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Untitled (verso)

1880s

Skeen & Co.

(British, active 1860–1920)

Charles T. Scowen

(British)
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Culture
England, 19th century
Medium
Albumen print, gold-toned
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.)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds donated by Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer 2015.32.b
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print

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.
A horizontally oriented gold-toned print depicts a dirt path leading toward a dense stand of spindly palm trees. On the left, two white oxen are yoked to a wooden cart. Steeply thatched roofs line the path to the right, where a man stands by a tall utility pole. Bright sunlight casts sharp, dark shadows across the ground, and fine details render the textures of the landscape.

Untitled (verso)

1880s

Skeen & Co., Charles T. Scowen

(British, active 1860–1920), (British)
England, 19th century

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