tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50053278255770176272024-02-20T07:08:44.089+08:00Historical & Contemporary Photography of AsiaPhoto-history, collecting and exhibitionsthesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-7808486904554926532008-06-05T22:51:00.002+08:002008-06-05T23:07:58.521+08:00What is "Yokohama Shashin"?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXy3MOQeYTN60kklMcu84K7wXmjX2QffoJLL9DR2uKcpCNUwIBKMF6xnFcpPIzPQRd6PzJRdvJ0V2eYLJZAEMfrE5QRoERozYTVGgkWMVcf8yTW60DqWU-59eJAevzo2FRZ2UJD1_s_Ejb/s1600-h/Tamamura+studio+2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208410797398246498" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXy3MOQeYTN60kklMcu84K7wXmjX2QffoJLL9DR2uKcpCNUwIBKMF6xnFcpPIzPQRd6PzJRdvJ0V2eYLJZAEMfrE5QRoERozYTVGgkWMVcf8yTW60DqWU-59eJAevzo2FRZ2UJD1_s_Ejb/s320/Tamamura+studio+2.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Cloth store, <span style="font-family:arial;">Kozaburo Tamamura, c.1885</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>The origins of "Yokohama Shasin" and the tradition of hand-colouring</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">Japan ended its 250-year isolation in 1858 when commercial treaties with the U.S. and other countries were concluded. Westerners were then allowed to reside in treaty ports such as Yokohama, Kobe, and Hakodate. Western photographers were among those who subsequently came to Japan and set up businesses in these cities. From the 1860s, Western and Japanese photographers started establishing portrait studios and catered to mostly foreigners.Tourists came in droves to see exotic Japan. Photographs and picture postcards became popular souvenirs. Local photographers obliged the demand by selling prints of Mount "Fujiyama," "geisha" girls, rickshaws, cherry blossoms, and other stereotypical images.These early photos of Japan usually had English titles inserted within the image. Although the photos were obviously for tourists, they nevertheless revealed the dress, look, manners, and scenery of the day. Tourist photographs were sold mainly as photo albums (containing around 50 photos) for export by overseas visitors. Tourists were eager to tell friends back home about their exotic Far East travels and pictures were perfect for show-and-tell time.</span><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></strong><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Nagasaki and Yokohama were the cradles of early Japanese photography as both port cities were major tourist gateways to Japan. The tourist market gave rise to "Yokohama Shashin" or Yokohama-style photography. This genre refers to photographs produced by Yokohama's foreign and Japanese photographers from the 1860s to the 1880s before its spread to other parts of Japan.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The practice of coloring black-and-white photographs and glass slides by hand became widespread in Yokohama as colour photography was not yet invented. Hand-colored images became the hallmark of Yokohama Shashin.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Japanese pigments were especially well suited for hand coloring photographs and it became a fine art and large photo studios in Yokohama employed many Japanese "photo painters". Yokohama's hand-colored photographs soon became a major tourist export item on par with pottery and lacquerware.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span>thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-46872650411281108572008-06-05T22:39:00.003+08:002008-06-05T22:43:33.803+08:00Useful tips on conserving 19th century photo-prints<span style="font-family:arial;">Conservation Conditions:<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Relative Humidity: 30-40%</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Temperature: 18 ± 1ºC</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Air Filtration for Particles</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Air Purification to Remove Oxidant and Sulphurant gasses</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Lignin and Acid Free Cellulose Materials</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Use only Cellulose Triacetate, Polyester (Polyethylene Terephthalate) and Polyethylene Plastics - no PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) or any Materials containing Chlorine or Sulphur</span></li></ul><span style="font-family:arial;">Photochemical damage to hand-coloured albumen prints<br /><br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Yellowing of the Albumen Protein</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Embrittling of the Cellulose</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Fading of Organic Pigments</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Degradation of Lignin producing Substances which Stain Prints and Attack Silver Images</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Acceleration of Chemical Reactions</span></li></ul><span style="font-family:arial;">Lighting conditions for display of 19th century prints<br /><br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Always use lights with UV Filter</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Protect against Sunlight</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Light Level: 50 Lux (5 foot-candles)</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Exhibition time not to exceed 250 hours</span></li></ul>thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-54152255348968150322008-06-05T22:30:00.002+08:002008-06-05T22:39:41.171+08:0019th Century Japanese Photography: Techniques, Conservation and Restoration by Annabelle Simon, 1998<span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Useful introductory article on </strong><a href="http://www.old-japan.co.uk/"><strong>www.old-japan.co.uk</strong></a></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Introduction:<br />Most Japanese photographs printed on paper and held in collections today are albumen prints. We may sometimes find salt prints, but they are considerably rarer.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Albumen paper:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The technique of developing on albumen paper was discovered in 1850 by the French photographer Louis-Desire Blanquard Evrard. The process itself involves two layers: the protein emulsion, albumen, supported by the backing paper, invariably of very good quality, and quite fine.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Albumen is prepared by beating the whites of eggs to which salt (sodium chloride or ammonia) has been added, then letting the mousse return to its liquid state. Sheets of paper are albumenised by being floated on top one at a time, and are then hung vertically to dry.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The sheets of albumenised paper were thus sold and the photographer himself had to prepare them for photo-sensitivity. For this, the sheets were placed with the albumenised surface face down in a bath containing a 10% solution of silver nitrate. Combining with the salt already present in the albumen layer, the silver nitrate formed photo-sensitive silver-chloride. The paper prepared in this way could not be kept for very long, and so the sensitisation, the exposure and development often had to take place in the same day.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Exposure was done in a printing frame which held the negative in contact with the sensitised paper. Because of the low sensitivity of the paper at that time, a large amount of lighting was necessary, and exposure had to be done in sunlight, and enlargement as we know it today was seldom practised.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Collodion negatives:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The negatives were basically plates of glass treated with wet collodion, a process invented by Scott Archer in 1850, then with dry collodion, and finally gelatinised plates which appeared in Japan during the 1890s.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The wet collodion process imposed numerous constraints on the photographer. The collodion had to be applied on to glass plates, sensitised immediately before the picture was taken and then developed immediately afterwards. This technique therefore required that, for each plate he took outdoors, the photographer had to carry all the necessary material and find an area sheltered from the light. To do this, when he could not retreat to an inn or a temple, the photographer often had to make do with a tent made of thick cloth. Since the range of equipment required was heavy and fragile, the plates and the glass chemical beakers were therefore placed in compartmentalised wooden crates. A porter was often necessary. Temperature was an equally important factor, and excessive heat often precluded good results. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Despite all these hindrances, the constraint of having to develop the exposed negatives immediately at least enabled the photographer to judge the results of his work, and to proceed with a further shoot if necessary, without having to undertake a second journey or reconstruct a scene. For this reason, the negatives of this time often show a high degree of technical accomplishment.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The advent of the dry collodion plate allowed photographers to prepare their plates in advance, and gave them greater freedom.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is worth recalling that photographic collodion is a solution of celluloid nitrate in a mixture of ether and alcohol. It is a highly inflammable substance, and was perhaps the cause of fires such as that which destroyed the Yokohama studio of Felice Beato in 1865.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is very likely that European photographers active in Japan imported most of their material from Europe. Basically, the photographers had great difficulty in procuring good quality chemicals in sufficient quantities and glass plates, which often arrived broken or damaged.<br />These products were only available either in Europe or sometimes Calcutta. The presence of the impression of the French paper maker B.F.K. Rives on many Japanese photographs would suggest the existence of a direct trade between Yokohama and France. It is equally possible that imported paper was albumenised beforehand by emulsifiers in Dresden. The paper made by Rives was in fact used almost exclusively in Germany as backing for the albumen layer, since it possessed all the necessary qualities of photographic paper.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Mounting:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Most Japanese albumen prints have been mounted en plein, which is to say that the entire reverse surface has been pasted on card of more or less good quality. Albumenised paper has the peculiarity of rolling in on itself, since the albumen layer creates a tension which very fine paper cannot withstand. As a result, very fragile photographs are difficult to unroll and display. Mounting in an album therefore presents numerous advantages, among which the print is preserved flat and the structure of the album protects the photographs from physical and climatic shock. However, we shall return to this later.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Colouring:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As you have seen in the exhibition accompanying this conference, many photographs were coloured. For centuries, Japanese artists were experienced in the meticulous work of applying colour. In fact, numerous prints were coloured by hand. As a result, there existed a strong local tradition and a remarkable level of accomplishment. In the middle of the nineteenth century the production of ukiyoe prints having declined somewhat, this would provide a talented workforce. Japanese artists knew perfectly well how to master wash drawing and transparency. Charles Wirgman was without doubt the first to attempt to apply tints of colour to the photographs of Felice Beato. Instead of the oil colours which he doubtless used in his own artistic work, he preferred to use transparent colours which he had discovered in Japanese traditional painting and prints. According to what we know today, it was Wirgman who, seeing the satisfactory results and the success of these painted images, persuaded his friend Felice Beato to employ a Japanese artist in their studio. In a gesture symbolic of the alliance between the new photographic technology of the West, and the ancestral artistic tradition of Japan, Beato later took the portrait of his artist, proof of the latter’s importance within the studio and of the appreciation which the photographer had for his accomplishment and talent.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As photography developed further, so the number of colourists in each studio increased and it would be wrong to associate one work with a single colourist. In 1891, the photographer Adolfo Farsari employed 19 colourists, while, five years later, the studio of Tamamura Kozaburo employed 105 assistants and colourists to fulfil a special order. The studios were truly picture factories.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Like any Japanese artist, the colourist would work on a flat surface, seated cross-legged or on his heels, knees pushed under a low wooden table where the images were placed, secured by a paper-weight (bunchin). Laid out on the table were the brushes (fude), ink-stones and the bowls filled with freshly prepared colours.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In Japan, each artist bought his pigments and colours in powder form, in varying degrees of granulation, then after any necessary further grinding, the artist mixed each pigment which he intended to use with a small quantity of buckskin glue called nikawa, applied in a 2% solution. The mixing was always done with the finger, usually the index finger, taking due care if the pigments were toxic, such as the yellow orpiment, or King’s Yellow (arsenic trisulfide), which forms the basis of arsenic or the vermilion composed of mercuric sulphur. A small porcelain bowl, ezara, was reserved for each colour, the gradation of each tone being done afterwards in a sectioned dish known as the ‘plum flower dish’ orumezara.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A prepared colour did not last very long, especially in summer when the heat would cause the binding agent to lose its adhesiveness. In photograph studios, where consumption was heavy, the preparation of colours took place almost every day. The painter had to determine precisely the quantities of pigment and fixative, as well as their concentration. Too weak a solution could give the colour a yellow hue and create tensions when the colour dried, while the reverse would result in a lack of adhesion in the pigment. Once the preparation was complete, the colour was left to dry before being used for the first time. Certain colours such as indigo (ai - polygonum tinctorius) were sold in the form of sticks (enogu) which had already been mixed with nikawa glue. The artist then rubbed the dried colour on an ink stone (suzuri) with a little water in the same way as Chinese ink (sumi).</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">On coloured photographs, we usually find indigo and Prussian blue comprising the blue palate, gamboge (shiô - garcinia morcella) the yellow, and vermilion or cinnabar (mercuric sulfide) red and orange-red, but also safflower (beni - carthamus tinctorius) for the latter, and Tokyo violet (murasaki - lithospermum erythrorhizon) the violet. These are basically the organic pigments traditionally used in Japan and are very sensitive to light.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If certain colours appear to us today as loud or crude, there are two reasons for this. Firstly, from the 1880s and 1890s very vivid aniline colours came into use, which contrasted with the softness of natural pigments and albumen. Furthermore, the decrease in density of the silver image, which, becoming more faded than it did originally, brings out the colours.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Chemical degradation:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Decrease in density and yellowing are the principal chemical alterations which we can find with albumen prints. These degradations are mainly caused by the attack of sulphur constituents. When combining with sulphur, the black silver grains in the image change into silver sulphate of a light yellow tint, which involves progressive loss of the image. This is irreversible. The sulphur can originate in the fixative bath, when the washing of the image has not been sufficient, and the image can appear to us today as uniformly pale.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">However, the penetration of air is without doubt one of the main causes of alteration. This is particularly visible where Japanese photographs have been kept in an album unprotected by a box, where the pages have buckled.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The gaps caused by the distortion of the pages have allowed air, pollutant gasses and dust to enter. If, as is sometimes the case in Japan, the photographs have been pasted to the mount with animal glue, it can equally attack the silver in the print and cause a decolouration which is marked by bands of yellowing. As I have already mentioned, these chemical degradations are irreversible because they occur in the molecular structure of the silver print. On the other hand, we know that these degradations are greatly accelerated by humidity and heat, which act as catalysts in this reaction. Thus, we can hold back the process of degradation and effectively preserve the photographs while protecting them in boxes by placing them in an environment where the temperature and humidity can be controlled.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The stability of thermo-hygrometric conditions is a very important factor. With regard to the binding, if it contains leather, air which is too dry will cause a drying up which is often irreversible and result in it breaking when handled; if the boards of the album are made of wood, it can distort, warp, curl in on itself, and, in the case of accordion-style albums, can break the hinges.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We have even seen a case where the wood has become so warped that the photograph pasted on the reverse has split under the tension. Very humid air and high temperature will encourage the development of mould and foxing, brownish stains which are very often encountered on card and paper but equally on photographs. If a photograph is placed next to wood, very high humidity can result in tannins affecting the paper and the images, resulting in stains. The stability of the conditions of conservation is important since the flow of humid air onto dry air will cause the buckling of album pages and the appearance of cracks on the surface of albumen prints. The conservation of albums and photographs in good condition is therefore very important from the point of view of preventing these degradations. We therefore recommend conserving photographic work at 18°C ± 1°C at a relative humidity of between 40 and 60%. Archival boxes should not contain lignin which, as it ages, causes acidity in the card, while any material containing chlorine or sulphur is to be avoided. Furniture should preferably be made of either metal or old wood, but not fibreboard or other reconstituted woods since the glue they contain causes oxidation. The images, and tinted photographs in particular, should be protected as much as possible from sunlight since it causes yellowing of the albumen, as well as the weakening of organic pigments, deterioration of the supporting paper and acceleration of the chemical reactions leading to degradation.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Restoration:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Many photographs suffer physical damage, which, in most cases, is due to poor handling, but can also be caused by attempts by the amateur to repair it himself. Photographs may also have suffered accident, such as water damage or the effects of a fire.<br />The restoration of a photograph and its supporting paper cannot be dealt here in detail, but a few examples may be given.<br />The restorer can take action in removing the causes of alteration to the photograph, for example by means of a piece of archival tape to hold a tear, which, if it has yellowed, will become sticky and seep into the paper or even worse the emulsion of the photograph. The mount of a photograph can equally damage the image when it is of very poor quality, acidic and brittle. The photograph should then be separated from its mount and placed in a new, better quality mount. The folds can be taken out. Tears can be repositioned. If a photograph or a mount is in need of conservation, and has a missing piece, a new one can be made and incorporated. This year I have also been able to perfect a method which allows one to restore the flatness of pages in an album with tinted photographs pasted on both sides. As a general rule, restoration permits photographic material to regain some of its sharpness and physical coherence.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Each action is specific, and each image presents its own particular problems. It is therefore important to call upon professional restorers who have received training based on a complete knowledge of both the processes and materials involved, as well a professional code of practice.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Photographs have left us a fragile legacy, and we must preserve it with the greatest care.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span>thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-41146717019146062062008-05-20T23:18:00.004+08:002008-06-05T22:48:06.325+08:00A Tale of Two Albums<span style="font-family:arial;">Two Japanese themed albums were recently put on sale at the bi-annual Swann Galleries auction of photographs on 15 May.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The album (oblong folio, worn leather with a von Stillfried lable on first leaf) by Baron Raimund von Stillfried contains 100 hand-coloured albumen photographs depicting "views and costumes of Japan," with a wonderful assortment of gay geishas, corpulent sumos, colourful costume studies, and picturesque topographic views, many with a caption in the negative, and a few with an inventory number. c. 1879</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The estimate was between US$4,000 to US$6,000. It attracted 42 bids and went for US$38,000 + US$8550 (b.p). This works out to be US$465 per photograph!</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The other album (oblong folio, red lacquer with gold sketched landscapes and ivory inlaid birds) by Kusakabe Kimbei (1841-1934) containing 50 hand-coloured albumen photographs of Japan with views of landscapes and geishas and other occupationals. The estimate was between US$4,000 to US$6,000. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It attracted 3 bids and went for US$4,000 + US$900 (b.p). </span>thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-59309714467178708192008-05-14T17:53:00.003+08:002008-05-14T18:01:29.931+08:00CUT 2: New Photography from Southeast Asia<span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>May 15 - June 8 2008</strong><br /><br /><span style="color:#009900;">CUT 2 is an exhibition of new photography from Southeast Asia that brings 16 artists from Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand in an exploration of the (photographic) medium both as a pure discipline, and as a base or key component in broader contemporary art practices. At turns raw, irreverant, poised, dark, humorous and romantic, working with space, portraiture, landscape, narrative and performance, they give an insight into the tremendous possibilities of an important medium so far overlooked in the local mainstream.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.vwfa.net/CUT2/"><span style="color:#009900;">www.vwfa.net/CUT2/</span></a><span style="color:#009900;"><br /></span><br /><strong>HT Contemporary Space, 39 Keppel Road<br />Tanjong Pagar Distripark #02-04, Singapore 089065</strong></span>thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-73734711665268164932008-05-13T15:48:00.010+08:002008-05-14T17:47:05.135+08:00Collecting Contemporary Asian Photography by John Batten<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#33ccff;"><strong>Though this is about contemporary photography, the author talks about the importance of understanding the historical context of photography.<br /></strong></span><br />Everyone likes a bargain and in the art world findinggood art at a reasonable price can be daunting -however, when you really put yourself to the task, there is reasonably priced art available. Possibly not withinthe ‘high art’ area, but at the design and popular cultureends of the art spectrum there is art that, once collected,makes an impressive statement. Just think of toys, ChineseCultural Revolution posters, film posters, decorativeceramics etc - the individual beauty of these objects isenhanced by being seen as a considered group: ‘a collection’.<br /><br /><br />Collecting photography, I believe, is open to all - no matter your budget. Photography is also understandable to most people: we have all looked into a view finder, clicked the shutter and taken photographs. The technical vagaries of photography need not be a barrier to appreciating photography, but - like most pursuits - understanding what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ takes time and requires the building of knowledge.<br /><br /><br />I believe it is <strong><span style="color:#33ccff;">essential for photography collectors to understand the history of photography</span></strong> - to appreciate the episodes of technical advancethat influenced the final image that the viewer sees and to gain agreater understanding of the intentof individual photographers: the documentation of Egypt done in the1850s by Francis Frith; the locomotion experiments and formidable panorama photographs of Eadward Muybridge; the difficulties of photographers on-the-move (carting cumbersome glass plates, chemicals and portable darkrooms) such as John Thompson in China in the1860s; the obsessive need to record a cityundergoing massive changes such as the Parisian Eugene Atget undertook over aforty year period around the turn of the 20th century; the German August Sander’s monumental series of portraitphotographs; the photographing of seemingly banal objects (advertisingand road signage) done by WalkerEvans in the USA; photography taken in extreme conditions, such as Frank Hurley’s photographs of the Antarctictaken on Shackelton’s ill-fatedexploration of 1914-17; and, the advances in photojournalism that the work of Weegee achieved. If these names are meaningless to you; I can assure you that you have seen their photographs: each have produced indelible, iconic images that have shaped and visually articulated our viewof the world. They are also amongst photography’s pantheon of standard-bearers from which all photographers are judged.<br /><br /><br />A knowledge of the history of photography is essential to focus andarticulate your likes and dislikes aboutparticular individual photographersand their work - a knowledge of photographic history means you canjudge how and why a particular photograph falls within the photographic canon. With knowledge and time, these judgements become second nature and your viewing becomes confident and the photographs you buy will reflect your knowledge.<br /></span><p><span style="font-family:arial;">I love browsing for old photographs in second-hand shops -lots of family and travel photographs; often simple snapshots, occasional old stereo-cards, film publicity shots - most are mundane and of no interest, but small (and cheap) great photographs can be found; there is no intrinsic value in these photographs: the photographers are usually all unknown amateurs ornameless studio photographers, but this does not detractfrom the fact that the actual photographs can often be excellent. An interesting collection can be built from thishumble scavenging - indeed, in the USA there are collectors of ‘found’ photography and exhibitions have been held at leading public galleries based around unknown and amateur photographers. </span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">But most photography collectors purchase their photographs from galleries or direct from photographers who are not represented by dealers. Hong Kong’s leading photographer is probably So Hing Keung - his work deals with a variety of subjects, but all is pure documentary: he records a changing and psychologically taut Hong Kong with his Hong Kong series using a polaroid camera - each photograph is unique: embellished by distressing and scratching the negative and then putting a sepia tone through the final image. He has also photographed extensively in China and his Southern China series specifically documents over a ten-year period the Chiu Chow village of Chaoyang in Northern Guangdong.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">A few months ago I visited Taipei and visited Taiwanese photographer Chen Sun-chu’s latest exhibition at IT Park (asemi-commercial space run by a photographer that exhibits innovative art). I think his on-going portrait series and pre-occupation with his own family will become one of the great bodies of photographic work taken by any Asian photographer. I also admire his work because it is not bound by constrictingtaboos and political correctness: his latest large-scale colour photographs are set in the physical confines of family burial plots.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">There is a long history of Western photographers working in Asia, including over the last 50 years Henri Cartier-Bresson and Marc Riboud.Recently, Lois Connor’s use of a large-format banquet camera on her yearly visits to China and Vietnam haveproduced a seminal collection of beautiful silver gelatin and platinumprints and these placed alongside herwork in her native USA makes herone of the world’s outstanding contemporary photographers.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Hong Kong-based Michael Wolf is a freelance photojournalist who hasbeen working in China, predominantly for the German Stern magazine, overthe last nine years and whose on-going explorations of Hong Kong haveproduced an important series of work:his Architecture of Density series depicts Hong Kong’s large housingdevelopments - these front-on photographs depict endless clinical grids of apartments as well as their inhabitants’ attempt to personalise their outwardly anonymous homes. Together with his Backdoor series (see the forthcoming Thames and Hudson publication), Michael’s Hong Kong work will be seen to be ground-breaking in future years.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">New Zealand photographer Laurence Aberhart was invited to Macau in 2000 by the Macau Museum of Art to document a changing Macau and his later exhibition ( and catalogue : Ghostwriting: Photographs of Macauby Laurence Aberhart) at the Museum displayed sixty of his 8 x 10inch contact print photographs of Macau - reminiscent of the 19th century photograph albums that travellers visiting Hong Kong or Macau would purchase as a memento of their visit. Aberhart’s photography is photography at its purest and inthe mould of Eugene Atget or Walker Evans. He has since photographed inChina and Japan (adding to his extensive work in Europe, NewZealand, Australia and USA).</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Thai photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom is regularly seen at artbiennials and is well known for hissocial realist imagery using ‘the pinkman’ as the protagonist. The pink man- who in real life is a well-known Thai actor, dressed in a bright pink suit - isdepicted serenely standing amongstscenes of chaos. Manit’s manipulated images often make use of distressingphotographs (usually press agency photographs) from recent Thai history -one of his most notorious photographsdepicts the pink man standing asaccuser (of the then militarygovernment) amongst on-lookersstaring at the bodies of dead students strung on trees adjacent to the Royal Palace in Bangkok in thestudent riots of 1973. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Seen alongside such powerful political social commentary as Manit Sriwanichpoom, contemporary Chinese photography seems almost trite.However, it is Chinese photography that will most be seen in the world’s public museums - curators are pre-occupied with China and governments are keen to promote trade by encouraging cultural and art exchanges;so, money is available for Chinese artexhibitions; whereas the Philippinesand Indonesia - who it could be arguedhave equally if not more talented artists- are much less seen.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">A phenomena that is almost solely seen in China is that artists work with awide range of media e.g. painters will also make videos, take photographs, doperformance pieces and installations -thus, a ‘Chinese PhotographyExhibition’ may well comprise photography done by artists who merely use photography as an extension to their wider artistic practice. These artists have become masters of digital manipulation, cutting and collaging - the power of Photoshop has taken the place of stringentmeasuring of light, subject composition and meticulous darkroom techniques. The presented photograph (usually adigitally printed image) will often be of material that will shock the viewer. These generally glossy gratuitous imageswill be presented with little or no social or political context or comment - in keeping with the Chinese State’sintolerance of overt criticism. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">China does, of course, have some excellent photographers and these serious photographers should form the backbone of a Chinese photography collection. Luo Yongjin’s austere black and white photographs of industrial buildings and abandoned domestic apartment buildings is reminiscent of the famous German husband/wifephotographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. </span></p><p><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Liu Zheng’s documentary photography is excellent and his historical tableaux - such as his Peking OperaSeries is some of the best narrative type photographydone in China at the moment. I love panorama photographs: Zhuang Hui’s recent panorama photographs or workers and work units fits into China’s long history of such photography and is itself important work. One photographer whose digital photographs are impressive is Weng Fen: his Wall Straddle series is enigmatic and begs so many questions for the viewer. He has used the same idea - originally young schoolgirls but since expanded to include families and the elderly - of someone staring into a distant series of skyscrapers or,recently, to a seascape horizon line. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Collecting contemporary Asian photography just requires knowledge and a practised eye - good luck.<br /></p></span>thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-21354705715103716362008-05-12T15:21:00.007+08:002008-05-14T17:47:34.065+08:00PICTURE PARADISE: The first century of Asia-Pacific photography 1840s-1940s<span style="font-family:arial;">Held at the National Gallery of Australia, 10 July to 9 November 2008 </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Hoping to find time to go for this show.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Gallery’s new Asia and Pacific collection will be showcased for the first time from 11 July to 9 November 2008 with The first century of Asia–Pacific photography. This exhibition will be the first survey of the history of photography from India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific to the west coast of North America, from the formative decades of the 1840s to 1860s to the early 1940s and advent of the Second World War.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The exhibition will cover the adoption of successive photographic processes across Asia and the Pacific region – from the unique daguerreotype portraits on metal plates in the 1840s–1860s to the mass production of views on paper made possible from the 1860s on to the turn of the century by the wet-plate and then dry-plate glass negative process and finally, the modern era of small 35 mm film cameras introduced in 1925 with the release of the Leica. A special feature of the exhibition will be a presentation of the first colour photographs taken in the Asia and Pacific region from the 1920s to the 1940s.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The exhibition will include pioneer nineteenth-century local photographers as well as European photographers working in the region such as Scot John Thomson, who published the first travel photography books on Asia. Work by first generation indigenous photographers – Lala Deen Dayal from India, Francis Chit from Thailand, Cassian Cephas from Indonesia, Afong from Hong Kong and Carleton Watkins in California and Alfred Bock in Australia will complement views and ethnographic photographs by immigrants such as Armenian Onnes Kurkdjian in Indonesia, JW Lindt, who migrated from Germany to work in Australia and Alfred Burton, an Englishman who worked in New Zealand. Surrealist work by Australian Modernist Max Dupain will be placed in context with the work of Lionel Wendt from Sri Lanka and Osamu Shiihara from Japan. An important feature of the exhibition will be the first account of women photographers in the region including Hedda Morrison in China, Imogen Cunningham in California and Olive Cotton in Australia.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.nga.gov.au/"><span style="font-family:arial;">www.nga.gov.au</span></a>thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-15969155958350464762008-05-06T23:27:00.006+08:002008-05-14T18:19:35.457+08:00Why I Collect What I CollectI have just started out collecting 19th century photographs though I have been looking at them for the past 4 years now. Why collect photographs and not something else?<br /><br />Firstly, it is within my financial means. I can spend a few hundreds on a really nice albumen print (I'll just forgo that Paul Smith printed canvas bag or pair of G-Star jeans). Secondly, it is a subject that I have some knowledge about though there is still lots more to learn and know. And lastly, my unit trusts have not been doing too well lately. Rather than banking on (no pun intended) the financial expertise of someone else, I might as well depend on my eye for aesthetics.<br /><br />I'm focusing on 19th c. japanese portraiture and se asian topography.<br /><br />Photographers whose work I own now include (list will be updated progressively):<br /><br /><a id="tamamurakozaburo" name="tamamurakozaburo"></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Tamamura Kozaburo</strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">(born 1856; date of death unknown) was a Japanese photographer. In 1874 he opened a photographic studio in Asakusa, Tokyo and subsequently moved to Yokohama in 1883, opening his most successful studio. He was an originator of the Yokohama shashin photographic scene. His studio was still operating in 1909.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><a id="williamsaunders" name="williamsaunders"></a><strong><span style="font-family:arial;">Woodbury & Page</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Walter Woodbury (1834-1885) was an apprentice in a patent office in Manchester from 1849 to 1851. He went to the Australian gold fields in 1852. Woodbury took up professional photography (he invented the 'Woodburytype' process) and emigrated with James Page to Java in 1858. They established the firm of Woodbury and Page in Batavia. Woodbury returned to England in 1863, but the firm continued trading until the end of the century. </span>thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-11172943078514984102008-05-04T16:02:00.001+08:002008-06-05T22:46:51.125+08:00Proceses and Techniques of Photography: The Albumen Photograph<strong>ALBUMEN PRINT</strong><br />The albumen print was invented by Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard (1802-72) in 1850, and it was the most prevalent type of print until the 1890s. A photograph can be identified as an albumen print from the slight sheen (due to the use of egg-white) on the top surface. Almost all of the photographs produced in late 19th century Singapore were albumen photographs.<br /><br />An albumen print was made by floating a sheet of thin paper on a bath of egg white containing salt, which had been whisked, allowed to subside, and filtered. This produced a smooth surface, the pores of the paper having been filled with albumen. After drying, the albumenised paper was sensitised by floating it on a bath of silver nitrate solution or by brushing on the same solution. The paper was again dried, but this time in the dark. This doubly coated paper was put into a wooden, hinged-back frame, in contact with a negative, usually made of glass but occasionally of waxed paper.<br /><br />After printing, which sometimes only required a few minutes but could take an hour or more, the resultant proof, still unstable, was fixed by immersing it in a solution of hyposulfite of soda ('hypo') and water and then thoroughly washed to prevent further chemical reactions. The print was then dried. Gordon Baldwin, 'Looking at Photographs', J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991<br /><br /><em>WET-PLATE COLLODION PROCESS</em><br />The wet collodion process was invented in 1848 by F. Scott Archer (1913-57) and published by him in 1851. It was prevalent from 1855 to about 1881. Wet-collodion-on-glass negatives were valued because the transparency of the glass produced a high resolution of detail in both the highlights and shadows of the resultant prints and because exposure times were short, ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the amount of light available.<br /><br />Collodion is guncotton (nitrocellulose) dissolved in ethyl alcohol and ethyl ether. In the wet-collodion process, collodion was poured from a beaker onto a glass plate tilted to quickly produce an even coating. When the collodion had set but not dried, the plate was made light sensitive by bathing it in a solution of silver nitrate, which combined with the potassium iodide in the collodion to produce light-sensitive silver iodide. The plate in its holder was then placed in the camera for exposure while still wet - hence the name of the process. After exposure the plate was immediately developed in a solution. Gordon Baldwin, 'Looking at Photographs', J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991<br /><br /><em>DRY-PLATE GELATINE PROCESS</em><br />The wet-plate was not without disadvantage. The plates needed to be processed while still wet which meant a portable dark-room for landscape photographers. In 1871, Richard Leah Maddox introduced using gelatine for coating dry plates which could be processed later. This became a popular process for amateur photographers who could take their photographs using dry-plates and get them processed at a studio. In Singapore, its use probably started in the late 1880s (the amatuer Straits Photographic Society was established in 1889 at Hill Street) and became common from the 1890s onwards.thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005327825577017627.post-31222187975079299982008-04-28T21:07:00.003+08:002008-05-14T17:53:31.052+08:00First wordsAs the title above suggests, this blog is dedicated to my writings and on-going research into historical photographs of Asia (with a focus on SE Asia). I hope that the growing posts will become a useful source of information for those interested in this fascinating topic.<br /><br />WATCH OUT FOR MORE...thesmokingboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955612890452355642noreply@blogger.com0