{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1375845"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1375845/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KC4842/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KC4842/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KC4842","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1375845/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1375845","accessionNumber":"52886","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"The Sutlej, at Wangtu","type":"assigned by artist"},{"title":"Wagtu: view of the Sutlej","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"In 1863 Samuel Bourne (1834-1912) arrived in India. He had left his job as a Nottingham bank clerk in order to develop a new career as a photographer. Bourne undertook three treks to Kashmir and the western Himalayas in 1863, 1864 and 1866, during which he photographed his surroundings extensively. His first trip began in July 1863 following a well-established route going east from Simla, towards the India-Tibet border, and into the Sutlej Valley below the Himalayan mountains.\r\n\r\nThroughout his travels Bourne wrote about his first impressions of the places he visited and these writings were published in the British Journal of Photography. Of the Sutlej River, he noted: “I decided to leave them for a time and explore the banks of the Sutlej. I crossed the river by a jhula bridge – one of those singular inventions which belongs to the natives of India. It consists of six or seven ropes stretched across the river, along which slides a sort of rope chair, in which you place yourself, and are then pulled across from the opposite side… The Sutlej here flows either through one of those natural channels which nature seems to have provided for the course of great river, or in the lapse of ages – who shall say how many – it has worn for itself a remarkable passage through these giant hills. It is here almost a misnomer to speak of the “banks” of the Sutlej, since while the mountains do occasionally slope down more or less gradually to the river, it is far more common to find these rocks rising perpendicularly from the water’s edge. In some places these precipitous walls are so stupendous as to stagger both the sense and imagination.\n...With scenery like this it is very difficult to deal with the camera: it is altogether too gigantic and stupendous to be brought within the limits imposed on photography. …But where the cliffs do not rise more than a hundred feet, with the river rolling between them, they form admirable subjects for the camera, having generally fine mountain background. The grand difficulty I had to contend with was to find a standing place for tent and camera, and also to get sufficiently near the river to bring the river in the foreground, since these grand mountain gorges lose half their effect if not taken from below and as near as possible to the water’s edge.” Bourne, S, Ten Weeks with the Camera in the Himalayas, The British Journal of Photography, 1 February 1864, pp.50-51\n\r\nTowards the end of the 1860s, Bourne established a partnership with fellow photographer and Englishman Charles Shepherd (fl. 1858-1878) and in the space of a few years Bourne & Shepherd became the pre-eminent photographic firm in India. By the end of 1870 they had three branches, in Simla, Calcutta and Bombay.\r\n\r\nSamuel Bourne’s ability to combine technical skill and artistic vision has led to him being recognised today as one of the most outstanding photographers working in India in the nineteenth century.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Photograph showing a river running through very steep, rocky hillsides. A fence marks a path near to the bottom of the left hillside.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Bourne, Samuel","id":"A8171"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"wet collodion process","id":"AAT133299"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Albumen print from wet collodion negative","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2017KC4842"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES403840"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"India","id":"x29790"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1863","earliest":"1863-01-01","latest":"1863-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"29.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"photograph","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"23.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"photograph","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"33","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"mount","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"26.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"mount","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Signature and negative number in bottom left corner","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"This photograph was initially part of the photographic collection held in the National Art Library. The markings on the mount are an indication of the history of the object, its movement through the museum and the way it is categorised. The mount is white. Bottom Left: Label from Bourne catalogue with some handwritten text.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph, 'The Sutlej, at Wangtu', albumen print, Samuel Bourne, India, 1860s","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"The negative was made in 1863. This print was made before March 1867.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"India","id":"x29790"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["52886"],"accessionNumberNum":"52886","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Negative number","id":"THES50273"},"number":"318"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-02","recordCreationDate":"2017-01-06","availableToBook":true}}