At the “Arles China Exhibition” in France in 1988, Chen Baosheng, a photographer growing up on the loess lands in northern Shaanxi, drew great attention with his photos featuring steeds beyond the great wall. The bold composition, the wild and roaming manner, as well as the taste and artistic conception typical of Chinese ink painting were considered symbolic of the Chinese morale of that era.

The horses featured in his photos belong to the Mongolian breed. These horses of stocky build are resistant to harsh natural conditions in the grassland in northern China. Being agile and wild, they become a source of aesthetic inspiration. Chen’s “vigor of the dragon or horse” (meaning “vitality”) motif, begun in the late 1970s, found expression in a great number of impressive photos with galloping horses. In Chen’s hometown in norther Shaanxi, there is a saying that there is a third of the dragon in the horse, in other words, the horse shares some characteristics of the dragon. Therefore, his photos have to capture those characteristics in the horses. Chen has spent lots of time observing the horses on the horse farms in Dingbian, thinking about how to make their photos more impressive. “Gallop” (1981) was one of the representative photos in this period.

In 1981 Chen came across a horse on the Sanbian Plateau, one he thought would be an ideal model for his photos. It was a perfect male Chinese horse, wild and high-spirited, with a considerable amount of “dragon” in it. When galloping, it had its hooves raised up in the air with flying mane adding to the charm. He asked the herdsman for help and thought hard about the right way to make the photos. In the end he chose to hide himself behind a lump of earth. When the herdsman chased the horses at a high speed, Chen shot from a low angle, so that the sky, as background, could set off the imposing horses. As to the light, he chose Rembrandt light, and to get the depth-of-field effect, the aperture was adjusted to F8. The horses were captured at their best at the speed of 1/400 second. When developed, the close shot of the male horse turned to be excellent, but the other horses as background were too small and weak. For better artistic effect, Chen decided to make use of the zone system and change the perspective point, marking the beginning of his “cavalier perspective” photos.

Chen felt undiminished enthusiasm for the galloping force in the vast expanse of wilderness. In the open and broad background, the momentum and the horses make a strikingly forceful combination in terms of composition. Trying to combine traditional realism with romanticism in his photography, Chen is eager to look for beauty in life and show the vitality of life. Asked why he chose the horse as subject, he said, “I want to show a kind of strength, strength of genuine Eastern flavor.” He tries to capture the masculinity and grandeur, as well as their “dragon” spirit. To reflect the unique features of the horses, he usually puts them in a background of wilderness and wind. The photos are characterized with a flavor of the Chinese ink painting, therefore highlighting the spirit and characteristics unique to the East. With his “vigor of the dragon or horse” motif, Chen explores the aesthetic orientation in photography after “the Cultural Revolution”, contributing to the public new and unique art production that vividly showcased the endeavoring spirit of the people in the 1980s.

(Edited by Su Wenxiang, Xu Chongbao, Huang Si, 2015)