An 'erwo tu' portrait of a Chinese woman

Collection

Identifier

JC-s037

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Notes

University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: JC-s037. Photograph purchased in Shanghai. Photographed in a photographer's studio, maybe in Shanghai? A multiple exposure portrait, of a type known as erwo tu (二我圖), i.e. an image of me and myself. This playful genre of portraiture has its origins in Chinese painting - and a scholarly tradition of self-reflexivity (Source: Claire Roberts 'Photography and China'). See 'One, and the Same – The Photographic Double in Republican China' by H. Tiffany Lee, published in 'Portraiture and Early Studio Photography in China and Japan' (edited by Luke Gartlan and Roberta Wue, Routledge, 2017).

Estimated Date

1930-1950

Material

Paper

Media

Black and white photograph