Dyaks, Wild Mountains Tribes of Sumatra and Borneo
1865
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image (a): 5 13/16 × 4 3/16 in. (14.8 × 10.7 cm) Image (b): 6 13/16 × 5 1/8 in. (17.3 × 13 cm) Image (c): 5 7/8 × 4 3/16 in. (14.9 × 10.7 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.583 (81a–c)
Art Historical Context
In 1865, pioneering photographer John Thomson captured the enigmatic world of the Dyaks—indigenous mountain tribes of Sumatra and Borneo—in this striking trio of albumen silver prints. A Scottish adventurer and one of the first photojournalists, Thomson ventured into Southeast Asia during the height of European colonial exploration, documenting remote cultures with a keen ethnographic eye. These images offer a rare early glimpse into Dayak life, portraying their traditional attire and rugged environments amid British imperial expansion in the region. Crafted from glass negatives using the wet...
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...