Modern History Seminar
In this series, scholars present their works-in-progress on topics concerning the Qing dynasty to the present. The seminars introduce the research of young scholars in the region and innovative projects being conducted by mid-career scholars.


Friday, October 2, 2009 4:15 pm

Photographing History? Hedda Morrison's Peking
Claire Roberts, fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

Hedda Morrison (1908-1991) is one of Peking's longest residing international photographers. Her images of city walls and gates, temples and palaces, street vendors, entertainers and artists, taken between 1933 and 1946, are among the most reproduced pictures of “Old Peking.” When A Photographer in Old Peking was first published in 1985, Morrison’s images were not presented as photographs of contemporary Peking taken during the period of her residence but as historical documents of the twilight years of “Old Peking.” Claire Roberts will explore two questions: How did Morrison see her own practice, and what is the significance of the large Hedda Morrison archive now held in the Harvard-Yenching Library?

Claire Roberts is a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (2009-10). She is senior curator of Asian arts and design at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, and since 2007 has held a research fellowship at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, where she earned a PhD in Chinese history. Roberts has curated numerous exhibitions relating to East Asian culture. She edited Other Histories: Guan Wei's Fable for a Contemporary World (2008) and co-edited The Great Wall of China (2006). Her forthcoming book from Hong Kong University Press is titled Friendship in Art: Fou Lei and Huang Binhong.

Location: CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Room S153, Cambridge, MA
Contact: lkluz@fas.harvard.edu