Fan Ho (; 8 October 1931 – 19 June 2016) was a Chinese photographer, film director, and actor. From 1956, he won over 280 awards from international exhibitions and competitions worldwide for his photography.

Photography career

Fan Ho was born in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

in 1931, and emigrated with his family to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in 1949. At the outbreak of war in 1941, Ho's parents were stranded in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

for several years and Ho was left in the care of a family servant. Ho began photographing at a very young age with a Brownie which his father had left at home, and later with a

Rolleiflex Rolleiflex is a long-running and diverse line of high-end cameras originally made by the German company Franke & Heidecke, and later Rollei-Werke. History The "Rolleiflex" name is most commonly used to refer to Rollei's premier line of med ...

twin-lens reflex camera A twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) is a type of camera with two objective Photographic lens, lenses of the same focal length. One of the lenses is the photographic objective or "taking lens" (the lens that takes the picture), while the other is use ...

his father gave him at the age of 14. Largely self-taught, his photos display a fascination with urban life, explored alleys, slums, markets and streets. Much of his work consists of candid photographs of the street vendors and children only a few years younger than himself. He developed his images in the family bathtub and soon had built up a significant body of work, chronicling

in the 1950s and 1960s as it was becoming a major metropolitan centre. Ho would use the same Rolleiflex K4A throughout his career. Upon seeing Ho's work for the first time in 2006, gallery owner Laurence Miller commented that " heyfelt like direct descendants of the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

, yet they were made in Hong Kong. They were abstract and humanistic at the same time." Ho was a Fellow of the Photographic Society of America, the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

and the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

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, and an Honorary Member of the Photographic Societies of

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

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Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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and

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. Ho was named one of the "Top Ten Photographers of the World" by the Photographic Society of America between 1958 and 1965.

"Approaching Shadow", 1954 《陰影》

"Approaching Shadow" () was one of Ho's most famous works. He asked a cousin to pose by a wall at Queen's College in

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...

and added a diagonal shadow in the darkroom to symbolize that "her youth will fade away" since "everyone has the same destiny". A print of "Approaching Shadow" sold for a record in 2015.

Film career

Ho was a

film director and actor. He joined

Shaw Brothers Shaw Brothers (HK) Limited () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, operating from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

in 1961 to develop his career in cinema. He started as a continuity assistant in the movie ''The Swallow'' (1961) and moved on to act in several movies for Shaw. Ho played the Monk, Tripitaka, in the lavish

adaption of ''Journey to the West'' four-picture cycle of films. Ho became disillusioned with Shaw's revenue-driven formula, and sought creative relief in photography and in other studios. During the early 1960s he also produced a series of independent short films, the first of which, ''Big City Little Man'' (大都市小人物; 1963, 30 min), won the "Honor Award Certificate" from the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

International Film Festival in 1964. Ho left

in 1969 to develop his career as a director, making over 20 films with various studios in

and Taiwan. He has had three films in the "Official Selection" of the International Film Festivals of Cannes,

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and

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; and five of his films have been selected in the "Permanent Collection" of the National Film Archives of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and

. As well as his independent film work he worked in erotic cinema ( Category III films), with such films as ''Adventure in Denmark'' (1973), ''The Girl with the Long Hair'' (1975) and ''Temptation Summary'' (1990). According to Mark Pinsukanjana, director of Modernbook Gallery in

, CA, his debut feature, ''Lost'' (1969), was Ho's favourite. As Pinsukanjana says:

In ''Lost'', one will see the chaotic life of one man in Hong Kong. The film follows him and finds the beauty that surrounds him; he is lost because he never saw it. I think that one can say that this is similar to Fan Ho's photographs in the sense that Hong Kong is crowded, busy and chaotic to many, but for Fan Ho, he was able to convert hat he foundand find beauty."

He also served on the jury of the

Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Taipei Golden Horse Awards () are a film festival and associated awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. The festival and ceremony were founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Repub ...

festival and

Hong Kong Film Awards The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies typically take place in April, and have mostly been held at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre since 1991. The a ...

Post-retirement career

Ho's wife and children emigrated to

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

in 1979 to pursue a university education and he followed in 1995 after retiring from cinema. Restless in retirement, Ho's health began to decline until his family suggested that he pursue photography again. Rather than using modern equipment and taking photographs locally in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, Ho went through his old negatives from

and began showing his portfolio to local galleries. He exhibited slides of his photographs, some of which were in the permanent collection at SFMOMA, at the 1998 New Asian Cinema Festival, which was screening his 1988 film ''Carnal Desire'' at the 4 Star Theater in San Francisco. A chance meeting with Mark Pinsukanjana in 1999 led to Ho being featured at Pinsukanjana's Modernbook Gallery in Palo Alto in 2000, his first solo exhibition since the 1960s, and in 2001, and Ho's films and photographs continued to be shown at festivals hosted at the 4 Star. Ho's daughter credits the first Palo Alto exhibition in 2000 with restoring Ho's confidence and happiness. Modernbook went on to stage his vintage work at photoLA in January 2006, and upon seeing his photographs of

, fellow gallery owner Laurence Miller was moved to acquire 26 prints and put on a solo exhibit for Ho in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

later that year. Ho would go on to publish a new monograph, ''Hong Kong Yesterday'' in 2006 after receiving international attention for this early work. By compositing old negatives, Ho continued to produce new prints of scenes that have now vanished from modern

. Many of the resulting composited prints were published for the first time in his final monograph ''A Hong Kong Memoir'' in 2014, following exhibits of the same title at Modernbook in summer 2011 and from December 2014 to January 2015. He died in San Jose on 19 June 2016 of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at the age of 84. Posthumously, thirty-two photographs taken in 1950s

as well as related objects, including his Rolleiflex camera and an early book, ''Thoughts on Street Photography'', were exhibited at

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Hong Kong gallery in the last half of June 2017. A new

photo book A photo book or photobook is a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the overall content. A photo book is related to and also often used as a coffee table book. Early Early photo books are characterized by their use of ...

, ''Portrait of Hong Kong'', was published in June 2017 to coincide with the exhibition. It was prefaced by the filmmaker

John Woo John Woo Yu-sen ( zh, t= ; born 22 September 1946) is a Hongkongers, Hong Kong film director known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. The recipient of various accolades, including a Hong Kong Film Awards, Hong Kong Film Award ...

. ''Portrait of Hong Kong'' 《念香港人的舊》 contains 153 new street photographs which were selected from 500 negatives chosen by Ho before he died in 2016. After his death, his surviving family members spent about a year completing the project, together with support from Sarah Greene (Blue Lotus Gallery) and WE Press (香港人出版). 20 quotable excerpts from Ho's earliest book, ''Thoughts on Street Photography'' 《街頭攝影叢談》, were included. These 153 photographs provide not only glimpses of Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s but also recall the indomitable spirit of the people at the time. This body of realistic street photographs were never highly recognized during the 1950s and 1960s, despite being Ho's favorites, as quoted in Ho's reply to Sarah Greene during one of her visits to Ho in early 2016. The quote appeared in the afterword of his latest monograph: Ho's family also established a website to celebrate his life and work.

Works by Ho

Short films

*''Big City Little Man'' / (1963, 30 min, Hong Kong) *''Home Work'' / (1966, 40 min, Hong Kong) *Gulf / 離 : (1966 Banbury England Best Film Award, 15 min, Hong Kong)

Feature films

Monographs

* * * * * * * *

Notes

References

External links

Biography at Hong Kong Cinemagic
* * * *

Online exhibitions

1950s Hong Kong Captured In Street Photography By Fan Ho
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Documentary videos

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ho, Fan 1931 births 2016 deaths Arts in China Chinese photographers Street photographers Hong Kong photographers Film directors from Shanghai Hong Kong male film actors Hong Kong film directors Male actors from Shanghai Chinese male film actors Hong Kong artists