Celestial Realm: The Yellow Mountains of China

Wusheng's photographic portfolio of the Yellow Mountains will strike Western viewers at first glance as an appealing fusion of Ansel Adams and ink wash scrolls. Shot mostly in black and white, these images of dark craggy peaks floating in swathes of white mist combine stunning grandeur with a subtlety that rewards meditative viewing. There's more going on here than pretty nature photography: originally a physicist, Wang turned to photography after two years of ""reeducation"" through hard labor during the Cultural Revolution. He began exploring the Yellow Mountains as an area not ""contaminated by human society."" Though deeply sensitive to tradition, the pictures have a unique and (at times) modern feel; when Wang heightens the contrast, he produces exquisite washes of darkness and light that compare compositionally to abstract paintings. The pictures are well-served by their accompanying essays: critic Seigo Matsuoka provides an aesthetic framework for the pictures, scholar Wu Hung places them in art-historical context, and travel writer Damian Harper discusses the mountains' geography and gives tips on how to visit them. As both homage to and reinvention of one of the world's oldest traditions of landscape representation, this volume will please lovers of traditional Chinese art and photography alike.