Sponsored by the National Art Museum of China, an exhibition of Deng Wei’s portrait photographs is currently on display to reflect extraordinary charm of portrait photograph art.

Deng Wei, born in Beijing in 1959, is a world-famous photographer, pioneer in China’s portrait photograph for celebrities, professor at Tsinghua University and doctorate tutor. He was accomplished in photograph and won the highest award of China’s photograph. In 2007, Deng Wei donated about one hundred of fine artworks to the National Art Museum of China and was the first photographer to donate the artworks to the museum in bulks. Unfortunately, he died in 2013.

Deng Wei learned from Li Keran, Zhu Guangqian at his young age. He worked as a teacher after graduated from Photograph Department of Beijing Film Academy and was transferred to Academy of Art and Design of Tsinghua University in 2008. He completed China’s first portrait photograph collection for celebrities called “China’s Portrait Photo Collection for Cultural Celebrities” in the 1980s, filling the gap in the discipline of portrait photograph for celebrities. Since the 1990s until the early 21st century, Deng Wei travelled around the world at his own expenses and took pictures for different celebrities, which was reputed as “pioneering work in the photograph history of the human beings”. A number of celebrities at home and abroad were included, such as Feng Zhongshu, Feng Youlan, Ronald Wilson Reagan, Henry Alfred Kissinger and Leoh Ming Pei.   

 Deng Wei boasted his artistic creation with combination of photograph, interview and writing. More than a dozen of photograph collections have been published as well as a number of literal publications recording his creation experience. His great efforts have played a positive role in promoting the Chinese culture. During his long-time education undertaking, Deng Wei paid close attention to the development of China’s photograph education, and learned from advanced teaching experience of the western contemporary photograph.