This guide provides information and direct links for those interested in early photography in Asia (particularly between 1860 and 1920), including materials held at the University of Colorado Boulder and beyond. To get started, check out the introduction below and use the tabs to navigate to specific regions or specific countries. Entries include a link to University of Colorado Boulder digitized photographs or to the library catalog entry for the item (if it is not digitized). If you are interested in seeing items that are not digitized, schedule an appointment in the Rare and Distinctive Collections reading room in Norlin Library. Each page on this guide also includes links to other relevant digital libraries of institutions with early photographs of the region.
The first commercial photograph - the daguerreotype - was produced in Europe in 1839, but could not be easily reproduced. In the decades that followed, photographic technology developed quickly. By the late 1850s, the wet collodion process was replacing older technologies to produce a glass-plate negative that could be used to create many photographic prints. By about 1880, the dry collodion process made it even easier to take photographs in the field.
The earliest photographs and photographic technology in Asia came via Europeans, often through imperialism. Samuel Bourne, for example, was a British citizen who set up a studio in India in the 1860s. He produced over 2000 photographs and sold prints of a variety of people, cities, and landscapes in India and the Himalayas.
Samuel Bourne, "View from the Thibet road at Pangi - Great Chini Peaks in the background." 1866.
European merchants and tourists in China and Japan were also early consumers of photographs. The Japanese port city of Yokohama, for example, had photographic studios set up as early as 1860 (Wakita, 2013). Japanese and Chinese photographers set up studios in many cities by the late 1860s and 1870s, aiming to appeal to both citizens of their countries and foreigners. For example, Lai Afong worked in British studios in Hong Kong before setting up his own studio in 1870. Kazumasa Ogawa, a Japanese photographer and printer, set up the first photographic studio in Tokyo in 1884 and published many photo books in Japanese and English.
However, the majority of countries in Asia were colonized or under colonial control during the second half of the nineteenth century, just as photographic technology was spreading. In most colonized regions, photography and photographic infrastructure (the chemicals, cameras, paper, etc.) remained items of the colonizers, though there were exceptions to this (particularly in port cities or international cities such as Singapore). Colonial powers often used photography to support their agenda and assert control. European and American tourists, consciously or unconsciously, often perpetuated racism and biases through their travel photography.
"Residence in Rangoon." c. 1885-1895. A photograph of British colonists in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma).
By the 1890s and early 1900s, as photographic technology continued to get cheaper and more accessible (Kodak film photography originated in 1888), photography studios and amateur photography from people in Asia began ramping up. Nguyễn Đình Khánh (who went by Khánh Ký) in Vietnam, for example, began a photograph studio in Hanoi in 1893. By the early 20th century, Khánh Ký trained many Vietnamese photographers, who then set up their own studios throughout the region.
The Rare and Distinctive Collections at the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries holds an important collection of historical photographs taken in Asia as part of our broader collection strength in the history of photograph and published photography books. We continue to build this collection through new acquisitions to support research and instruction on campus and beyond. To find these and additional materials held in our Rare and Distinctive Collections, search the following databases:
Early Photography in Asia - CU Digital Library
Library Catalog Advanced Search
The Rare and Distinctive Collections Reading Room
