Luo Bonian: Photography Between Pictorialism and Modernism

Photographer Luo Bonian’s exhibition was presented at the Jimei x Arles International Photography Festival 2024 and is preparing for a debut at the Tate Modern in London at the end of 2025. Luo Bonian, a refined and self-taught figure in the field of photography, was active between the 1930s and 1940s. His research sought to merge pictorial atmospheres with the styles of the Western avant-garde. A banker by profession and an artist by vocation, he interpreted photography as an enrichment of daily existence, not as a profession. His images - human landscapes, still lifes, visual experiments - bear witness to a profound and sensitive vision of life. During the war, he remained faithful to his art, transforming common objects into visual poetry. Linked to the cultural environments of the time, he was able to enrich his production through intellectual exchanges, always keeping alive a personal, emotional and innovative research.