Street in Kadhin; Foochow Creek Bridge; Country View; Shanghai
ca. 1869
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 3 1/4 × 6 7/8 in. (8.2 × 17.5 cm); approx. each
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Robert Rosenkranz Gift, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.494.102
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 1860s, Scottish photographer and pioneering photojournalist John Thomson through China, capturing the dynamic transformation of cities like Shanghai during the late Qing Dynasty. This albumen silver print from a glass, titled *Street in Kadhin; Foochow Bridge; Country View;* (ca. 1869), presents a triptych of intimate vignettes: a bustling street in the Kadhin area, the sturdy Foochow Creek Bridge, a serene country vista. scenes reflect Shanghai's role a treaty port, blending traditional Chinese life with encroaching Western influences after the Opium Wars, offering visitors a wind...
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...