MCLC: China's first nude photographer

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: China's first nude photographer
***********************************************************

Source: China.org (11/29/13):
http://beijing.china.org.cn/2013-11/29/content_30741109_2.htm

China's first nude photographer
By Zhang Junmian

"Meditation," taken by Chinese master photographer Lang Jingshan [郎静山],
is 
said to be China's earliest surviving artistic nude shot.

The photo, which appeared during Lang's photography exhibition at the
National Art Museum of China in October 2013, was one of of his 134
photographic artworks donated to the museum by his daughter Lang Yuwen.

Lang took the photo in 1928, with a girl surnamed Zhang as his model. It
was said that the girl suffered brutal kicks and blows from her father who
heard it four days later, as nude modeling at that time was regarded as
shameful.

In 1930, Lang published his "Album of Nude Photographs," the first of its
kind in China.

Dubbed the "Father of Asian Photography," he was born in Huaiyin, Jiangsu
Province in 1892. He developed his interest in photography when he was 13
years old, under the influence of his Chinese ink painting tutor Li Jing.
During his lifetime, he created numerous photographic works, many of which
won international awards.

Starting in 1934, Lang created his "composite photography," a unique
technique in which the photographer combines images into a photographic
work through darkroom skills. Lang, with a solid aesthetic taste,
incorporated elements from traditional ink painting into his works, which
stood out in exhibitions for their special charm. Also in 1934, he
produced his first "composite photo"--"Majestic Solitude"--which gained
international acclaim when it was first exhibited at a British
photographic salon.

Lang created his masterpiece, "Scenic Lake and Hills," in 1984,
successfully reproducing the beauty of Chinese landscape painting in
photographic form. The work was auctioned for 828,600 yuan in Hong Kong in
2005, a record high for his creations.

He was deemed one of the world's top ten 'master photographers' in 1980,
by the Photographic Society of America.
Lang is also known as one of the earliest Chinese photo journalists.
Between 1928 and 1937, he worked as a photo journalist for the Eastern
Times. In 1930, he gave photography classes at Songjiang Girls' Middle
School in Shanghai, making him the first person to promote photography
education in China.

Lang devoted nearly 90 years of his life to photography, and passed away
in Taipei in 1995.