Boy racer in a Shanghai studio, Bickers collection, bi-s020
This was a Shanghai junk-shop find in 2011. It was actually spotted by a friend, and although it came with no context whatsoever it was too good a shot to leave behind. It’s a winter shot (that scarf), taken in a studio with a nice modern prop. We might guess it’s a Shanghai studio, but it could be any city, and it could in fact be any studio fantasy of a city. We’re possibly more familiar with people posing in rickshaws in studios, but a motorbike is modern. The leather shoes suggest a young man who is not poor, even if a real motorbike might be beyond him. The hairstyle suggested to us a postwar, and possibly a post-1949 date, but we may be wrong. As ever, we would be happy to have suggestions.