In 1979, Eve Arnold became one of
the first Western photographers to
enter China at the age of 67.
Taking extended trips over five
months, she had almost unlimited
access to travel across the mainland,
and covered 40,000 miles. With an
interpreter as her sole companion,
she meticulously documented
China’s vast and various landscape
and the experiences of its people,
resulting in a diverse and
beautiful photographic portrait
of the country.
She captured the austere lives of
peasants and workers as they
contended with the harsh beauty of
their landscape. Her portrait of a retired woman, a lined and beautiful
face bearing an expression of deep
forbearance as it emerges from a dark
background, is a highlight of Arnold’s
social reportage.
Shooting on colour film, she captured
the breadth and depth of China,
from industrial workers and art
students to the Gobi Desert and the
banks of the Yangtze. Her photograph
of a girl training her horse for the
militia typifies the work Arnold
produced on her trip, which
documented a nation and its people
emerging uncertainly from years of
secrecy and isolation. The culmination
of her work was showcased at the
Brooklyn Museum, New York, in 1980.