17 Facts About Lang Jingshan

Lang Jingshan, romanized as Long Chin-san and Lang Ching-shan, was a pioneering photographer and one of the first Chinese photojournalists.

Lang Jingshan has been called "indisputably the most prominent figure in the history of Chinese art photography", and the "Father of Asian Photography".

Lang Jingshan joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1937 and gained his Associateship in 1940 and Fellowship in 1942.

Lang Jingshan was the first Chinese photographer to take artistic nude shots, and was known for the unique "composite photography" technique he created.

Lang Jingshan was born in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, in 1892, but was considered a native of his ancestral hometown Lanxi, Zhejiang, by Chinese convention.

Lang Jingshan's father, Lang Jintang, was a Qing dynasty military officer who was interested in art and photography, and Jingshan grew up influenced by the arts.

In 1911, Lang began working for Shanghai's Shen Bao newspaper in advertising design.

Lang Jingshan exhibited his own work widely including After the Tang Masters in the Royal Photographic Society's 1937 Exhibition and Majestic Solitude in the Royal Photographic Society's 1940 Exhibition.

Lang Jingshan achieved composite pictures besides very few times by using brush and ink on the negatives.

Lang Jingshan cofounded the Chinese Writers' and Artists' Association in 1950.

In March 1953, the China Photography Association was reestablished in Taipei, and Lang Jingshan served as its director for 42 years.

In October 2013, the National Art Museum of China staged a special exhibition of Lang Jingshan's art entitled "Distant Melody from Quiet Mountains".

Lang Jingshan committed himself to teaching and spreading his ideas of a Chinese photography.

Lang Jingshan's Chinese painting style photos were urged by the pioneering photographer and literary statesman Liu Bannong, who argued as early as 1928 that China should have its own style rooted in Chinese culture while Lang viewed the scene of Chinese smoking marijuana and binding women's small feet spread by foreign journalists.

Lang Jingshan published an important article titled 'Composite Pictures and Chinese Art' in the Royal Photographic Society's Journal in February 1942 which reproduced and discussed his photograph Au Printemps.

Lang Jingshan married four times and had fifteen sons and daughters.

Lang Jingshan died on 13 April 1995 in Taipei at the age of 102.