The world according to Chin-san Long

Picked up a slim exhibition catalogue at the Strand bookshop yesterday, put out by Taipei Gallery in 1993, for a show they mounted of Chinese photographer Chin-san Long’s work. He was born Zhejiang Province in 1892. In 1927 he became one of China’s first photo-journalists when the Shanghai Eastern Times, where he was employed, brought in the country’s first color printing machine. In 1939 he perfected a compositing method which allowed him to combine multiple images in the dark room. The results were photographs which incorporated the methodology of traditional Chinese ink-painting, creating a synthesis of Chinese aesthetic and western photographic technique. With a career spanning nine decades Long helped to popularize photography in China. As it turns out his work is not at all well represented on the net so I’m happy to be able to offer you the following 16 examples of his beautiful, pre-digital-age, photo compositing work. See below.

Above the Clouds, 1953.

Pavilion on the Mountain of Immortals, 1955.

A Lone Pavilion by the Cliff, 1962.

Spring Messenger, 1957.

Standing in Solitude, 1945.

Foggy River, 1936.

Longevity, 1961,

A Recluse Under a Pine Tree, 1963.

Fishing Under the Snow, 1969.

Clouds Encircling Mountains, 1942.

Spring by the Riverside, 1934.

Sailing Through the Gorge, 1985.

Foggy River, 1937.

Old Pavilion, 1936.

A Pair of Deer, 1951.

Rising Clouds, 1937.

For some more information on early photography in China see here. To see 215 early Chinese photographs see here.

Hope you enjoyed these. Anyone with further knowledge of Chin-san Long is encouraged to contact me.

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