Who was Arnold Genthe?

Bridge partially extended over a body of water, Japan (Meiji era), Old Photo — Bridge partially extended over a body of water, Japan　Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-agc-7a05168

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire cost the photographer Arnold Genthe his studio and his equipment. Yet the negatives for his book on Chinatown came through unburned, because he had kept them outside the city.

Self-portrait of Arnold Genthe — Arnold Genthe, self-portrait, 1900
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (Library of Congress, agc.7a09679)

The Library of Congress counts Genthe among the eyewitnesses who recorded the disaster in both pictures and words. One of his photographs, catching the turmoil of the city in the immediate aftermath, now belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Old Chinatown

Genthe was born in Berlin in 1869 and came to San Francisco in 1895. From the late 1890s, he photographed the city's old Chinatown again and again, working in pictorialism, a style that favors soft focus.

Not every picture is exactly what the camera saw, though. Some are known to have been retouched in the darkroom, and scholars today see those photographs as making the neighborhood look exotic.

Dotonbori, Osaka (Meiji era), Old Photo — Source: National Diet Library, JapanDotonbori, Osaka

The National Diet Library photographs that follow were chosen for their period and place. None of them were taken by Genthe.

Portraits and dance in New York

Geisha Dancing in Shinbashi (Meiji era), Old Photo — Source: National Diet Library, JapanGeisha Dancing in Shinbashi

After moving to New York in 1911, Genthe worked mainly in portraiture. His famous sitters included President Woodrow Wilson, the actress Greta Garbo and the dancer Isadora Duncan. When it came to dance, he photographed Duncan and her company as well as the Anita Zahn dancers, Martha Graham, Ruth St. Denis and others. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art observes that his pictorialist style suited lyrical subjects such as dance.

He also tried his hand at color. He was among the first photographers in the United States to use the autochrome, the color process invented by the Lumière brothers. From 1906, the year of the earthquake, into the 1930s, he made autochrome portraits and landscapes across the country, with landscapes from around Carmel and the Grand Canyon among them.

Arnold Genthe photographing writers on the beach at Carmel — Genthe, seen from behind, photographing writers on the beach at Carmel, around 1904–06 (photo by his assistant)
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (Library of Congress, agc.7a09343)

Four writers sitting on the beach at Carmel — Four people on the beach at Carmel, photographed by Genthe, around 1902–07. Pictured, in no particular order: Mary Austin, Jack London, George Sterling and Jimmie Hooper
Arnold Genthe / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (held by UC Berkeley Library)

Japan, 1908

Genthe traveled as well, taking pictures wherever he went. In 1908 he spent six months in Japan, and he visited the Ainu people of Hokkaido. The Library of Congress holds negatives he made on that trip at Itsukushima Shrine. One of them, titled "Stone lantern and torii in Japan," shows the famous torii gate that seems to float on the sea. Several other photographs from 1908 carry the title "Travel views of Japan and Korea."

The Great Torii and Lanterns (Meiji era), Old Photo — Source: National Diet Library, JapanThe Great Torii and Lanterns

The photo below isn't Genthe's either. It is another old photograph of the same torii on Miyajima, from the National Diet Library of Japan.

Japan wasn't his only destination. He photographed people and buildings in Spain in 1904 and in Greece in 1929 and 1930, and the Library also holds his travel photographs from Cuba, Guatemala, Germany, some of the Benelux countries, and Italy.

To the Library of Congress

Genthe died in 1942, and his photographs then went to the Library of Congress. Most were bought from his estate in 1942 or 1943. The collection includes black-and-white glass plate and film negatives, lantern slides, and color autochromes. The photographs date from 1896 to 1942, with the largest share from 1911 to 1935.

Cherry Blossoms in Ueno Park (Meiji era), Old Photo — Source: National Diet Library, JapanCherry Blossoms in Ueno Park

The rights statements, however, vary from photo to photo. The statement for the collection as a whole reads "No known restrictions on publication for most images," stopping short at "most," and some images may be restricted. Some individual records say "No known restrictions on publication," so the statement has to be checked one photo at a time.

How it connects to 3rd-Party.jp

Shinobazu Pond (Meiji era), Old Photo — Source: National Diet Library, JapanShinobazu Pond

From the Genthe collection, Kioku Kabegami includes the 1908 photographs titled "Travel views of Japan and Korea" and photographs with "Japan" in the title. We leave out photographs of Japanese paintings. In the Library's catalog, the travel views all share the same title, and the records don't say whether each was taken in Japan or Korea. So we've given each one a short title based on what it shows, along with a Japanese translation. We look at each photo to work out which country it was taken in, and nothing goes up until that's clear. Photos confirmed as taken in Korea say so in their titles and descriptions.

Sources

About this Collection (opens in a new tab)Library of Congress, Genthe Collection
Genthe Collection - Scope of the Collection (opens in a new tab)Library of Congress
Travel views of Japan and Korea (opens in a new tab)Library of Congress
After the Earthquake, San Francisco (opens in a new tab)The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Arnold Genthe (opens in a new tab)SFMOMA