Kusakabe Kimbei • Original Albumen print (c. 1890’s) • Japan (Not Reproduction)

Description: Original photograph by Kusakabe Kimbei (Japanese, 1841 - 1934) taken from a Japanese souvenir photo album, circa 1890’s. Hand-colored albumen print, entire image size: 10.25” x 13” image size: 7.375 h x 9.5 w in (19 x 24 cm) Note: There is a mounted photo on each side as these were removed from a photo album. About the artist: Kusakabe Kimbei worked as a photographer and a photographic colorist. He studied under Felice Beato and Baron Raimund von Stillfried until he opened his own workshop in Yokohama in 1881. As the protégé of Stillfried, Kusakabe continued the tradition of the psychological studio portrait and recorded scenic views of the country while he developed his own sense of photography. Like postcards today, his work was collected by tourists and exported for sale as curiosities to those who could not visit Japan. Kusakabe was at the forefront of creating souvenir photograph albums for western tourists in Yokohama containing hand-painted Japanese prints of landscapes and studio portraits of everyday life in the Meiji period. For this reason he is still better known today in the West than he is in Japan. The albumen print, also known as an albumen silver print, was the first method of mass producing a photographic print on paper from a negative. A key ingredient used in the process of creating these Japanese prints was the albumen found in egg whites which bound the photographic chemicals to paper. I have several more of these photos from the same album available individually. Please see my other listings.

Price: 80 USD

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2025-01-20T01:47:08.000Z

Shipping Cost: 9.85 USD