Children standing in front of a Tori

Description

This photograph, dating from the 1880s, was printed on albumen paper and then hand-coloured using a specific technique in which the colours are obtained from pigments mixed with bone glue (nikawa). It is thus part of the production of the very popular Yokohama school.

In the foreground is a path leading away to what appear to be houses, in the middle of a wooded landscape. On either side is a massive stone tori – a traditional Japanese gate. Below it are two figures carrying heavy cargoes, giving the photograph scale. In the background, mountains can be seen through the mist.

Facing the viewer, two children pose, one seated, the other standing, while their gaze is straight ahead, focused on the lens. Looking both intimidated and gentle, they lend themselves to the photographic game with a certain curiosity. A great tenderness emanates from this photograph, which thus departs from the traditional standards of the exotic shot widely used in the photographic production of the Yokohama school.

If the use of colour, so typical of Japanese photography, was initially intended to be documentary, it is now widely used for its aesthetic aspect and contributes to the originality of Japanese production. The technique used is particularly suited to the paper used for the print, whose main component is albumen. This warm-toned paper is particularly well suited to the technique used for colouring, whose translucent aspect reinforces the naturalism of the representation.