Façade Ouest de la Grande Pagode
1866
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
25.1 x 30.3 cm (9 7/8 x 11 15/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.501 (28)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Émile Gsell's *Façade Ouest de Grande Pagode* (1866) is a captivating albumen silver print that immortalizes the grand west entrance of one of Southeast Asia's most iconic temples, likely the Khmer masterpiece Angkor Wat in Cambodia.ured during the French colonial era, this photograph showcases the intricate stone carvings, towering gopuras (gateways), and symmetrical architecture that define Khmer temple design, inviting viewers to marvel at the scale and spiritual symbolism of this 12th-century wonder. As a pioneering photographer in Indochina, Gsell specialized in documenting architectural...
About the Artist
Emile Gsell · 1838–1879
Emile Gsell (1838–1879) was a French photographer who became one of the earliest Western photographers to document Southeast Asia, particularly the ancient temples of Angkor in Cambodia. Born in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace, France, Gsell traveled to Indochina in the 1860s, establishing a photographic studio in Saigon (present-day Ho Chi Minh City) that became a base for his documentary expedi...