Foreword by Jessica Tan Gudnason | Chinese Opera

{ Introduction } { Photographs } { E-Postcards } { Links }

Photographs by Jessica Tan Gudnason, Text by Gong Li
90 illustrations, 70 in full-color
Cloth • 152 pages • 10 x 13" • ISBN 0-7892-0709-5
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My interest in Chinese opera began when I was little. My mother was an opera fan who would captivate her children by telling us about performances she had seen, and would put on a record and talk about the traditions of the art form and the stories drawn from history, legends, folk tales, and classic novels. My grandmother, who was originally from China, often took my sister and me to see Chinese operas. The troupe performed in a shed theater closed on three sides but open on the side facing the street. Young and old would gather together for every performance, and the stage would come alive with music, song, and fabulous costumes. It was an overwhelming experience of color, sound, and movement.

For the last ten years I have been a fine-art photographer living in the United States, and have found that I still have an urgent interest in Chinese opera. I gratefully threw myself into this project eight years ago, both because of my love for the subject and because I could find only books with photographs of performances. I wanted to show the inner beauty found in backstage portraits. To come face-to-face with the actors, making small talk, and feeling the intense atmosphere in the dressing rooms became an absorbing interest. I was fascinated beyond words and at the same time learned what happens backstage. The actors rarely have much time between finishing their makeup and entering the stage, so that leaves me only a few seconds to a minute to capture the performers and whatever I could extract with my camera.

I found myself busy taking all sorts of exciting photographs. It is a great feeling to work among the troupe, and the primary reason that I have made these pictures is to show close-ups of the actors as they pull together their amazing range of talents and skills to strive for perfection onstage.

As a fine-art photographer, however, I have shown what the modern eye sees at the opera: the exact attitude of the moment. Furthermore, culture and art are important means of understanding between different nations and generations. My intention in this book is also to preserve this rich heritage so that our children may have a better understanding and appreciation of this unique tradition and performing art form.

Capturing the many faces of the opera troupe backstage is the most exciting experience anyone can imagine. It is as if I am looking at the troupe from the outside, and yet I am inside taking pictures of every detail, from portraits to the makeup of each character, including costumes, hairpieces, and surroundings. My instinct is to capture as much on camera as possible. It is a race to make up for my own dwindling memory.

Working backstage plunges me into a fascinating, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately rewarding world. Each time the experience is different, but always with a number of people working to prepare for the show. The main female or male roles always have an assistant or two to help with their headgear and costume. As can be seen in several photographs in this book, a large band of cloth is pulled around the forehead of the male actor to enlarge the face before makeup is applied. For the female role makeup is applied and then artificial bangs are glued to the forehead and both sides of the eyes are taped up. Sometimes I'd find the performers sipping herbal tea or rehearsing lines, or a helper massaging the male lead's shoulders while other actors help one another with their rehearsals or gossip.

It was a memorable experience for me when I met the actresses from the Honglou Troupe of the Yue opera in Shanghai. The Yue opera is relatively new as it was formed only about eighty years ago. They allowed me to observe as they transformed themselves into other people with makeup and wigs, which, I remember, were neatly arranged on a table. The Yue opera is the only all-female troupe whose performers play male and female roles.

It took me some time to become familiar with their singing, because the sound was louder than the falsetto and expressive voices I knew from southern China. It was evident that their performances were a great success as audiences rushed to the stage night after night at the end of an opera.

Once, in Beijing, I was surprised to see children as young as five to fifteen years old performing at their school. They were all great, serious actors who had been handpicked from all over China and were full of determination to be among the best. The place was full of life and activity: one young boy was alone in a room rehearsing his lines in front of the mirror; the male cast was lined up to have their heads shaved by one boy, after which another would rinse off their hair with water from a bucket. They were as curious of me as I was of them. They had never seen a female photographer, and were very anxious to see the inside of the camera while I changed my film. They were told that I came from America, and three little girls took my arm together with theirs and kept pointing to the skin tone. They were surprised when I told them that I was also Chinese, but living in the United States.

This project gave me an opportunity to rediscover the essence of the art form, recognize the greatness of its past, and help us to foster a better understanding of this heritage and to further enrich our appreciation of Chinese opera. I greatly admire all the artists for the exquisite gift of their performances. They allowed me to create my own vision of their art and to show certain activities and moments usually not seen by the audience. Because Chinese opera culture deems that each performer must integrate his own means of communicating into the traditional demands of the role and the art form, I have tried to bring my own new vision of this ancient theater to the new world and its new millennium.