'Legendary Chinese photographer Sha Fei (1912-1950) produced one of the most fascinating photographic records of war. The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 reshaped China and the lives of all its citizenry. Sha Fei's lens captured these dramatic changes, in particular while they occurred in North China behind Japanese lines. His photographs depict the Communist Army, also known as the Eighth Route Army during the war years, actively resisting the Japanese. More than that, they portray the socialist revolution as it progressed in China's countryside. Combining photography's potential for art, documentary, and propaganda, Sha Fei created a large body of photographs in his brief life of thirty-eight years. While most of the original prints have been lost, their negatives have survived. 
Dedicated to Sha Fei's life and work, this exhibiiton is the first to be organized in the United States. It features a highly selective group of photographs, reprinted from the digital scans of Sha Fei's original prints and negatives provided by Sha Fei's family members. The exhibit chronologically traces the photographer's development, conceptually divided into three periods: Sha Fei the fine art photographer, Sha Fei the social documentarian, and Sha Fei the propagandist. His professional evolution underscores the intertwining relationships between art and politics, which was at the heart of modern Chinese art in the twentieth century.' (Back cover)

Includes glossary and selected bibliography.