Robert van der Hilst is a tireless globetrotter. Born in 1940 in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) where he studied photography, he embarked on a journey at the age of 19 that would take him to France, Canada, the USA, Latin America, South America, and China. From the early nineties onwards, he has been devoting particular time and attention to China, its cities, its people. Alongside assignments for authoritative international magazines he has developed personal works, such as the series Chinese interiors that he started in 2004.
He travelled across China, from coastal metropolises to the hinterland in order to capture the dignity of everyday life. Imbued with Dutch mid-seventeenth century genre paintings, these photographs plunge the viewer into the intimate universes of Chinese people. Chinese interiors series offers “a glimpse into each person’s private human realm” by “communicating through the eyes, feeling and emotions”.
