Preview our FALL 2025 catalog, featuring more than 500 new books on art, photography, design, architecture, film, music and visual culture.
APERTURE
The Chinese Photobook
Edited by Martin Parr, Wassink Lundgren. Text by Gu Zheng, Raymond Lum, Ruben Lundgren, Stephanie H. Tung, Gerry Badger.
In the last decade there has been a major reappraisal of the role and status of the photobook within the history of photography. Newly revised histories of photography as recorded via the photobook 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 a handful of Chinese books have made it onto historians' short lists. Yet China has a fascinating history of photobook publishing, and The Chinese Photobook will reveal for the first time the richness and diversity of this heritage. This volume is based on a collection compiled by Martin Parr and Beijing- and London-based Dutch photographer team WassinkLundgren. And while the collection was inspired initially by Parr's interest in propaganda books and in finding key works of socialist realist photography from the early days of the Communist Party and the Cultural Revolution era, the selection of books includes key volumes published as early as 1900, as well as contemporary volumes by emerging Chinese photographers. Each featured photobook offers a new perspective on the complicated history of China from the twentieth century onward. The Chinese Photobook embodies an unprecedented amount of research and scholarship in this area, and includes accompanying texts and individual title descriptions by Gu Zheng, Raymond Lum, Ruben Lundgren, Stephanie H. Tung and Gerry Badger.
Featured spread is reproduced from The Chinese Photobook.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Art Info
Noelle Bodick
The photobook, the show proposes, offers a vernacular story of art, untold by academics and art historians.
vogue.com
Suzanne Shaheen
Tracing the history and development of Chinese photo books from the last 150 years, Martin Parr and WassinkLundgren's upcoming publication, The Chinese Photo Book (Aperture Foundation), is a diverse, thorough, and vibrant authority on an overlooked genre.
The New York Times, Lens
Maurice Berger
An ambitious survey of China’s rich and diverse history of photobooks represents a turning point in narrowing the comprehension gap between East and West.
FORMAT: Hbk, 11.5 x 13 in. / 448 pgs / 1000 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $150.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $180 ISBN: 9781597112284 PUBLISHER: Aperture AVAILABLE: 6/23/2015 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: No longer our product AVAILABILITY: Not Available
Published by Aperture. Edited by Martin Parr, Wassink Lundgren. Text by Gu Zheng, Raymond Lum, Ruben Lundgren, Stephanie H. Tung, Gerry Badger.
In the last decade there has been a major reappraisal of the role and status of the photobook within the history of photography. Newly revised histories of photography as recorded via the photobook 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 a handful of Chinese books have made it onto historians' short lists. Yet China has a fascinating history of photobook publishing, and The Chinese Photobook will reveal for the first time the richness and diversity of this heritage. This volume is based on a collection compiled by Martin Parr and Beijing- and London-based Dutch photographer team WassinkLundgren. And while the collection was inspired initially by Parr's interest in propaganda books and in finding key works of socialist realist photography from the early days of the Communist Party and the Cultural Revolution era, the selection of books includes key volumes published as early as 1900, as well as contemporary volumes by emerging Chinese photographers. Each featured photobook offers a new perspective on the complicated history of China from the twentieth century onward. The Chinese Photobook embodies an unprecedented amount of research and scholarship in this area, and includes accompanying texts and individual title descriptions by Gu Zheng, Raymond Lum, Ruben Lundgren, Stephanie H. Tung and Gerry Badger.
