晚清中國老照片 連起歷史與現實
Thomas Child, a British engineer, traveled to China in 1870 for work but was so entranced by the scenery and culture that he stayed for nearly two decades.
1870年，英國工程師托馬斯•蔡爾德(Thomas Child)到中國工作，但是被那裏的風光和文化迷住了，待了近20年。
He imported cameras to set up a sideline business as a portrait and landscape photographer, and his works were published in magazines and books.
他進口了一些相機，幹起肖像和風景攝影師的副業，他的作品發表在雜誌和圖書上。
He also marketed them to tourists and dignitaries.
他還把它們推廣給遊客和達官要人。
The accompanying texts were a mix of admiration and condescension for traditions that Westerners of the time considered primitive.
配圖文字交織着對中國傳統的仰慕和屈尊俯就——當時的西方人認爲有些傳統很野蠻。
The Stephan Loewentheil Historical Photography of China Collection, which belongs to photo dealers in Brooklyn, has reunited hundreds of Mr Child’s works and traced the descendants of people who posed for him.
斯蒂芬•洛文希爾中國歷史攝影收藏公司(Stephan Loewentheil Historical Photography of China Collection)是布魯克林的幾個照片交易商辦的。
An exhibition of part of the Loewentheil holdings, Qing Dynasty Peking: Thomas Child’s Photographs, opens Friday at the Sidney Mishkin Gallery at Baruch College in Manhattan.
它收集了成百上千件蔡爾德的作品，追蹤採訪了一些拍攝對象的後裔。週五，展示洛文希爾部分收藏的展覽《清代北京：托馬斯•蔡爾德的照片》(Qing Dynasty Peking: Thomas Child’s Photographs)在曼哈頓巴魯克學院(Baruch College)的西德尼•米什金畫廊(Sidney Mishkin Gallery)開幕。
Stephan and Jacob Loewentheil, a father-and-son team, own about 15,000 photographs of China taken before the 1910s.
斯蒂芬和雅各布•洛文希爾(Stephan and Jacob Loewentheil)這對父子組合擁有約1.5萬張在1910年之前的中國拍攝的照片。
The show’s curator, Stacey Lambrow, and Jacob Loewentheil are writing a book about Mr Child.
該展覽的策展人斯泰西•蘭姆布羅(Stacey Lambrow)和雅各布•洛文希爾正在寫一本關於蔡爾德的書。
(It is partly based on Mr Child’s diaries, which were preserved by Terry Bennett, a British historian who has long specialized in photos of 19th-century China.)
（它部分基於蔡爾德的日記，這些日記由英國史學家特里•貝內特[Terry Bennett]保管，他長期致力於研究19世紀中國的照片。）
Mr Child, a Shropshire native, left England at 29, leaving behind his wife, Ellen, and three children, though they eventually joined him.
蔡爾德來自什羅普郡，離開英格蘭的時候爲29歲，留下了妻子埃倫(Ellen)和三個孩子，不過他們後來還是跟他團聚了。
His assignment was to inspect gasworks for a government agency at a time of conflict between the Chinese and foreign powers.
在中國與外國列強衝突不斷之際，他的任務是爲一家政府機構檢查煤氣廠。
It is not known how he trained as a photographer.
他如何學會攝影則不得而之。
In China, the technology was so unfamiliar that people gathered when he took pictures.
在中國，這項技術當時相當罕見，當他拍照的時候會有人圍上來。
Mr Child photographed the Great Wall as well as pagodas, temples, bridges, crowded harbors, roadsides lined with stone sculptures and humble storefronts.
蔡爾德既拍過長城，也拍過高塔廟宇、橋樑、擁擠的港口、佈滿石像與簡陋店面的街邊。
He documented the practice of dismantling palace walls damaged by decay or war and recycling the stones for other construction.
他記錄下了宮牆因風化或戰爭分崩離析，而其中的石塊繼而用於其他建築的做法。
In his captions, letters and journals he complained about dirty streets, insects and rat infestations.
在他撰寫的圖片解說、信函與日記裏，他抱怨街道骯髒、蟲鼠成災。
He gently mocked local superstitions, the sound of temple bells that rang in harmonious discord and funeral rituals that excel in pomp and expenditure.
他還略開玩笑地談起當地人的迷信行爲、廟裏傳來的和諧的不和諧鐘聲，以及長於排場與花銷的葬禮。
He photographed peddlers, beggars, religious leaders, and a young aristocratic bride and groom named Zeng Ji Fen and Nie Ji Gui on their wedding day.
他拍過小販、乞丐、宗教領袖，還在曾紀芬與聶緝槼結婚那天拍下了這對年輕的貴族新娘和新郎。
Raymond Watt, a descendant of that couple, is a retiree living in Queens.
二人的後代雷蒙德•瓦特(Raymond Watt)如今生活在紐約皇后區，退了休。
He said in an interview that he did not know the photo existed until the Loewentheils showed it last year in London.
他接受採訪時稱，直到洛文希爾父子去年在倫敦展出這張照片時，他才知道了它的存在。
He is scheduled to attend the exhibition opening and meet some of Mr Child’s descendants.
他計劃出席這次展覽的開幕式，並與蔡爾德的後人見面。
With the portrait, Mr Watt said, we get back the memory and refresh the history.
通過這幅人物照，瓦特表示，我們找到了回憶，更新了歷史。
In 1889, Mr Child returned to England.
到了1889年，蔡爾德返回英格蘭。
He remained infatuated with China, and he gave his family home at the outskirts of London a Chinese name that has been roughly translated as Studio of Everlasting Tranquillity.
他依然癡迷於中國，給倫敦郊外的自家房屋起了一箇中文名叫永寧居。
He was killed in 1898 when his horse-drawn carriage overturned.
他在1898年死於馬車傾覆事故。
His family kept some of his paperwork, but few other records survive.
他的家人保存了他的一些文字檔案，但沒有多少其他記錄留了下來。
His photos sometimes turn up unlabeled at auctions; properly attributed, they can sell for thousands of dollars.
他拍的照片有時會無名地出現在拍賣會上；如果有了正確署名，便能賣出數千美元。
They have also ended up in institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.; and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
它們還出現在藝術機構中，包括大都會藝術博物館(Metropolitan Museum of Art)、馬薩諸塞州塞勒姆的皮博迪艾塞克斯博物館(Peabody Essex Museum)及洛杉磯的蓋蒂博物館(Getty Museum)。
Collections of early photos of China at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M.
史密森尼學會(Smithsonian Institution)設在華盛頓的弗瑞爾藝廊(Freer Gallery of Art)與賽克勒畫廊(Arthur M.
Sackler Gallery in Washington will be covered in a book due out early next year, Painting With Light: Photography at the Freer/Sackler.
Sackler Gallery)收藏的中國早期照片將集結到一本名爲《光之畫作：弗瑞爾-賽克勒攝影集》(Painting With Light: Photography at the Freer/Sackler)的著作中，定於明年初問世。
David Hogge, one of the authors, said the photos are treasured partly as documentation of buildings and artworks that were later destroyed by looters or warfare, or taken to American or European museums.
作者之一霍大爲(David Hogge)表示，這批照片頗爲珍貴，一部分原因是它們記錄的一些建築與藝術品後來因掠奪或戰爭而遭到損毀，或者是被帶去了美歐的博物館。
The art historian Roberta Wue, who is an editor of a coming book about early photographs from China and Japan, said scholarship in the field has burgeoned in recent years despite the widespread destruction of archives in China.
藝術史學者伍美華(Roberta Wue)在編輯一本有關中國與日本早期照片的書，即將出版。她表示，儘管在中國的檔案遭到普遍破壞，但該領域的學術研究近年來呈爆炸之勢。
Evidence has surfaced that Chinese photographers quickly adapted the equipment brought in by Westerners, and that their clients, including prostitutes, began commissioning photos of themselves as advertisements.
有證據顯示，當時的中國攝影師很快學會了西方人帶來的設備，而包括娼妓在內的顧客開始委託他們拍攝照片來做廣告。
The Loewentheils have been building their collection partly through auctions.
洛文希爾父子一直在通過拍賣會來擴充收藏。
In 2014, at Cordier Auctions & Appraisals in Harrisburg, Pa., they paid about $500,000 for an album of China images from 1860 by the Italian-born photographer Felice Beato.
在賓夕法尼亞州哈里斯堡的科迪爾拍賣與評估行(Cordier Auctions & Appraisals)於2014年舉行的拍賣會上，他們花了大約50萬美元拍下意大利出生的攝影師費利切•貝亞託(Felice Beato)於1860年拍下的一本中國影集。
In November, at the China Exchange in London, the Loewentheils will exhibit hand-tinted 19th-century photos of Shanghai by William Saunders, a British engineer.
今年11月，在倫敦的中國站(China Exchange)，洛文希爾父子將展出英國工程師威廉•桑德斯(William Saunders)拍攝的19世紀上海的手工上色照片。
Stephan Loewentheil wrote in an email that his family’s holdings are still growing and are not for sale.
斯蒂芬•洛文希爾在電子郵件中表示，他們家族的收藏還在不斷擴充，不會出售。
I hope to place my collection into a worthy location intact, he wrote.
我希望把自己的收藏完好無損地放到一個好地方，信中寫道。
