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February 6, 2008
Echoes from the past
The New York Public Library has put a huge collection of historic photographs taken in Japan and other Asian countries online. From the NYPL website:
Over 1,000 prints and photographs (mostly albumen, hand-colored albumen and gelatin silver prints) of East, Southeast and South Asia from the 18th century to the early 20th century, drawn from portfolios, photographic albums, photographically illustrated books and archival collections. Subjects include architecture, scenes of daily life, portraits of major political, religious and artistic figures of the time, "exotica," staged photographs for the tourist trade and travel postcards.
It's an outstanding collection for several reasons. Aside from their value as historic artifacts, many of these photos display great artistry in terms of their composition and (in many) their hand-tinting.
Oh, and although its not really Japan-related, The Library of Congress has begun putting some of its photographic collection online through Flickr. So far, there's a selection of black and white images from the 1910s as well as colour images from the 1940s, including photographs from the war years.
Posted by Marcus at February 6, 2008 10:00 AM
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