Island of Kulangsu
c. 1868
Medium
Collotype, pl. XII from the album "Illustrations of China and its People, Volume II" (1873)
Dimensions
Each image: 13 × 28.2 cm (5 1/8 × 11 1/8 in.); Album page: 47.1 × 34.8 cm (18 9/16 × 13 3/4 in.)
Classification
photography
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
236486
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century China through John Thomson's *Island of Kulangsu* (c. 1868), a captivating collotype print from his seminal album *Illustrations of and its People, Volume* (1873)., a pioneering Scottish photographer photojournalist, traveled extensively China from 1868 to 1872, capturing the nation's diverse landscapes, people, and customs during a transformative era following the Opium Wars.angsu—an international treaty port island off Xiamen (then Amoy)—served as a bustling hub for foreign traders, missionaries, and diplomats, blending Eastern and Western influences in its architecture and daily life. This image, measuring a modest 13 × 28.2 cm on a larger album page, exemplifies Thomson's documentary style, which emphasized authenticity over studio staging. As one of the earliest photographers to produce illustrated books with original photographs, he used the collotype process—a precise photomechanical printing technique—to faithfully reproduce his wet-collodion glass negatives, allowing wide distribution of these ethnographic insights. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Photography and Media department, the work highlights the island's serene yet cosmopolitan allure, from colonial villas to bustling harbors, offering visitors a window into a pivotal moment of global exchange. Thomson's legacy endures as a bridge between East and West, making *Island of Kulangsu* not just a technical marvel but a cultural treasure that invites reflection on colonialism, migration, and visual storytelling in early photography.
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...