About this artwork
Ghostly figures flit through the streets but are not quite solid. Trousers and shirts hang empty, their usual occupants absent. Thomas Annan was working in the dark and damp warren of streets in the east end of Glasgow. To trap enough light to make an image, he needed to expose the glass negative for several minutes – enough time for people to dash past and for washing to move in the breeze.
Updated October 2023
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artist:Thomas Annan (1829 - 1887) Scottish
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title:Close No. 101 High Street, Glasgow
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date created:1868 - 1871
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materials:Albumen print
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measurements:28.40 x 22.50 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1986
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accession number:PGP 185.10
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gallery:
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subject:
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Thomas Annan
Thomas Annan
Having begun his career as a lithographic writer and engraver on a local newspaper in Fife, Thomas Annan set up a studio as a professional photographer in 1855. He founded his own photographic printing works in Hamilton in 1859 and by 1862 had begun to establish a reputation for photographing works...