Robert van der hilst biography of abraham franklin

These technologies are required to activate the essential functions of our range of services. Amidst the changing urban landscape mixed with the old and the new, Robert van der Hilst captured the group portraits of people in different spaces of Shanghai at that particular time though his lens. The exhibition is curated by independent curator and writer Shi Hantao, with special support of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In these images, the Oriental Pearl Tower in Lujiazui had just broken ground, young as bamboo shoot, the commercial skyscrapers began to stand in solitude among the dense low-rise shikumen and shantytowns. Some streets had been ripped open for revamp while the old Nanjing Road waited for its modern-day remodeling. Shanghai in the s boasted the bustling scenes of an international metropolis while retaining the vestiges of time in its old districts.

Never in the annals of the modern world has there existed so prolonged and so rich an oppor- tunity for the businessman, the speculator and the prof iteer.

It vividly brings back to life an era filled with change and vitality. Robert van der Hilst did not allow himself to be confined to the paradigm of a particular photographic style. Rather, he observed the world with a constant curiosity and touched the shutter whenever he felt pleased. I am a photographer of humanity. And these make his works with the quality of quotidian and fragmented.

As a foreign photographer, his "otherness" adds objectivity and curiosity to his work, offering a new perspective on the familiar scenes. This viewpoint is evident in his focus on the ordinary yet paradoxically rich and culturally profound aspects of daily life. This exhibition is not only a visual journey through time but also a cultural odyssey, where visitors, while admiring old photographs and reminiscing about changes, can also savor the historical depth and culture of Shanghai.

With the development of the times, Shanghai has experienced huge changes, but no matter how it changes, those precious moments are forever fixed in the history of Shanghai, becoming eternal memories of the city.