1318
The boom in Burma induced regional studios to
set up branches; Frederick Skeen of Skeen and Co in
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) arrived in 1887 to set up a branch
and worked as Watts and Skeen. The work of the 1880s
generation benefi ted from the introduction of the faster
and more convenient dry-plate which allowed for more
varied and lively subjects and atmosphere. The fi rm may
have sold Beato material in Ceylon and their inventory
seems to have been taken over by Beato after Skeen
returned to Ceylon in 1903. Studios based in India also
sent representatives including the well-known fi rm of
Bourne and Shepherd.
Anthropology a new science also became codifi ed
and politicised in the 1860s and a number of uncred-
ited photographers provided ethnographic images from
Burma to the multi-volume Peoples of India publication
of 1868–1875. Guidelines for scientifi c anthropometric
studies were developed in the late 1860s following strict
guidelines but these were rarely implemented. Some
ethnographic studies were in fact more like early forms
of pin-up girls and the fi ne-looking Burmese women
in their restrained elegant costume proved especially
appealing to European taste. A more sympathetic eye
and ethnographic interest came from Sir George Scott
who took up photography in 1888 and published a set
of volumes on the Shan States.
Cambodia
The great abandoned temples of Cambodia, at times
under Siamese control, were to become the ‘pyramids’
of Asia. John Thomson was inspired to visit Cambodia
after reading the 1864 English edition of French explorer
Henri Mouthot’s Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-
China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos, during the Years
1858, 1859, and 1860 which popularised the ruins. Illus-
trations after photographs in that (posthumous) book and
the Tour du monde accounts of Muhout’s travels 1868
were not by Mouhot but local photographers including
Francis Chit. Thomson was not the fi rst photographer
at Angkor; his companion in 1867 British consular of-
fi cer W.G. Kennedy had visited and taken photographs
in 1856, but none are known to survive. Thomson was
the fi rst skilled technician and superior camera artist to
make images there. His lively accessible prose ensured
the success of his own fi rst book of 1867 Antiquities
in Cambodia illustrated with 16 original prints. His
later publications were more widely disseminated as
they had photomechanical illustration. The Cambodian
work was also Thomson’s entrée to the learned societ-
ies of his homeland. Thomson returned to Saigon and
photographed the Royal family there before returning
to Britain.
Soon after Thomson’s work at Angkor French military
trained photographer Émile Gsell (1838–1879) was at
work there in late 1866 with the French Mekong Exploring
Expedition initiated and later led by Francis Garnier.
Typical of the many French military come civil
servants and administrators who became passionate
advocates for Asian culture was naval offi cer Louis
Delaporte (1842–1925) on the French Government
Mekong expedition which visited Angkor in 1866. He
sought help from Thomson and Gsell and perfected his
own photography for his later 1873–1874 expedition to
Cambodia with F.C. Faraut, seeking constant improve-
ment in architectural work through use of aplanar lenses
and gelatin processes. He exhibited at the 1878 Expo-
sition Universelle in Paris His interest came from his
passion for archaeology and Khymer culture for which
he helped found a Musée Indochinois du Trocadéro.
The French tradition of the centralised grand scale
cultural and scientifi c ‘mission’ meticulous and me-
thodical was exemplifi ed in the Mission Pavie teams
of photographers.Delaporte sent Louis Fourneau on
expeditions 1886–88 in which Captain Malgraive and
Riviere also where made plates successfully at Angkor.
The remarkable Jean Marc Bel and his wife an engineer
made many voyages 1893.
International and local exhibitions formed a signifi -
cant platform in the later 19th century to promote the
colonial endeavours and as self promotion for photo-
graphers.Vietnam and Laos
The French had a presence from the 1840s in Vietnam
then known as Cochin China in the south and Tonkin
in the north, and, as with the British in Burma, their
control extended from the mid-1860s through various
confl icts until effective control of Tonkin as well as the
south came in 1885. Not surprisingly, French photog-
raphers were fi rst to appear in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh
City): Charles Parant in 1864–1867 and Clément Gillet
in 1865–1866. After his Mekon Expedition work, Emile
Gsell went private and set up a studio in Saigon in 1866
becoming fi rst long-term commercial photographer in
Vietnam. Gsell however, also left Saigon in 1873 to join
Louis Delaporte’s expedition in Cambodia revisiting
Angkor Wat. Gsell Angkor Wat pictures and panoramas
earned him a medal at the Vienna International exhibi-
tion of 1874 where he also Cambodian and Vietnamese
ethnographic studies. In 1876–1877 Gsell was also able
to travel in north adding images of Tonkin to his stock
which passed to other studios in Saigon after his early
death in Saigon in 1879.
John Thomson returned to Asia in 1867 spending
some months in Saigon and surrounds even trying to
capture clouds without montage suggesting he may
have been using a new process. He sent articles to The
China Magazine but his Saigon work was not included