Gezicht op de berg Fuji te Japan before 1892

This is an image of Mount Fuji in Japan by William Kinnimond Burton. We don't know the precise date of the work, but it would have been made sometime in the late 19th century. The image is fascinating because it reflects a moment of cultural exchange and the emergence of new aesthetic perspectives. Burton was a Scottish engineer and photographer who spent several years in Japan, documenting the country's landscape and culture. His photographs, like this one, offer a Western gaze upon a landscape that was already deeply embedded in Japanese art and spirituality. Fuji, of course, has a long and rich history in Japanese art, particularly in ukiyo-e prints. Burton’s photograph presents a different kind of vision, one that is shaped by the conventions of European landscape photography. To fully understand the significance of this image, we might look at Japanese art history and the history of Western photography in Japan. In doing so, we learn about the way in which cultural encounters shape artistic production.