Historic Images Reveal 180 Years of Change in China

The Opening Ceremony of the'180 Years of Photography in China'. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

An exhibition titled 180 Years of Photography in China raised its curtain recently at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Yinchuan, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

It shows the original works of more than 500 pieces from many famous photographers in China since the invention of photography about 180 years ago, recording the course of China's development.

The exhibition consists of four sections, namely Late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911): Recovered Vintages, the Minguo period (1912-49): a Cradle of Photography, Documenting: From Pictorialism to New Documentary, and Contemporary: The New Concept.

[Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

It helps to constitute a complete collection system of the original works, which captures historical moments, records historical scenes and shapes historical memories with the language of image art.

Through the recording of light and shadow, the emergence of photography shows from the early choice of photographic materials to the recent subversive innovation of digitization; from the early hand-made albums and picture albums to the photographic supplements and pictorial newspapers, which were popular in the early 20th century.

It also displays the pictures, videos and even live broadcasts in the post-mobile internet era in the new century, and from the simple image recording and reproduction in the early stage to the self-consciousness of photography art in the early 20th century, and then the image reconstruction in the turn of the new century.

Christopher Phillips, Terry Bennett, Chen Shen, Zeng Huang and Wang Chunchen are the curators of the exhibition, which will be on show until November 24.

Visitors view the photographs. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

'Contemporary: The New Concept' Exhibition Hall. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]