Preface: The Warmth of a Portrait

Tang Xin, Head of Taikang Insurance Collective

Artwork Collection, Director of Taikang Space, curated Portrait Fever: Taikang’s Photography Collection

Insofar as history consists of the people caught up in it – their consciousness, their spirit, their desires – people’s faces (and of course the bodies attached to them) are the most direct way for history to be visualised by those who come later. In the West, before the invention of photography, images of human figures were preserved in the form of paintings, partly in order to provide role models for the people. Of course, access to this art form was afforded only to a select few; a privilege determined not only by wealth but also political and social standing. To a certain extent, the invention of photography had a democratising effect on the fields of culture and thought. Even though they might not have been in possession of the equipment or the expertise, the proletariat (irrespective of gender or age) now had access to the information contained within photographic portraiture. The new technological democracy combined the hitherto separate worlds of public narrative, private life, and artistic creation to provide a lasting means of making contact with a historical moment. It is this contact, spanning distance and time, that allows us to feel the warmth of a portrait. The tradition of painting in China is more than two thousand years old. Throughout this period, landscapes have been continuously present, but the tradition of portraiture has been more sporadic, to the extent that during the few hundred years that are often seen to be Chinese painting’s golden period, people barely feature at all. This poses an intriguing question: Although portrait has played a role in the history of Chinese painting, this role has not followed an obvious path; it has changed in line with the complexities of the historical context. The arrival of photography in China was a symptom of the country’s entrance into modernity, but the narratives and compositions it gave rise to were different to that of photography in the West. It resulted in a rich and coherent body of portraits of Chinese people. When one is faced with a hundred years of portraiture, one feels the warmth of these people.

Photographic portraiture forms an important part of Taikang Space’s Photography Collection, spanning the late Qing Dynasty to today, and covering political leaders, military officials, artists, writers, workers, farmers, soldiers, traders, students, and even abstract and imaginary figures. In preparation for this exhibition, entitled Portrait Fever: Taikang’s Photography Collection, Taikang Space has been working on schematising and studying its collection of photography. Each portrait in the exhibition is unique, with its own details and allusions, which taken together allow us to piece together a glimpse of the transformations China has faced over its past century – an abbreviated history told through its many varying faces. The exhibition also demonstrates how much Taikang’s Photography Collection has benefited from academic research. Photography fans have found themselves reflecting on both the art of photographed portraiture and the practice of photography collection.

Due to the limited exhibition period, this book has been published with a view to providing continued access to Taikang’s photographed portraiture collection, as well as contemporary research and debates about photographed portraiture. Here, Taikang Space’s team of researchers and curators have written a series of articles from different perspectives on different aspects of the exhibition. We are honoured to have articles written by, amongst others, Chief Editor of Chinese Photography Magazine Jin Yongquan, Lecturer at the Broadcast Research Centre at the Communication University of China Liu Jianping, Photographer and Photography Researcher Shi Zhimin, Chief Image Editor at iCrossChina Zeng Huang, and young Photographer and Photography Researcher Liu Zhangbolong, each of whom has, from his own areas of expertise, opened up for readers new spaces within which to understand and discuss photographed portraiture. While compiling this book, we were delighted to be able to interview Mao Zedong’s former professional photographer Qian Sijie, his wife Chen Huiyan, who was Editor in the Photography Department of Xinhua News Agency, Senior Engineer at Xinhua News Agency and the Chinese Photographers Association Chen Shilin, and Zhang Zuo, who produced the photos of many of the last generation’s photographers as a developer in the darkrooms of China Youth Daily. The experience they share with us here allows us to get a fresh understanding of photography and its history. We would like to express our gratitude here for all of those who contributed articles and participated in interviews for the publication. We look forward to the impact this book will have in terms of providing an insight into the philosophy of Taikang Space’s Photography Collection and research. We hope to play a role in encouraging the conversation on photographed portraiture, collection, and research, with a view to both broadening and deepening the scope for discussion and cooperation in the future.