id:			325424
accession number:	2019.53
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2019.53
updated:		2024-03-26 02:02:05.961000

Street Life in London: Covent Garden Labourers, 1877. John Thomson (Scottish, 1837–1921). Woodburytype; image: 11.4 x 8.6 cm (4 1/2 x 3 3/8 in.); paper: 11.4 x 8.6 cm (4 1/2 x 3 3/8 in.); mounted: 27 x 20.7 cm (10 5/8 x 8 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Photography Discretionary Fund 2019.53

title:				Covent Garden Labourers
title in original language:	
series:				Street Life in London
series in original language:	
creation date:			1877
creation date earliest:		1877
creation date latest:		1877
current location:		
creditline:			Photography Discretionary Fund
copyright:			

---

culture:	England, 19th century
technique:	woodburytype
department:	Photography
collection:	PH - British 19th Century
type:		Photograph
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

* John Thomson (Scottish, 1837–1921)  - artist
John Thomson British, b. Scotland, 1837-1921 John Thomson studied chemistry at the University of Edinburgh in his native city. While best known for his views of street life in London, Thomson spent his early photographic career in the Far East. Between 1863-73, based at a studio in Singapore, he photographed India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. He spent two years photographing China, an ambitious project for which he traveled more than 5,500 miles. Returning to England, Thomson used his experiences, and his 2,000 negatives, to write and publish Illustrations of China and Its People (1873-74), a monumental four-volume work containing 200 collotype illustrations with descriptive text. In 1877 he collaborated with journalist Adolph Smith to publish Street Life in London, one of the first books to combine text with photographic illustrations (36 Woodburytype plates of London's poor) to document sociological case histories. In 1886 Thomson was appointed instructor of photography to the Royal Geographic Society, where he was a Fellow until his death. He became official photographer to Queen Victoria in 1881 and in 1910 received the same appointment under King George V. T.W.F.
---

measurements: Image: 11.4 x 8.6 cm (4 1/2 x 3 3/8 in.); Paper: 11.4 x 8.6 cm (4 1/2 x 3 3/8 in.); Mounted: 27 x 20.7 cm (10 5/8 x 8 1/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

	inscription:	Stamped in red ink on recto of mount: “COVENT GARDEN LABOURERS.”
	translation:	
	remark:		

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Photographs in Ink
	opening date:   2022-11-20T05:00:00
	<i>Photographs in Ink</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 20, 2022-April 2, 2023).

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

---

PROVENANCE

	(Antiquariat Dr. Jens Mattow, Berlin, Germany)
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: March 4, 2019
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:

---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2019.53/2019.53_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2019.53/2019.53_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2019.53/2019.53_full.tif