China, Portrait of a Country - Reviews
"...photojournalism has never been high on the export list for this notoriously secretive nation. This is what makes Liu Heung Shing's achievement all the more jaw-dropping. The Chinese photographer has spent nearly four years gathering pictures from 88 indigenous photographers, for a mighty new tome telling the story of the People's Republic."The Sunday Times Magazine, LondonUnited Kingdom |
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"A landmark compilation of primarily vintage images by 88 of the most important Chinese photographers. Conceptualized and edited by Liu, who was born in Hong Kong, educated on the mainland and America, and now lives in Beijing, "China" will be published on Aug. 1, a few days before the Olympics' opening ceremony. On large-format pages, Liu presents what he calls a 'visual history of contemporary China.' As a pictorial record, the work is informative, stunning and unusually comprehensive. But it goes well beyond that, providing a thoughtful reflection of the shifting function of the photographic image on the mainland...To be sure, just compiling the pictures proved quite a feat. The Chinese government does not allow full access to its photo archives, and comprehensive private picture agencies don't exist. To get around those problems, Liu traveled around China for four years, meeting with many photographers who gave him access to their personal troves of prints and negatives, often haphazardly stored in shoe boxes. 'This book is a tribute to the Chinese photographers,' says Liu. 'They have self-censorship and state interference all the time, but they recognized the event when it happened, even if the photos would not be published.' Up to a third of the book's images have never been seen in print before... It crystallizes the journey that the photographic image has made along with the country: from visual record of the past, to the service of the Party, to creative commentary about the future."Newsweek, New YorkUnited States |
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"The book's strength is in the rare, pre-1980s shots, when images were tightly controlled."Bloomberg.com, New YorkUnited States |
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"…l’un des livres les plus excitants de la saison… "France info, ParisFrance |
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"La Chine par la Chine. Cernant la Chine contemporaine depuis la création de la République populaire, le dernier livre monumental de TASCHEN propose le regard de 76 photographes chinois réunis autour du photojournaliste Liu Heung Shing. Tranchée en périodes événementielles, l’histoire de la photographie chinoise des soixante dernières années décrit les relations complexes entre un régime et son peuple. Le titre bref, l’épaisseur du volume, la figure chorégraphique de la couverture annoncent un sujet fort. Le portrait de la Chine proposé par Liu Heung Shing, grand reporter au Times Magazine, correspondant d’Associated Press et lauréat du Prix Pulitzer en 1992, couvre la période de la République populaire depuis sa proclamation le 1er octobre 1949, jusqu’à la période actuelle. Le préliminaire de la Longue Marche, l’élection de Mao Zedong à la présidence du Parti communiste chinois en 1935 sont reléguées dans la chronologie publiée en fin de volume. Le livre qui dans les bibliothèques trouvera sa place à côté du Berlin conçu par Benedikt Taschen lui-même adopte le même parti pris, c’est-à-dire un sujet à la fois vaste et ciblé, décrit par la photographie (…). Pour la première fois un livre propose un regard intérieur, sans la distanciation appréciée chez les nombreux occidentaux, en particulier Henri Cartier Bresson et Marc Riboud salués en bonne place dans l’introduction. (…) Edité dans la version traditionnellement trilingue anglaise, allemande et française, toujours un peu lourde, China apporte au public occidental un nouveau sujet d’étonnement, celui d’une introspection fluctuant au gré des impératifs de propagande et d’une libération mesurée."Le Photographe, ParisFrance |
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"...superbe livre sur la Chine avec plus de 88 photographes...un ouvrage impressionnant..."Canal+ Matin InfoFrance |
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"Ein prächtiger überaus beeindruckender Bildband. Vom schwimmenden Mao, dem einstigen Ikonenbild, bis zu experimenteller Fotografie der Gegenwart. Nicht nur die Vielfalt beeindruckt, sondern auch die politische Wandlung Chinas, die sich in diesen Bildern ausdrückt. Alle Fotos sind kommentiert und jedes der sechs Kapitel hat eine informative Einleitung."Weberberg.de, BiberachGermany |
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"Ein neuer Fotoband erzählt chinesische Geschichte von 1949 bis heute - Zeitreise durch ein radikal verändertes Land ... Vier Jahre lang hat Herausgeber Liu sein Land bereist, Tausende verstaubter Negative und Abzüge gesichtet und dabei zahlreiche fotografische Kostbarkeiten zu Tage gefördert. Viele der in seinem Buch vertretenen 88 Künstler hätten Angst vor staatlichen Repressionen gehabt, berichtet Liu. Dennoch stimmten sie einer Veröffentlichung zu. Entstanden ist ein beeindruckendes Geschichtsbilderbuch, das die Geschichte der Volksrepublik von 1949 bis heute beschreibt."Spiegel.de, HamburgGermany |
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"Rechtzeitig zu den Olympischen Spielen in China erscheint ein Bildband, der schon jetzt eine Goldmedaille verdient. 88 chinesische Fotografen dokumentieren mit einzigartigen Bildern den leid- und kraftvollen Aufbruch ihres Landes."SonntagsBlick Magazin, ZürichSwitzerland |
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"In putting together this collection of work by Chinese photographers, editor Liu Heung Shing-himself a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer with Time and the Associated Press-realized that a full portrait of China was impossible unless the book included work from recent decades that had been never been published for fear of government retribution. He traveled the country personally urging photographers to bring out negatives that had been locked away. Many agreed-a quarter of the photographs here have never been published before-and the result is eye-opening. Some of the 81 photographers represented in "China: Portrait of a Country" had access to high-level officials-and to rarely witnessed events like the "struggle sessions" from the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when party leaders were humiliated and sometimes killed. One disturbing photo by Jiang Shaowu shows a terrified provincial bureaucrat being denounced on a stage by young communist fanatics. From the 1980s, the photographs include one of the definitive images of the Tiananmen Square protests: two wounded men being rushed to the hospital on a flatbed rickshaw. Even though the book offers a wealth of historical documentation, it also takes us right up to today's virtually apolitical boom times. There are the obligatory shots of the gleaming Shanghai cityscape but also suggestions of the vast spiritual revival taking place across the country: A photograph of a rural funeral by Lü Nan seems to have been taken from heaven, looking down on a crowd kneeling before a grave. As a whole, the book acknowledges and explores the country's past but impresses upon readers the vitality of China's dynamic present."The Wall Street Journal, New YorkUnited States |
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China, Portrait of a Country
Liu, Heung Shing
Hardcover, 25 x 34 cm (9.8 x 13.4 in.), 424 pages $ 59.99 |
- Clippings (138 items)
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