Fruitsellers

c. 1880

Fruitsellers, c. 1880. Scowen & Co. (British, active Ceylon, 1876–1895). Albumen print from glass plate negative; image: 20 x 27.2 cm (7 7/8 x 10 11/16 in.); paper: 20 x 27.2 cm (7 7/8 x 10 11/16 in.); mounted: 23.1 x 30.3 cm (9 1/8 x 11 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer 2018.40 Occupational scenes like Fruitsellers were popular subjects in 19th-century colonial photography. Like this image of fruit sellers in colonial Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), such images provided armchair travelers with insight into local life and customs, as seen through European eyes.