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August 8, 2014

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Modern portraits reflect eras long gone

By Xu Wenwen | August 8, 2014, Friday | Print Edition

WITH thick bluish, black eyebrows painstakingly painted in, lipstick applied and shaped like a heart, rouge added on the foundation powder and a large flower in her hair, a young woman in a red robe looks like someone from a Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) painting.

For those looking for a different type of portrait, Chen Runxi is the man. The 32-year-old specializes in making people Òlook like figures in ancient Chinese paintings.Ó

He owns Mr ChenÕs Vintage Photo Studio. He and his small team can recreate scenes from the Tang, Song (960-1279), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

While heÕs been traveling back in time for years, Chen moved to Hangzhou earlier this year after being based in Shanghai. The move, he says, was spontaneous.

“It was winter and it started snowing while I was in a teahouse with a beautiful garden,” he says. “The scene itself was a painting.”

His studio’s first series of photographs of a model in Tang Dynasty clothing proved popular. They were forwarded online more than 10,000 times overnight.

Many photography studios offer similar services, but Chen’s portraits are distinctive. They almost look like paintings as he uses Photoshop and sometimes a dry ice effect to make adjustments.

Chen says the little details are crucial. The makeup, clothing, ornaments, poses, background, and of course, shooting and digital imaging are all important. He does everything except the makeup and shooting.

“Each dynasty had distinct styles of makeup and fashion, plus people had different temperaments,” Chen says, adding he has studied the history of clothing and cosmetics in ancient China.

All the clothing is made and worn as authentically as possible, clients are coached to act like ladies or gentlemen from ancient times. He says people in the Tang Dynasty appeared confident and outgoing while those in the Song Dynasty look more contained.

Since most clients are not actors, Chen provides guidance on how to be “serene” or “refined.” Imitating figures in ancient paintings and studying basic poses from Chinese operas are good tricks.

Chen says he has always been a big fan of costume TV series and studied fashion design in college because of his passion for traditional Chinese clothing. Now he makes the clothing used in his photo shoots.

After being a teacher at a design school in Beijing for years, he opened his own studio in 2012 to follow his dream. Most of his photo shoots take place in Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai.

Beijing’s palaces work best for the Tang Dynasty and the photos taken there are bright with hues of red and yellow. Shanghai is, of course, used for the Republic of China (1911-1949) era. Hangzhou works as the best backdrop for photos in both the Song and Ming dynasties.

In Hangzhou, the most common locations used are the botanical garden, Taiziwan Garden, Fish Viewing at the Flower Pond (Hua Gang Guan Yu) and Jiang’s Villa because of the lush vegetation, old buildings and fewer tourists.

Chen insists that all clothing, handkerchiefs and silk fans must be hand-embroidered. All ornaments must be either antiques, or real gold, silver and gem accessories tailor-made by artisans skilled in creating replicas of antiques.

In some cases he travels to Japan or South Korea in search of the right fabric to make the clothing for a series of portraits because “cheap copies cannot correctly tell the spirit of that time.”

His eye for detail and dedication to his craft make Chen more of an artist than a businessman. But the business appears to be working just fine as he says his studio is completely booked this autumn. Chen also plans on offering new services for clients. He is in the initial stages of doing Tang Dynasty wedding videos.

Hangzhou


 

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