couverture de Singapore through 19th Century Photographs

Singapore through 19th Century Photographs

Jason Toh

Collection : >

250 x 235 mm — 176 pages — 30
ISBN : 978-9-81426-006-0
  • More than 120 rare images reveal the Singapore of an earlier age, telling a gripping story of how the growth of the city and the growth of photography as an industry are linked.
  • An informative, lively text paints a vivid historical backdrop for the photographs.
  • The photographs are put into a clear geographical context with three historical maps of Singapore, which document several distinct periods of development during the 19th century.

Singapore through 19th Century Photographs is a comprehensive photographic record of Singapore from the early 1840s to the 1900s. Paired with lively commentary, the more than 120 rare photographs from leading institutional and private collections recreate a compelling portrait of 19th-century Singapore.

Emphasising the topographical and architectural landscape of the city and its surrounding environs, this visually irresistible city tour transports the reader back to the Singapore of an earlier age, a city that has now changed beyond recognition. The vibrant old metropolis is brought back to life through insightful captions and mostly albumen prints, the dominant photographic medium of the second half of the 19th century.

Moreover, also documenting the growth of photography in Southeast Asia, this book reveals a watershed moment. The rise of international trade and the push for immigration led many Western studio photographers to seek their fortunes in the East, during a period that coincided with a rise in tourist travel, sparked by improvements to transportation networks. These propitious conditions set the stage for the intense production of commercial photographs of Singapore, and the book captures this unique moment of rapid development, both with the photographs shown and the perceptive analysis offered in the text.

Illustrating the city at its most striking, Singapore through 19th Century Photographs records a dynamic moment of development for both photography and of Singapore, the pre-eminent colonial port-city of Southeast Asia.

Jason Toh

Jason Toh curates the permanent galleries in the National Museum of Singapore that cover colonial history in both the Singapore History Gallery and the Photography Gallery. Besides developing Singapore-themed temporary exhibitions and building the museum’s photography collection, Toh researches and writes on 19th-century colonial photography. A liberal arts graduate of Middlebury College, Toh began his museum career proper, after stints with Christie’s Singapore and the Singapore Art Museum, at the National Museum of Singapore as an assistant curator in 2004, becoming a curator in 2006.

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