Prisonniers conduits par un Mata, Cochinchine
1866
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
24.2 x 21 cm (9 1/2 x 8 1/4 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 (3)
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1866, French photographer Émile Gsell *Prisoniers conduits par un, Cochinchine*, poignant albumen silver print life in French colonial Cochinchina (modern-day southern Vietnam). The image portrays a group of male prisoners being led by amata"—likely a local guard or enforcer—highlighting the tensions of colonial rule just after France's conquest of the region in 18621867. Gsell, who served as the official photographer for the French administration, used his lens to record ethnographic scenes, blending portraiture with stark social commentary on imprisonment and authority. This 24.2 x 21 cm...
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...