Peking the Beautiful Herbert C. White

Peking the beautiful Herbert C. White Shanghai: The Commercial Press, Ltd, 1927 Comprising seventy photographic studies of the celebrated monuments of China’s northern capital and its environs complete with descriptive and historical notes.

In the last decade there has been a major reappraisal of the role and status of the photobook within the history of photography. Revisionist histories have added enormously to our understanding of the medium’s culture, particularly in places that are often marginalized, such as Latin America and Africa. However, until now, only three Chinese photobooks have made it onto historians’ short lists.

Yet China has a fascinating history of photobook publishing, and Aperture’s exhibition The Chinese Photobook will reveal for the first time the richness and diversity of this heritage. Divided into six historical sections, it will delight and engage photobook enthusiasts with the excitement of discovery. Based on a collection compiled by Martin Parr and Beijing- and London-based Dutch photographer team WassinkLundgren, The Chinese Photobook embodies an unprecedented amount of research and scholarship, and includes accompanying texts and individual title descriptions by Raymond Lum, Stephanie Tung, and Gu Zheng.

The Chinese Photobook will also reveal much about China itself, and the country’s dramatic twists and turns during the last 150 years.

Martin Parr is a key figure in the world of photography, recognized as a brilliant satirist of contemporary life. Author of over thirty photography books, his photographs have been collected by museums worldwide, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Tate Modern, London. Parr is a member of Magnum Photos.

WassinkLundgren is a collaboration between Dutch artists Thijs groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren. Their work together includes book projects, exhibitions, and photography commissions. They met while studying at the Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands and have worked together since 2005. They have received several awards, including the Dutch Doc Award and Foto Kees Scherer Prijs for best photobook, and have been nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award.

Contents:
Includes approximately fifty-five books (with an average of eight to ten books in each of the six sections) and eighty framed portfolio pages, as well as video slideshows that will allow the viewer to “flip” through the more delicate books that must be presented in vitrines. Less rare books will be available for handling on a viewing table. In addition, the exhibitor will receive high-res tear-sheet files, which will be produced by the venue as vinyl blowups.