Twee vrouwen op een brug over een vijver te Japan before 1892

William Kinnimond Burton made this photograph of two women on a bridge over a pond in Japan. Though undated, it likely comes from the late nineteenth century. Burton was a British engineer and photographer who spent much of his career in Japan. The image presents an interesting case study of how cultural exchange operated through the relatively new medium of photography. Burton’s photographs were inflected by his understanding of European aesthetic conventions and his interest in Japanese culture. We might ask, what aspects of Japanese life did Burton choose to document, and how did he frame them for a Western audience? To understand this image more fully, we could consult Burton’s personal papers, travelogues of the period, and studies of Japanese social history. This image serves as a reminder that the meaning of art is always shaped by the cultural and institutional context in which it is created and viewed.