Teng Nan-kuang was one of the pioneers of Taiwanese photography. His images capture Taiwan in the decades from the 1930s to the 1950s. Along with senior photographers Chang Tsai and Lee Ming-tiao, he was one of the leading lights of that day.
In the 1920s and 1930s, photography was marked by an adoration for aesthetic beauty and photographs were notable for their romanticism. When Teng began studying photography, he too was influenced by this trend, but later freed himself from the bonds of aestheticism and began to adopt techniques of photographic realism. Through his subtle perspective and mature vision, Teng presents a continuously expanding view of time and space and captures the rhythms of Taiwan's townsfolk, the feeling of the lanes and back alleys, and of village life, gently drawing the viewer into the daily life of an earlier time.
In his 40-year career as a photographer, Teng Nan-kuang continuously recorded the many aspects of life in Taiwan, and left behind more than 8000 negatives.
The 21st-century reading of images has already unconsciously drifted into the digital age, yet the old photos of Teng Nan-kuang can instantly take the viewer into the presence of historical memory, at once both lively and directly connected to human nature, leading viewers into a calm state of contemplation. Through the lens of Teng Nan-kuang, we meet an artist of an earlier period, one whose spirit is marked by a concern for and willingness to get involved in society.
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