The Story
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..the imagery [is] like a man in love with photography yet well aware that this medium that supposedly evokes presence may actually help us feel absence more profoundly.
-David Thomson, Film Critic and Historian |
For three decades, Leo and Isabelle May Chan Lee were the preeminent photographers in San Francisco's Chinatown, opening May's Photo Studio in 1923 and closing it in the 1950s.
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Like James VanDerZee, the photographer who captured the Harlem Renaissance with his posed studio images, Leo and Isabelle Lee depict their community in context, revealing their dreams and conjuring up a fantasy world that portrays the inner life of Chinese immigrants in stark contrast to their harsh reality.
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May's Photo Studio closed in the 1950s during the persecution of the McCarthy "red scare" era when Leo was pressured by the INS and FBI to identify his photo subjects. Rather than betray his friends and neighbors, he shuttered the studio and moved his photographs, glass negatives, and camera equipment into the basement where they languished for more than 20 years. He re-opened May's as an art shop.
In the mid-1970s, collectors Wylie Wong and George Berticevich separately happened upon these treasures in a dumpster and at a flea market. Each instantly recognized the artistry and importance of these haunting photographs.
In the mid-1970s, collectors Wylie Wong and George Berticevich separately happened upon these treasures in a dumpster and at a flea market. Each instantly recognized the artistry and importance of these haunting photographs.