(Signed) Great Leaps Forward by Thomas Sauvin

A collection of works by Beijing-based French collector/artist Thomas Sauvin.

In 2016, Sauvan bought a pile of photos packed in plastic bags at a flea market in Beijing. When I opened it, it contained more than 300 photographs taken by an anonymous member of the photography department of Xi'an Sports University.
These photos capture athletes on a sunny day in 1960. Sauvan, who has amassed a huge collection of photographs to date, said that this was the first time he had come across photographs taken between 1958 and 1962. This is because at the time of filming, China was shifting from its traditional agricultural economy to a chaotic industrialization policy called the Great Leaps Forward, aiming for a new communist system rooted in industry and large-scale agricultural production. Mao Zedong's policy resulted in the worst famine in human history. With such a social background, existing photographs from this period are extremely valuable.
These surreal photographs do not (paradoxically, perhaps) reflect the most remarkable aspects of society at the time. This collection of works makes us feel once again that the purpose of Sauvan's efforts is to revive individual perspectives that are not condensed into a huge historical view.

-

Title: Great Leaps Forward
Artist: Thomas Sauvin
Silvermine, 2019
Softcover in slipcase
170 x 330 mm, 128 pages
Text in English and Chinese
First edition of 750 copies, signed
¥8,800 + tax