Portraits

Hedda took many portraits of people she came into contact with in the streets of Beijing and the workshops, studios and temples she visited. She photographed people who she found interesting because of who they were or how they looked. Some of the portraits are candid and others are posed, but in most cases they reveal Hedda's ability to make people at ease in her presence. In 'Hedda Morrison in Peking: a personal recollection', Alasatir Morrison writes: 'Hedda had a useful command of colloquial Chinese which she put to very good use. She had a friendly approach and was always well received... It is perhaps unfortunate that she took no photographs of some of the more interesting Europeans in Peking. But film was precious and Hedda's priorities lay elsewhere in the old Peking that survived and the life that went on there... It was in the days before the advent of the electronic flash and she was adept at posing many of her subjects to the extent of getting them to stand still in natural poses. But she abhorred artificiality'.

92/1414-292 Photograph, 'Antiquarian bookshop', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-249 Photograph, 'Rickshaw puller having a nap', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-299 Photograph, 'The artist Wang Qingfang painting, with children', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-328 Photograph, 'Young boy wearing a Mongolian hat', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-196 Photograph, 'Man and children enjoying the winter sunshine', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946.
92/1414-207 Photograph, 'Young woman from the outer suburbs of Peking with a Southern Chinese style hairstyle', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1936. 92/1414-233 Photograph, 'Bird fancier', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-252 Photograph, 'Young girl', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-253 Photograph, 'Young lama from Yonghe Temple', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-250 Photograph, 'Young boy', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946.
92/1414-251 Photograph, 'Female artist', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-241 Photograph, 'Bringing home good fortune', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-254 Photograph, 'Daoist monk from Baiyunguan Temple', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946. 92/1414-257 Photograph, 'Abbott', black and white, silver gelatin print, by Hedda Morrison, Peking, China, 1933-1946.