Vue de la Ville Chinoise (Cholen) Feuille No. 6, Saïgon, Cochinchine

Art Historical Context

**Vue de la Ville Chise (Cholen) Feuille No. 6, Saïgon, Cochinchine** (1866) by Émile Gsell captures a bustling riverside scene in Cholon, the vibrant Chinese quarter of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in French Cochinchina. This albumen silver print from a glass negative showcases tightly packed houses lining the river, dotted with boats that hint at the area's thriving trade and multicultural energy. Gsell, a French photographer stationed in Indochina, documented colonial life with remarkable clarity, making this part of a numbered series ("Feuille No. 6") a rare visual record of 19th-century urban Vietnam. Created just as French influence solidified in Southeast Asia, the photograph reflects the era's colonial gaze, preserving the architectural fusion of Chinese shophouses and watery waterways central to Cholon's identity as a commercial hub. Gsell's work helped shape European perceptions of "exotic" Asia through exhibitions and albums. The albumen process, using egg whites to bind light-sensitive silver salts, yields the print's sharp details and warm tones—hallmarks of mid-19th-century photography. At 23.8 x 31.2 cm, this intimate yet evocative image from The Met's Gilman Collection invites visitors to ponder the intersections of culture, commerce, and empire. (198 words)

About the Artist

Emile Gsell · 1838–1879

Emile Gsell (1838–1879) was a French photographer who became one of the earliest Western photographers to document Southeast Asia, particularly the ancient temples of Angkor in Cambodia. Born in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace, France, Gsell traveled to Indochina in the 1860s, establishing a photographic studio in Saigon (present-day Ho Chi Minh City) that became a base for his documentary expedi...