The exhibition “Lai Fong (ca. 1839–1890): Photographer of China” draws primarily from the collection of Stephan Loewentheil, JD ’75, who over three decades has assembled one of the world’s foremost collections of early photographs of China and supported the research necessary for their attribution.
Initially held at Cornell University's Johnson Museum of Art, this exhibition is devoted to one of the most ambitious and successful photographer of nineteenth-century China: Lai Fong. He began practicing under the name Afong in Hong Kong in the 1860s, and over the next twenty years built a towering reputation on his illustrious clientele, his impressive product range, and a catalogue of views of China “larger, choicer, and more complete…than any other in the Empire,” according to his advertisements. His photographs of Chinese cities, monuments, people, and land—however shaped by the desires of his cosmopolitan clientele—stand as records of places that have changed often beyond recognition, and of his own artistry, exuberance, and entrepreneurial brilliance.
Unfortunately, this exhibition at Cornell University's Johnson Museum of Art is inaccessible due to the current circumstances. To share a view of the exhibition, the Loewentheil Collection has put together a short video (see link below) with a selection of important photographs by the early Chinese master.