巫鸿丨中国当代摄影40年（二）—— 1980-1989

Introduction:

40 Years of Chinese Contemporary Photography Ⅱ

by: Wu Hung

New Wave Photography (1980-1989)

From the early to mid 1980s onward, numerous photography groups and exhibitions emerged all over the county. Among the earliest ones were the Four Directions Photo Club (Sifang yinghui) in Xi'an and the Everyone’s Photography Exhibition (Renren yingzhan) in Guangzhou, both of which attracted huge crowds. Other influential regional groups included the Shaanxi Group (Shaanxi qunti), Shanghai's North River League (Beihe meng), and Xiamen's Five Ones (Wugeyi) group. Hundreds of photo societies sprang up in Beijing during this time; Rupture Group (Liebian qunti) and the Modern Photography Salon (Xiandai sheying shalong) were among the two most important. The latter organized three influential exhibitions in the period of 1985-1988, becoming a leader in the New Wave movement.

This New Wave movement was intimately connected to the Culture Craze and the ‘85 Art New Wave of the 1980s, and was also closely linked to an “information explosion” in literature and art at the time. Various kinds of western art including photographic images, which had been forbidden during the Cultural Revolution, flooded into China en masse via reproductions and exhibitions, while hundreds of theoretical and art historical books were translated and published over a short period. New forms of photography periodicals and magazines also appeared, such as In Photography (Xiandai sheying) which came out in 1984 and became extremely popular among young artists. As a direct result of this information explosion, major trends in Western photography since the early 20^th century were restaged in China in the 1980s.

After this period of reintroduction of western photographic styles, documentary photography came to dominate the New Wave Movement in the later part of the 1980s. Similar to the American documentary photography movement of the 1930s, Chinese documentary photography of the 1980s-1990s was closely related to the contemporary social and political environment; the subject, style, and technique were all in service of photographers who dedicated themselves to the cause of social reform. Generally speaking, these documentary works took two major directions, either developing in tandem with Native Soil Art (xiangtu meishu), representing ordinary people and the eternal spirit of Chinese civilization; or linked to Scar Art (shanghen meishu), taking humankind's tragic fate in Chinese society as their subject. The former showed a strong ethnographic interest, featuring romantic imagery with symbolic significance; the latter was historical and critical in nature, reflecting on recent Chinese history as a great rupture requiring repair. Around the same time, due to the explosion of China's urbanization, an increasing number of documentary photographers focused their lenses upon metropolitan landscapes in the midst of violent transformation. Ruins of demolition sites, the invasion of Western culture and the market economy, urban populations and metropolitan existence in the midst of change—all became common themes. 

Featured Artists

New Wave Photography (1980-1989)

Ange, Wu Shixiong, Hu Wugong, Hou Dengke, Shi Baoxiu, Pan Ke, Wang Yaodong, Gu Zheng, Yu Xiaoyang, Chen Yongpeng, Li Shixiong, Zhou Yuedong, Xie Ping, Cai Ming, Liu Heung Shing, Yang Shaoming, Wu Jialin, Yu Deshui, Lv Nan, Zhang Hai'er, Lu Yuanmin, Chen Baosheng, Shi Zhimin, Xie Hailong, Wang Fuchun, Zhu Xianmin, Niu Guozheng, Wang Wusheng, Yuan Dongping, Mo Yi, Xu Yong