A critical reconsideration of the history of photography that explores
how commerce and conflict fueled its practice in nineteenth-century
China
Photography's development as a new form of art and technology coincided
with profound changes in the way China engaged with the world in the
nineteenth century. The medium evolved in response to war, trade,
travel, and a desire for knowledge about an unfamiliar place. Power and
Perspective provides a rich account of the exchanges among
photographers, artists, patrons, and subjects in the treaty port cities
that connected China and the West. Drawing primarily from the Peabody
Essex Museum's historic and largely unpublished collection of
photographs, this generously illustrated volume examines the
confrontations and collaborations that shaped the adoption and practice
of photography in China. Offering an original reassessment of the
colonial legacy of the medium, Power and Perspective addresses
photography's representations of racial hierarchy and its entanglement
with histories of European imperialism in nineteenth-century China.
Distributed for the Peabody Essex Museum
Exhibition Schedule:
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
(September 24, 2022-April 2, 2023)
