FAN HO “ON THE STAGE OF LIFE”
SEPTEMBER 10 - NOVEMBER 19, 2016

M97 GALLERY, 363 Changping Road, Building 4, 1st Floor, Shanghai

M97 is pleased to present ON THE STAGE OF LIFE, a solo exhibition of vintage silver gelatin prints by Fan Ho, one of the great masters of black and white photography. This is Fan Ho’s second solo exhibition at M97.

The exhibition features a selection of vintage prints developed by the artist close to the time the image was captured, including some award winning photographs like ‘Street Scene’. The exhibition provides an insightful look at the artist’s long stretching career, giving the viewer a rare chance to deepen the understanding and importance of this exceptional artist in the context of the history of Asian and Western photography.

“On the Stage of Life” (1954), is one of Fan Ho’s most iconic photographs and was taken at the early age of 23 while studying literature and theater at university in Hong Kong. The three figures represent Contemplations, Observation, and Progression. As an artist, Fan Ho felt we are all constantly living and being viewed on a stage for others to perceive, hence he titled this piece “On the Stage of Life”. This photograph is one of the earliest illustrations of Fan Ho’s cinematic style and staged photographs that later followed in the late 1950’s and 1960’s.

Born in Shanghai, Fan Ho immigrated to Hong Kong at the age of 18, and it was then that he began to document daily life in the bustling city, from crowded markets to lonely alleyways. Throughout the subsequent decades, Fan Ho exhibited his photographs in international salons, exhibitions, and competitions - winning nearly 300 awards. Between 1958 and 1965, Fan Ho was named multiple times as One of the Top Ten Photographers of the World by the Photographic Society of America and other photographic societies around the world. Fan Ho is considered to be one of the most influential Chinese photographers of the 20th century.

Fan Ho was born in Shanghai in 1931 and passed away in the United States in June 2016.