id: 172532 accession number: 2015.32.a share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2015.32.a updated: 2023-08-24 01:12:07.916000 Untitled (recto), 1880s. Skeen & Co. (British, active 1860–1920), Charles T. Scowen (British). Albumen print, gold-toned; image: 20.2 x 26.7 cm (7 15/16 x 10 1/2 in.); mounted: 27.8 x 37.9 cm (10 15/16 x 14 15/16 in.); secondary image: 20.5 x 26.3 cm (8 1/16 x 10 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchased with funds donated by Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer 2015.32.a title: Untitled (recto) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1880s creation date earliest: 1880 creation date latest: 1889 current location: creditline: Purchased with funds donated by Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer copyright: --- culture: England, 19th century technique: Albumen print, gold-toned department: Photography collection: PH - British 19th Century type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Skeen & Co. (British, active 1860–1920) - artist Commercial photographer active in Ceylon (1860-1903). * Charles T. Scowen (British) - artist Charles T. Scowen British, active 1870s-1890s Charles Scowen was one of a number of British photographers active in India and its environs during the 19th century. Arriving in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the early 1870s, Scowen had by 1876 established a studio, Scowen & Co., in Kandy. By the 1890s he had opened a second in Colombo. His work, which included landscapes and portraits of Malay women, is noted for its lighting, technically superior printing, and strong compositional qualities. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 20.2 x 26.7 cm (7 15/16 x 10 1/2 in.); Mounted: 27.8 x 37.9 cm (10 15/16 x 14 15/16 in.); Secondary image: 20.5 x 26.3 cm (8 1/16 x 10 3/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on mount with the image of the posed people: "6" Written in pencil on mount with image of oxen: "7" Written in pencil on verso of mat: "W.L.H. Skeen (1860-1900)/CEYLON, 1880s/gold-toned albumen print/1700 (Euros) 135 x 260 mm" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century opening date: 2016-10-22T04:00:00 Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Probably taken by one of two British photographic firms based in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), this image was likely shot by a European and was definitely made for a European audience, not for the individuals depicted. It is unlikely the sitters ever saw the finished photograph. Such ethnographic portraits were collected by governments as information, by tourists as souvenirs, and by “armchair travelers” as aids to the imagination. Viewers of the era would have regarded it more as a depiction of a cultural type than as a record of individual lives. Because interiors of temples were too dark to yield an image, the photographer arranged these Thai monks and worshippers along with some of their religious objects outdoors. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2015.32.a/2015.32.a_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2015.32.a/2015.32.a_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2015.32.a/2015.32.a_full.tif