yang chen’s photographic series spotlights twelve art deco buildings across shanghai

a nodal record of shanghai’s architectural heritage

From the Cathay Cinema to residential buildings and the Paramount ballroom, Yang Chen’s photographic project ShanghaiArchStory charts twelve Art Deco buildings that punctuate Shanghai’s landscape. A nodal record of the city’s architectural heritage, the series celebrates the rich vertical, radial, and stepped lines that define the landmarks and the decorative details that adorn their facades. The photographer notes that as urban architecture evolves, buildings stand as perpetual narrators of stories, capturing the essence of the past as the present takes its place. Shanghai, a metropolis pulsating with history and modernity, serves as Chen’s protagonist.

yang chen spotlight’s the city’s art deco past

Originating in France during the 1930s, the Art Deco style rapidly traversed the globe, and later developed and evolved through construction activities around the world with its unique visual identity. In Shanghai, embracing this aesthetic wave, foreign architects, local design agencies, and Chinese architectural firms collectively began contributing to carving the city’s skyline, presenting their unique interpretations of Art Deco. Between 2019 and 2022, photographer Yang Chen amassed, on and off, twelve of these Art Deco buildings at intersections across the city, including hotels, residences, bustling public spaces.

project info:

name: 12 Art Deco Buildings in Shanghai
photographer: Yang Chen 

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