Video: "Chinese Pictorialism": Between Photography and Painting
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Don Hong-Oai is widely known for his images reminiscent of the Chinese painting of Guohua. The only difference is that the author's works are photographs created in the unique style of “Chinese (or Asian) pictorialism”.
The essence of the method lies in the fact that when creating an image, the photographer uses several negatives, which are superimposed on each other. This trend appeared in Hong Kong in the 1940s, and one of its prominent representatives is Long Chin-San, who was the teacher of the hero of our article and who died at the age of 104. The themes of "Chinese pictorialism" echo the traditional motives of Chinese painting: birds, boats, mountains. Although these are photographs created without the use of computer technology, the realism of the images is not necessary and often gives way to visual allegories.
“Anyone can take a beautiful photo of China,” says Don Hong-Oai. “But I want to do it differently. Regular photographs are of no value if they are all alike. The value of my pictures lies in the fact that no one else takes such pictures. Each photo has its own title and a red signature stamp on it.
Don Hong-Oai was born in China in 1929 and at the age of 7 he was sent to study at the Saigon Photo Studio (Vietnam). Since 1979, the photographer has lived in the United States. Despite many years of photography, the author gained wide popularity only in the 1990s. His work has won numerous awards from various Asian photographer societies, and has also been recognized by such international giants as Kodak and Nikon.
Unfortunately, in 2004, Don Hong-Oai passed away. Despite the relatively short history of "Chinese pictorialism", he was one of the last representatives of this trend. And perhaps the best one.
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