Journey of the Heart: The National Art Museum of China 1839-2014

Kim Weston - Showered in Light

Journey of the Heart: Exhibition of Straight Photography Original Prints 1839-2014

November 12 to December 11, 2014
National Museum of China, Beijing

We are on our way to Beijing China very early tomorrow morning. Kim Weston will be part of a group exhibition held at the prestigious National Art Museum of China. Here is an excerpt from the invitation we received from the NAMOC:

175 years have passed since William Henry Fox Talbot invented the calotype process in 1939 and the French Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Fine Art announced the daguerreotype the same year. In order to preserve the works of outstanding photographers worldwide over the past century and more so that their unusual experiences of art creation are passed down from generation to generation, the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) is introducing an “International Photograph Collections Series” exhibition and collection program.

The 2014 “Journey of the Heart: Exhibition of Straight Photography Original Prints 1839-2014” will be a milestone as the beginning part of the “International Photographic Collection Series”. This exhibition attempts to reproduce a clear thread in the history of photography, along which developments of straight photography are combed through. Many photographic masterworks familiar to the public will be on display for the first time at the NAMOC. By presenting the evolution of formalism in photography from individual to general cases, this exhibition will be so far the sole, in China and even in the world, international photographic exhibition involving so many photographers and so long a period of time which photographic works span, with the intention to fully present straight photography as an important part of photography in history.

The exhibition is hosted by the NAMOC and the China Photographers Association, with the help of Beijing Timeless Gallery. Since the preparatory work for the exhibition began, we have garnered support and attention from photographers, foundations and collectors worldwide and to date have received more than 200 original photographs by over 50 domestic and foreign photographers including Henry Fox Talbot, Oscar Rejlnader, Henry Peach Robinson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Michael Kenna, Roman Loranc and Kim Weston.

The move is to collect, preserve, and pass down precious works by important photographers for the art world and for the world of history of photography and to draw photographic artworks from private collectors to public ones so that they can be viewed and admired by more people thus exhibit their value and roles as pieces of art. The collection for this time will compose a brand new chapter in the Chinese history of Photography and in the world history of photographic collection.

We are very proud to be a part of this exhibition and are looking forward to spending time in Beijing, China.