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Dealer in Fancy-Ware

Photograph
1878 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

John Thomson (1837-1921) made this photograph of a dealer in 'fancy ware' (ceramics and bric-a-brac) for his publication Street Life in London (1878). The people in the pictures were arranged or posed by Thomson to form interesting compositions. However, the results were often naturalistic because the subjects and surroundings were always authentic. Thomson used the 'Woodburytype' process patented in 1864 for the images in the book, including this photograph. This was a type of photomechanical reproduction using pigmented gelatin, usually of a rich purple-brown colour. The process was complicated but remained popular until about 1900 because of the high quality and permanence of the finished images.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleDealer in Fancy-Ware (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Carbon print (Woodburytype)
Brief description
19thC; Thomson John, Dealer, Street Life in London
Physical description
Photograph of two men behind a table with items for sale, women and children in front
Dimensions
  • Height: 9.2cm
  • Width: 11.8cm
Summary
John Thomson (1837-1921) made this photograph of a dealer in 'fancy ware' (ceramics and bric-a-brac) for his publication Street Life in London (1878). The people in the pictures were arranged or posed by Thomson to form interesting compositions. However, the results were often naturalistic because the subjects and surroundings were always authentic. Thomson used the 'Woodburytype' process patented in 1864 for the images in the book, including this photograph. This was a type of photomechanical reproduction using pigmented gelatin, usually of a rich purple-brown colour. The process was complicated but remained popular until about 1900 because of the high quality and permanence of the finished images.
Collection
Accession number
PH.326-1982

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Record createdJanuary 27, 2004
Record URL
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