Cheap Fish of St. Giles's
1881
Medium
Woodburytype, plate 6 in the book "Street Incidents" (1881)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 11.2 × 8.8 cm (4 7/16 × 3 1/2 in.); Page/mount: 27.7 × 21.4 cm (10 15/16 × 8 7/16 in.)
Classification
photography
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
221859
Art Historical Context
"Cheap Fish of St Giles's," captured by Scottish photographer John Thomson in 1, offers a poignant glimpse into the street life of Victorian London. Featured as plate 6 in's book *Street Inc*, this image hails from the notorious St. Giles's slum—a labyrinth of poverty-stricken alleys near London's theater district, long infamous for its overcrowding and destitution. Thomson, ablazing photojournalist known for his earlier work *Street Life in London*1877–78), used photography to humanize the urban underclass, blending documentary realism with social commentary. The artwork is a Woodburytype, a...
About the Artist
John Thomson · 1837–1921
John Thomson (1837–1921), a pioneering Scottish photographer, was born on 14 June 1837 in Edinburgh as the eighth of nine children to William Thomson, a tobacco spinner and trader, and Isabella Newlands.) After schooling in the early 1850s, he apprenticed with a local optical and scientific instrument manufacturer, where he mastered the principles of photography, completing his training around 185...