‘Portrait of Hong Kong’ by Fan Ho
22 March - 14 April 2019
Blue Lotus Gallery: 28 Pound Lane, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Opening Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 11am–6pm
Closed on Monday, Tuesday and Public Holidays
This exhibition showcases the last body of work of prominent photographer Fan Ho as embodied in the book project ‘Portrait of Hong Kong’. For this final endeavour the celebrated and much-loved photographer and film director, Fan Ho, went through his extensive archive of negatives to compile a of series of work that had not previously been published. In 2015 Fan Ho selected about 500 old negatives from his own archive which he then cropped in his signature style. After the deeply unfortunate event of his passing, it took another year for the project to be completed with the help of his family and Sarah Greene. The flow of images takes you on a journey travelling from West to East of Hong Kong Island, starting with the boat people, moving through construction and modernisation, across the harbour to Kowloon side, ending in the New Territories and the quiet waters of Hong Kong.
The photographic selection expressed in this new body of work feels more natural, indeed closer to documentary and pure street photography compared to his previously highly stylised approach. In his own manifesto ‘Thoughts on Street Photography’ which he wrote at the age of 28, and of which carefully selected quotes can be found throughout the book, he explains, “my realistic street photos are rarely selected. Pictorial aesthetics and images with a sense of humour are still the key for salon photos but I expect changes to happen soon. In the meantime, I will just keep trying."
The book, published by Hong Kong’s WE PRESS in June 2017, was awarded ‘Best Book of the Year’ by the HK Federation of Book Publishers in the 11th Hong Kong Book Prize Competition (2018). This award for Fan Ho, who already amassed close to 300 accolades, thusly reaffirms his popularity in Hong Kong and beyond.
The exhibition will feature about 40 works including some rare vintage pieces. The book with the same title ‘Portrait of Hong Kong’ will be available during the exhibition.
About Fan Ho (1931-2016)
Born in Shanghai in 1931, Fan Ho delved into photography at the early age of 14 when he started taking pictures with a Kodak Brownie camera of his Father. Later at the age of 18, his Father bought him a twin lens Rolleiflex camera with which he took all his award-winning photographs. In 1949, Fan Ho’s parents moved to Hong Kong where the young Fan Ho continued pursuing his passion for photography, in particularly for street photography. Dubbed the Cartier-Bresson of the East’, Fan Ho’s works earned him close to 300 local and international photography awards and titles. His talent was discovered also by the film industry where he started out as an actor before moving into Directing until his retirement at age 65.
During his lifetime, Fan Ho taught photography and film-making at various universities worldwide. His works remain in private and public collections which, most notably, include that of M+ Museum (Hong Kong), Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Bibliothèque National de France, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (USA) to name but a few.
Published by WE Press, Hong Kong, 2021
Fourth Edition
220 pages, 153 illustrations
264 x 328mm
Hard Cover Case Binding
English, Chinese
ISBN: 978-98879340-8-0
This is the latest book project by celebrated photographer and film director Fan Ho, compiled from so far never seen images that were derived from his own archive of old original negatives. The flow of images takes you on a journey that loosely travels from west to east of Hong Kong island, from the boat people through construction and modernisation and across the harbour to the Kowloon side, ending in the New Territories and the quiet waters of Hong Kong. The selection of this new body of work feels more natural and closer to documentary compared to his previous highly stylised approach on street photography. In his own manifesto “Thoughts on Street Photography” which he wrote at the age of 28, and of which carefully selected quotes can be found throughout the book, he mentions: ‘My realistic street photos are rarely selected. Pictorial aesthetics and images with a sense of humour are still the key for salon photos but I expect changes to happen soon. In the meantime, I will just keep trying." In 2015 Fan Ho’s last dream started to materialise. Fan Ho selected about 500 old negatives from his own collection which he cropped in his signature style. After the very unfortunate event of his passing, it took another year for the project to be completed with the help of his family and Sarah Greene. In addition to the images, the book begins with a touching foreword written by John Woo about his personal encounters with Fan Ho. The book also includes an essay by professor Joseph Fung. Fan Ho’s colourful life is summarised by Sarah Greene in the biographical notes at the hand of multiple conversations and recordings with the artist.
出版：香港 WE Press，2021 年
第四版
全書 220 頁，收錄 153 幅圖版
尺寸 264×328 毫米
硬殼精裝
中英雙語
國際標準書號：978-98879340-8-0
《念香港人的舊》一書是香港著名攝影家兼電影導演何藩繼《香港追憶》、《人生舞台》和《香港‧往日情懷》後的第四部攝影作品集。內容由迄今為止從未曝光的作品彙編而成，這些影像來自何藩親手從舊底片檔案重新選出。
書中影像的流動帶領你踏上一段從港島西向東的漫步旅程，從船民到現代化的大街，穿過海旁走到九龍一側，於新界的寧靜水域止步。本作與何藩為人熟悉的電影擺拍作品不同，這輯新發表的作品，當中所表達的攝影感覺更為自然，更接近記錄性質及純街頭攝影。本作更精心挑選的引述了何藩於28歲時撰寫的《街頭攝影叢談》，其中提及到自己的真實街拍作品很少被選中，反觀具有幽默感的圖案或圖像美學仍然是沙龍照的關鍵，但他卻相信這個現象很快就會改變。於2015年，何藩從自己的影像檔案中選出了大約500張舊負片，再精選出150張作品加以他其標誌性的風格剪裁，塑造出這個彌足珍貴的歷史紀錄，完成一個未了的舊夢。何藩離世後，在他的家人和 Sarah Greene 的幫助下，這個項目再花了一年時間終於完成。此書由著名導演吳宇森感人的前言開始，分享了他與何藩之間的遭遇；再由知名攝影師、攝影研究者與策展人馮漢紀以及 Blue Lotus Gallery 創辦人 Sarah Greene 撰序，總結出香港攝影大師何藩豐富多彩的一生。