Japan – An Island Nation: 1870-1890 (Photographs from the Burns Archive)

The Resobox Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of Nineteenth-Century hand-colored photographs of Japanese entrepreneurial class culture from The Burns Archive.

The images in this exhibition showcase the best of Japanese photographs that were made to show the perceived exotic nature of Japan to the West. Several of the great early photographers’ studios are represented, including Kusakabe Kimbei, Felice Beato, and Baron von Stillfried. These photographers, under government supervision, documented the artisans, shopkeepers and workers that made up the bulk of the Japanese middle and working class entrepreneurial society. It was critical for Japanese ‘public relations’ of the era to put a face on Japan’s people and products. They were being exported for the first time to international fairs and expositions. It was through these fairs and photographs that the world was introduced to Japan. These photographs were presented in albums, which tourists brought back to the West.