Gentlemen of Quality: John Thomson

A Manchu bride, Beijing (1871-2), photograph by John Thomson



A married couple from Xiamen, a port city in south-eastern China.

Young woman of Guangzhou in southern China.


I am going to feature this month 3 men from the the 19th century that I found incredibly interesting and stylish characters.
I found Scottish photographer John Thomson on my favorite photography blog Heading East
Thomson was a Victorian contemporary and visited China from 1868-72. He saw himself in the tradition of the gentlemen explorer and traveled to China and South East Asia with his camera. He initially set up a photography studio in Singapore and his love for region grew. Back in Britain he showed his photos, gave lectures and wrote articles on Chinese culture . "Undoubtedly his photographs contributed greatly to 19th-century Europe’s view of Asia and filled the visual gap between East and West. He became known as ‘China’ Thomson."His photos have just been exhibited in the Beijing World Art Museum.
On the left he photographed the traditional bound foot next to a healthy, un-bound foot on the right.

Mr. Thomson is standing next to Imperial Soldiers in Xiamen

Artist du jour: Loretta Lux

My friend Joseph introduced me today to the wonderful art of Loretta Lux. We saw her portrait of a boy at the SF Moma and browsed through a book of her photographs. Her depiction of children has always a strange and lonely quality, always beautifully composed. There is a very painterly quality of her choice of colors and set up, reminiscent of Renaissance paintings. Some of the vintage clothes the children wear were saved from her childhood by her mother.
The portraits of these children are haunting and sweet, ready to tell a fairy tale of strange adventures - I just can't stop looking at them and wondering..

Celebrating my birthday in the moon

My dream come true: I am sitting in the moon

Having a blast with Mr. Lucky and the Cocktail Party

Last Saturday I celebrated my 44th birthday and it was amazing! All my wonderful friends came and joined in the fun. Everybody got their picture taken in the Paper Moon, that was set up in my office. It was a dream come true for me, since I always wanted to have my picture taken sitting in the moon. Thanks to my lovely husband and my wonderful father, who made this dream reality, so I could share it with my friends. (see all the fantastic moon photos from the party here)
To top it off, my dear friend and charismatic personality Mr. Lucky performed with a group of amazing musicians. The best jazz band ever right in my living room - that explains why I was the luckiest and happiest girl that night. I danced a lot and laughed a lot and in between got my picture taken. It was a night I'll always remember and the love and caring I felt from all my dear friends filled my heart. Thank you all for coming and celebrating with me. I fell asleep that night with a smile on my face.....

The birds

A couple of mornings ago the crows assemble on my front yard tree making an incredible noise. When I went outside to see what this was all about, I was taken by the sight of their silhouettes against the blue sky and was reminded of paper cut outs.

A modern Dutch Portrait

Surfing the web I came across these interesting portraits by the Dutch photographer Hendrik Kerstens. He started photographing his daughter in 1995 and called the on going photo project "the Paula Pictures". His pictures stand in the old 17th century tradition of Dutch painters and one is reminded of the beauty and solitude in Vermeer's paintings. The modern version of girl with the pearl earrings is girl with an iPod.