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Printed: |
2001 |
Author: |
Jessica Tan Gudnason |
Publisher: |
Abbeville Press Inc |
ISBN: |
0789207095 |
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Hardcover: 152 pages, usually ships within 24 hours.
Amazon Review
From Library Journal
For this coffee-table book, many years in the making, fine-arts photographer Gudnason gained backstage access to the esteemed Beijing, Canton, and Yue operas. Her striking photographs include more than 100 full-page shots, 70 in color. Most of these are stunning close-up portraits of actors (men, women, and children) detailing the elaborate headwear, makeup, and embroidered costumes typical of Chinese opera. Through these images, Malaysian-born Gudnason, who attended opera performances as a girl with her Chinese grandmother, easily reveals her love for the form. Readers do not get the feeling of being "backstage" as much as they might because this project was done in an air of intimate cooperation to ensure that the portraits would be taken seriously. In a seven-page introductory essay, actress Gong Li (Farewell, My Concubine) succinctly explains the stock characters in traditional Chinese opera as well as their makeup and costumes, while thumbnail halftones at the end of the book provide captions in which only a couple of the actors are named. Recommended for large collections on Asian music and theater and useful as a sourcebook for anyone wanting to stage a Chinese opera.
Bonnie Jo Dopp, Univ. of Maryland Lib., College Park
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.