art in China who has applied the style of Chinese painting to photography. He ingeniously captured the classical beauty of the Chinese ink painting and poetry through the lenses of his camera and presented them to the audience by his master skills of the ‘composite’ and ‘photogram’ techniques.
An Invaluable Family Collection
Long was a close friend of the family of the current collector. The series of works presented in this season (lot number 569-527) belonged to Mr. Mario Finazzi and later became the collection of the family until today. Mr. Mario Finazzi was a renowed photographer in Italy. He was also a member of La Bussola, the pioneering photographers association in Italy which endeavoured to promote art photography during the 30s to 60s. At that time, both Finazzi and Long actively joined photography exhibitions (fig. 1) for which they admired the works of each other and later became friends. The two artists even exchanged their works in which some of the exchanged photographs obtained from Long have been included in this season. In 1948, Finazzi held a photography exhibition of Long’s works in Italy (fig. 2 & 3) with the purpose to let more people to get to know his photography and to promote the Chinese culture and art.
The Freehand and Lyrical Composite Photography
‘Composite Photography’ is considered the greatest achievement of Long throughout his artistic career. With this technique, images are combined into a photographic work through darkroom skills or by cut-and-glue collage of images in order to create distinctive works that are full of personal characters. As a photojournalist, the earlier works of Long were mainly documentary photographs or images of natural landscape. Keeper at the Temple Gate and Sunset (lot 569) are the representative works of Long from the early period. The content and form of the photographs have revealed the feelings and thoughts of the artist with the temperament of grace and elegance of a literati.
Pursue the Essentials and Seek the Change
In the spirit of innovation, Long explored different photography techniques and methods so as to bring an avant-garde effect to his portrait photography. In Portrait of Self (lot 570), enlarged films were shifted to achieve the effect of double exposure, which set the photograph free from the restraint of the traditional composition of Western painting, eventually giving the composition many possibilities. In Relaxation (lot 570) and Rural Tapestry (lot 572), a long-lost technique of using photographic paper was applied, suffusing the photographs with an effect like pencil sketch and gouache painting. After the Tang Masters (lot 571), on the other hand, is an imitation of the Chinese landscape painting of Yuan dynasty, in which the natural fibre of the photographic paper has given a result similar to the ‘texture strokes’ used in Chinese landscape painting, making it a representative work of merging the tradition Chinese art with photography. The technique of using photographic paper is the proof of Long’s pursuit of imitating the effect of painting which was later developed as his signature technique of ‘composite photography’.
An Ancient Technique to Merge the East and West
The sense of leisure and freedom found in Riverside Spring, Spring Fantasia (lot 571), Stormy Eve and Precipice of Immolation (lot 572) have demonstrated the distinctive understanding of Long towards the spirit of the traditional landscape painting. The space and composition of Chinese painting is applied to the photographs which makes the images alive and vivid. Certain area is left blank to lure its audience with the desire to linger on. Long Chin-san and Zhang Daqian were good friends all their lives. They used to go out together in search of inspirations (fig. 4). It is believed that Zhang has certain influence on the landscape composition of Long’s photography. For instance, Landscape Along Highway Hengguan (fig. 5) is the proof that Zhang was good at depicting the beauty of landscape while Long created his art by merging the Oriental mood into the Western photography, which was later acclaimed by the world as the ‘Long’s Style’.
‘In terms of techniques, I advocate that we should learn the advanced technology of the Western world in order to make photography no longer a difficult task; but when it comes to the horizon of the art, be it the framing or colour tone, I believe that the savour of the traditional Chinese painting should be further studied.’ - Excerpt from Long Chin-san Chronological Biography and Quotes
Long Chin-san was the pioneering photographer who was in the vanguard of the development of modern photography in China. In the early 30s, Long earned a worldwide reputation in the art photography for his ‘composite photographs’. He was one of the core members of the China Photographers Association and also the first artist in the history of art in China who has applied the style of Chinese painting to photography. He ingeniously captured the classical beauty of the Chinese ink painting and poetry through the lenses of his camera and presented them to the audience by his master skills of the ‘composite’ and ‘photogram’ techniques.
An Invaluable Family Collection
Long was a close friend of the family of the current collector. The series of works presented in this season (lot number 569-527) belonged to Mr. Mario Finazzi and later became the collection of the family until today. Mr. Mario Finazzi was a renowed photographer in Italy. He was also a member of La Bussola, the pioneering photographers association in Italy which endeavoured to promote art photography during the 30s to 60s. At that time, both Finazzi and Long actively joined photography exhibitions (fig. 1) for which they admired the works of each other and later became friends. The two artists even exchanged their works in which some of the exchanged photographs obtained from Long have been included in this season. In 1948, Finazzi held a photography exhibition of Long’s works in Italy (fig. 2 & 3) with the purpose to let more people to get to know his photography and to promote the Chinese culture and art.
The Freehand and Lyrical Composite Photography
‘Composite Photography’ is considered the greatest achievement of Long throughout his artistic career. With this technique, images are combined into a photographic work through darkroom skills or by cut-and-glue collage of images in order to create distinctive works that are full of personal characters. As a photojournalist, the earlier works of Long were mainly documentary photographs or images of natural landscape. Keeper at the Temple Gate and Sunset (lot 569) are the representative works of Long from the early period. The content and form of the photographs have revealed the feelings and thoughts of the artist with the temperament of grace and elegance of a literati.
Pursue the Essentials and Seek the Change
In the spirit of innovation, Long explored different photography techniques and methods so as to bring an avant-garde effect to his portrait photography. In Portrait of Self (lot 570), enlarged films were shifted to achieve the effect of double exposure, which set the photograph free from the restraint of the traditional composition of Western painting, eventually giving the composition many possibilities. In Relaxation (lot 570) and Rural Tapestry (lot 572), a long-lost technique of using photographic paper was applied, suffusing the photographs with an effect like pencil sketch and gouache painting. After the Tang Masters (lot 571), on the other hand, is an imitation of the Chinese landscape painting of Yuan dynasty, in which the natural fibre of the photographic paper has given a result similar to the ‘texture strokes’ used in Chinese landscape painting, making it a representative work of merging the tradition Chinese art with photography. The technique of using photographic paper is the proof of Long’s pursuit of imitating the effect of painting which was later developed as his signature technique of ‘composite photography’.
An Ancient Technique to Merge the East and West
The sense of leisure and freedom found in Riverside Spring, Spring Fantasia (lot 571), Stormy Eve and Precipice of Immolation (lot 572) have demonstrated the distinctive understanding of Long towards the spirit of the traditional landscape painting. The space and composition of Chinese painting is applied to the photographs which makes the images alive and vivid. Certain area is left blank to lure its audience with the desire to linger on. Long Chin-san and Zhang Daqian were good friends all their lives. They used to go out together in search of inspirations (fig. 4). It is believed that Zhang has certain influence on the landscape composition of Long’s photography. For instance, Landscape Along Highway Hengguan (fig. 5) is the proof that Zhang was good at depicting the beauty of landscape while Long created his art by merging the Oriental mood into the Western photography, which was later acclaimed by the world as the ‘Long’s Style’.