"Macao Girl" por John Thomson

Postais ilustrados cuja autoria das imagens é atribuída a John Thomson com a legenda manuscrita "Macao Girl - Hong Kong China, 1868. 

No blogue existem vários posts sobre este fotógrafo escocês que passou por Macau na segunda metade do século XIX. Sugiro ainda como leitura os livros: "Trough China with a Camera" (de 1898 escrito pelo próprio com mais de 300 páginas e mais de uma centena de imagens incluindo a que reproduzo em baixo) e um catálogo intitulado "China: Trough the lens of John Thomson", publicado em 2010.

Excerto das impressões de J. T. sobre Macau no livro de 1898:

"Macao is interesting as a Portuguese settlement, and the only one which now remains to Portugal of those which her early traders founded in China ; it can also boast of historic associations, "ivino- it a special and independent attraction. Here the poet Camoens found a retreat, and here, too, Chinnery produced a multitude of sketches and paintings, which have really had some influence on art in the South of China."

Born two years before the invention of daguerreotype and the birth of photography, Thomson first traveled to Asia in 1862 where he set up a professional photographic studio. The local culture and the people of Asia fascinated him, and in 1868 he made his second trip, this time settling in Hong Kong. Between 1868 and 1872, Thomson made extensive trips to Guangdong, Macao (see his impressions above the photo), Fujian, Beijing, China's northeast and down the Yangtse River, covering nearly 8000 miles.

Thomson photographed a wide variety of subjects, from ethnography to antiques, beggars to princes, palaces to monasteries, villages to large rivers. He was one of the first Westerners to photograph Beijing and its surrounding areas, including famous historical sites like the Great Wall of China and the tombs of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty. The photos appeared in publications at the time like China Magazine, and were included in his book "Through China with a Camera", which he published upon his return to London in 1898. There is also a catalogue with J. T. photos published in 2010 by Betty Yao:  "China: Through the Lens of John Thomson (1868-1872)"