John Thomson Archive

Item set

Type: Public collection See all item sets with this value; Archive See all item sets with this value
Title: John Thomson Archive
Description: John Thomson was a Scottish photographer who travelled extensively across Asia in the 1870s. Several public institutions are holding his works.
content: INSTITUT NATIONAL D’HISTOIRE DE L’ART
Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA, translated as the National Institute of History of Art) holds:
• 2 albums attributed to Thomson that include pictures of Persia, Turkey, Iran and other nearby countries. Entitled “A Collection of Photographs taken in Persia, Turkey and in the Caucasus, during a seven months' journey in 1891 (1891)”, these albums contain respectively 55 folios (111 platinotypes) and 109 folios (218 platinotypes). These albums belonged to the French couturier and collector Jacques Doucet (1853-1929), who founded the bibliothèque d’Art et d’Archéologie, today Library of the INHA.

Identifier: NUM 4 PHOT 15 (1); NUM 4 PHOT 15 (2).; agorha.inha.fr; ------------------------------------------------------; MUSÉE D’ORSAY
• 5 albumen prints of John Thomson are also held at the Musée d’Orsay. These prints were anonymous gifts to the Musées nationaux [national museums] in 1980.

Identifier: PHO 1980 273 1; PHO 1980 273 2; PHO 1980 273 3; PHO 1980 273 4; PHO 1980 273 5.; www.musee-orsay.fr; ------------------------------------------------------; BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE
The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) holds several primary source materials:

• 1 album containing 44 albumen prints from glass collodion negatives taken in Hong Kong and dated 1868. Albumen prints measure 35 x 43 cm and some bear Thomson’s signature. The album is made of carved wood. This album was originally collected by the French scholar and bibliophile Auguste Lesouëf (1829-1906), whose nieces donated his collection to the BnF in 1913. This album is fully digitized and accessible freely online.
Identifier: RES PHOTO VH-584-PET FOL

• 64 photographs of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa) and Hong Kong taken in 1871 and mounted to cardboard backing. This series of photographs were originally collected by the French geographer and writer Élisée Reclus (1830-1905).
Identifier: SG WD-34

• Several Thomson’s publications, which are fully digitized and accessible freely online including:
- Thomson, John. The Antiquities of Cambodia: A Series of Photographs Taken on the Spot. Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas, 1867.
- Thomson, John. Dix ans de voyages dans la Chine et l'Indo-Chine. Paris : Hachette et Cie, 1877.
- Thomson, John. Illustrations of China and its people. London : Sampson Low, Marston and Company, 1900.; catalogue.bnf.fr
Temporal Coverage: Nineteenth century (dates CE) See all item sets with this value
Spatial Coverage: Beijing See all item sets with this value; Persia See all item sets with this value; Turkey See all item sets with this value; Caucasia See all item sets with this value; Hong Kong See all item sets with this value; Cambodia See all item sets with this value; Taiwan See all item sets with this value
Subject: Commercial photography See all item sets with this value; Black-and-white photography See all item sets with this value; Costume (mode of fashion) See all item sets with this value; Portraits See all item sets with this value; Street scenes See all item sets with this value; Monuments See all item sets with this value; Landscapes (environments) See all item sets with this value; Townscapes (built environment) See all item sets with this value; Architecture See all item sets with this value
Language: French; English
location: Bibliothèque nationale de France See all item sets with this value; INHA See all item sets with this value; Musée Orsay See all item sets with this value; Paris See all item sets with this value
address: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Quai François Mauriac, 75706 Paris; www.bnf.fr; Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA), 6 Rue des Petits Champs, 75002 Paris; bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr; Musée d’Orsay, 1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur, 75007 Paris; www.musee-orsay.fr

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John Thomson, "Voyage en Chine," Le Tour du monde : nouveau journal des voyages July (1875): 209-240.
Article published in July 1875 that translates John Thomson’s own writing, while including black and white engravings after his photographs. These articles examine Thomson’s travel to Taiwan.
John Thomson, "Voyage en Chine (1870-1872)," Le Tour du monde : nouveau journal des voyages January (1875): 353-416.
Series of articles published in 1875 that translates John Thomson’s own writing, while including black and white engravings after his photographs. These articles examine Thomson’s travel to several places across China (Hong Kong, Canton).
John Thomson
John Thomson was a Scottish photographer who pioneered photojournalism in the 1870s. Thanks to his extensive travels through all over China and South-East Asia he brought the culture and people of the Far East closer to Western audiences. His subjects ranged from ethnography to antiquities, beggars and street people through to Princes, from Imperial Palaces to remote monasteries, and from rural villages to the grandeur of the Gorges. His style is distinguished by the quality and the directness with which he represented landscapes and social practices.
[Recueil. Album de photographies sur Hong-Kong]
The description reads: "Chinese Cumwo Shop." Inside view of a shop in Hong Kong. The board on the top right reads: "Wah Loong, from Canton, Dealer in silks, Crape Shawls, Ivory and Lacquered Ware Matting, No. 60 Queen's Road."