The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

An Old Clothes Shop, Seven Dials

An Old Clothes Shop, Seven Dials

1877
(Scottish, 1837–1921)
Image: 11.5 x 9 cm (4 1/2 x 3 9/16 in.); Paper: 11.5 x 9 cm (4 1/2 x 3 9/16 in.); Mounted: 27.1 x 20.8 cm (10 11/16 x 8 3/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

When this photo was taken, Seven Dials, a London neighborhood linking Covent Garden to Soho, was a slum that housed shops that bought and sold used clothing and furniture.

Description

According to John Thomson’s collaborator, journalist Adolphe Smith, the dealers in this neighborhood were sources of last resort for those trying to sell items that had already been rejected by pawnbrokers. They were also where “the majority of those individuals who earn a promiscuous livelihood in the streets of London succeed in clothing themselves for a minimum outlay.”
  • (Antiquariat Dr. Jens Mattow, Berlin, Germany)
    March 4, 2019
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Photographs in Ink. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 20, 2022-April 2, 2023).
  • {{cite web|title=An Old Clothes Shop, Seven Dials|url=false|author=John Thomson|year=1877|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.51