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Chinese portrait master subject of solo show
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XIAO Quan has been described China’s best living portrait photographer. Those who have been immortalized by his lens include artists and celebrities such as director Zhang Yimou, actress Gong Li and poet Bei Dao.
Poet Bai Hua once commented: “If Xiao takes a photo of a person, it will be the best photo of them in their life.” And dancer Yang Liping once said that while she intends to avoid the public when she grows too old, Xiao will still be allowed to take her photo.
Xiao himself claimed he is fortunate because “I was there.” During the 1980s and 1990s Xiao spent 10 years travelling the country to meet young artists who would later become masters in fields ranging from literature to filmmaking.
In 1996, he published “Our Generation,” which included 114 of his portraits and cemented his own reputation as a leading portraitist.
Until January 8, Xiao is the subject of an exhibition at the Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou. The show features nearly 200 photos.
The exhibition includes sections devoted to Xiao’s teacher, Marc Riboud; as well as images of celebrities, ordinary people and scenes around Hangzhou.
“My photography career started in Hangzhou,” said Xiao, who first picked up a camera in 1980 and starting shooting artists and creatives in 1983. His first two subjects were a fellow photographer and a filmmaker who happened to be visiting the city.
On view are images from “Our Generation,” many of which are considered iconic. These include Xiao’s portraits of director Chen Kaige in front of a temple, director/actor Jiang Wen looking onto the world with a cynical gaze, and poet Gu Cheng starring out a window with his wife, Xie Ye.
“These photos carry memories from the 1980s and 1990s,” said curator Lu Peng.
Xiao’s photos of French master Riboud were taken when Xiao assisted him during his visit to China. Riboud was the first Western photographer officially allowed by the Communist Party to enter China. He visited the country more than 20 times.
While the foreigner was focusing his camera on Chinese people, his Chinese assistant was recording the foreigner, as he communicated with Chinese children in alleyways, shot girls cycling on Tian’anmen Square, shopped in local stores and shaved in his hotel room.
Under these photos, Xiao penned the following inscription: “from one photographer to another — these are the postcards Marc gave me.”
The exhibition also includes dozens of photos taken by Xiao around Hangzhou in the early days of his career. These show women washing clothing in the West Lake, men fishing in ponds and children playing in the sand.
His latest works focusing on ordinary people are placed on a green wall, to echo the main characters of a new series about two sisters from Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province. Xiao, who has been photographing the sisters for the past three years, says they “look like forest spirits.”
On the green wall, Xiao writes: “I believe the two girls are from another planet. They came to the rain forest in this life, and thus we met.”
Xiao became a Buddhist a few years ago. He says his photos shock people because “they convey a spirit that can only be captured at a certain moment ... The feeling would be different even if I took a photo of the same person on the same spot.”
Date: Through January 8 (closed on Mondays)
Address: 138 Nanshan Rd
Admission: Free
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