Street Advertising

1876–77

Street Life in London: Street Advertising, 1876–77. John Thomson (British, 1837–1921). Woodburytype; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Sharon & Del Zogg in honor of Wendy Watriss and Frederick C. Baldwin (1929-2021), co-founders of Fotofest, Houston, Texas 2022.78 The poster being pasted up by the two men in the late 1870s is an ad for Mme. Tussaud’s London, a museum of wax figures that is still in business today. The image was part of John Thomson’s publication Street Life in London, a group of essays and photographsthat was one of the first published compilations of social documentary photographs. It holds a place of honor in the histories of photography, the book, ethnology, and sociology. Mme. Tussaud’s wax museum in London was founded in 1835.