Painting on Photo

A master of photography, Chen Fuli, teamed up with China’s finest painters in 1979 to develop a new method of combining photography with painting.

The photography-painting works exhibition called Painting on Photo, which took 11 years to prepare, is currently being held at 798 Photo Gallery.

Pictorial photography first originated in China in the early 1920s.

Many well-known artists worked with Chen over the years, including Wu Zuoren, Hua Junwu, Fan Zeng and Han Meilin.

Han Meilin, starting with a photo of a blue sky and white clouds as a canvas, painted a horse in the air naming it ‘Tian Ma Xing Kong’ - a horse in the sky - which is a Chinese idiom implying a free spirit.

An artwork dedicated by Hua Junwu is more ironic. The original photo depicts an open-mouthed alligator. To highlight the bravery of the photographer who took the photo Hua inserted a person in its mouth.

The method used by the artists is a combination of traditional Chinese painting techniques and western photography.

In Chen and fellow artists’ photography-paining works they successfully demonstrate the visional experience and humanitarian features which uniquely belong to the Chinese.

Without a doubt this unique exhibition will have significant impact on the development of Chinese photography.

(Video by Yu Chenkang)