What are the controversies about the sun and people?

July 24th 1988 The 5th1National Photography Art Exhibition was selected.

One of the judges made a speech: Today, I carefully and carefully examined "The Sun and Man" and thought it was really a masterpiece. First of all, I feel that the theme of the work is positive and very serious, without any negative factors of obscenity. The author eulogizes the light and praises the vitality and creativity of human beings. There are many photos of human bodies in this manuscript, but most of them only show the beauty of form and the rhythm of curves, and this photo is even better, taking the human body as the modeling language, showing artistic conception and profound connotation. In addition, this photo is also unique in artistic treatment, with the combination of human body and reality, proper hiding and exposure, and romantic color and composition.

His proposal caused a heated debate among the judges, some for it and some against it. Finally, after voting, Sun Heman won the gold medal of a single color work with 8 to 5 votes.

This is the first time that human photography has won the gold medal since the National Film Festival was held.

The gold medal was produced, but the judges' concerns were not eliminated. Some people put forward different opinions: "Is it suitable for China's national conditions to give it a gold medal? Will it offend some people and say that we are immoral? " "Will there be any side effects, which will lead to the craze of shooting human bodies in the country next year?" Everyone is worried about "a disaster" or "being too open".

Sure enough, after the results of the selection were announced, public opinion exploded. However, the focus of the debate is not the theme of human body, but the author's creative technique. The Sun and Man is a photography stunt. The author first covered the round lampshade of the desk lamp with red cellophane and red silk, and successfully photographed the "sun", and then synthesized the sun with the remake of the human body in the album to create this work.

Someone wrote in Xinmin Evening News that Sun Heman copied the American painter David? Grove's white chalk painted the middle of the human body.

..... If everyone is going to remake the ready-made material, then why bother the photographer to carry the equipment across the mountains? According to expert analysis, it is not difficult to remake such a work, just add a filter to create a halo effect.

Another professional photography newspaper severely criticized this: The Sun and Man won the gold medal, and the author blasphemed the art of photography, deceived the pious and serious judges, and cast a shadow over the 15th session, which the national photography community had high hopes for. For this kind of "stunt work" which has been remake and misappropriated, the author should not send it to an influential national film festival, let alone hold it as a gold medal. Regardless of where it leads China's photography art (not including the subject matter), only the fact that the author embezzles foreign works can constitute a copyright dispute.

"The Sun and Man" caused an uproar in China photography. 1988 10 10/27, at the opening ceremony of the 15 national film festival, Shang Jin, spokesman of the China Photographers Association, had to come forward to clarify that it is impossible for any kind of art to have a unified standard to evaluate its artistic creation and artistic achievements, so it is inevitable that a hundred flowers will blossom and a hundred schools of thought will contend.

However, because this discussion involves the problem that the sun and people are fake photos, it has attracted the attention of all walks of life. To this end, the China Photographers Association invited the judges in Beijing to hold a meeting on September 30th.

The judges attending the meeting held that the creative technique of "Sun and Man" was allowed in the creation of photographic art, just like the photographic works of various artistic styles and genres were stored in the 15 National Film Festival. The artistic value of the sun and people is certain, and artistic creation can learn from each other.

At this point, the controversy caused by the sun and people finally settled.

Objectively speaking, the creative technique of "The Sun and Man" was an immature exploration in the early days of reform and opening up, and even seems a little naive today. Even so, the award of Sun and Man played an important role in breaking the imprisonment of creative thinking at that time, encouraging the diversified development of artistic photography and establishing the artistic status of creative photography.