b. 14 June 1837; d. October 1921
Together with Paul Martin, and Jacob Riis in America, John Thomson is widely regarded as one of the fathers of what we now term documentary or social-documentary photography. The work of these photographers show far more than a mere record; there is a great deal of humanity expressed in many of their pictures.
John Thomson was born in Edinburgh, and studied at the University. He became involved in photography, but his passion was geography, and he travelled extensively, his travels being published in a series of books, the last of which contained over two hundred photographs. In the introduction to this book (Illustrations of China and its People, 1873) he writes
"I made the camera a constant companion of my wanderings and to it I am indebted for the faithful reproduction of the scenes I visited."
In 1866 Thomson was appointed instructor in photography at the Royal Geographic Society. Whilst there he was approached by an otherwise unknown Adolphe Smith, with a view to illustrating Smith's book (Street Life in London, 1877) on the poor of London. This book consists of thirty-six case histories illustrated with photographs.
The book contains woodburytype reproductions, a process invented in 1864, and just what was needed for wide distribution. It was not a printing process - each illustration had to be inserted manually into the book - but production speed and the quality of the work were a feature of this invention, as is the distinctive red-brown colour of the finished work.
In 1879 Thomson set up a studio in Buckingham Palace Road, London, and later on in Mayfair. When he died, the Royal Geographical Society printed a biography which detailed much of his work in the Far East, but made no mention of his greatest work, "Street Life of London." It may be that people of the time preferred not to have to come to terms with what was being portrayed. What comes over is his sensitivity and vision - good honest photography without any pretensions.
Thomson continued to work until his death at the age of 84, writing papers
for the Royal Geographical Society on the uses of photography. Some of his work may be
seen at the Society's headquarters in London.
© Robert Leggat, 1998.