Object details
Object number
v.1.a.4.7
Creator(s)
Isabella Stewart Gardner
(New York, 1840 - 1924, Boston)
Title
Travel Album: China and Japan, Volume II
Date
1883
Medium
Bound album including collected photographs, found papers, pressed botanicals, and pen and ink annotations
Dimensions
31.8 x 26.2 x 4.6 cm (12 1/2 x 10 5/16 x 1 13/16 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Inscribed in ink in Isabella Stewart Gardner's hand on the second page: I.S. Gardner - / 1883. August 8. / Japan - / Vol. II
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept records of her worldwide travels in the form of albums. In 1883, Isabella and Jack Gardner were among a select group of wealthy global travelers who were able to take advantage of relaxed political restrictions and improved travel infrastructure early in the modern history of tourism to Japan. The tourism market for photography was already well-established and Isabella purchased nearly two hundred individual photographs from commercial photography studios and other vendors during her visit. She arranged them in this album to chronicle places she visited.
Bibliography
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 152-191, ill.
Stacy Perman. "Diary of a Somebody". Patek Philippe (Vol. 3, no. 12, 2015), pp. 44-49, ill.
Isabella Veeramani and Diana Seave Greenwald, "Isabella in China," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 19 May 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/isabella-china
Nathaniel Silver and Diana Seave Greenwald. Isabella Stewart Gardner: A Life (Boston, 2022), p.45-47, fig 19.
David Odo. "Deceptive Intimacy: Isabella Stewart Gardner's 1883 Japan Travel Albums" in Diana Seave Greenwald and Casey Riley (ed.). Fellow Wanderer: Isabella Stewart Gardner's Travel Albums. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2023), pp.161-177, figs. 5, 10. Diana Seave Greenwald and Casey Riley (ed.). Fellow Wanderer: Isabella Stewart Gardner's Travel Albums. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2023), pp. 160, 186-189, 208, plates 41-42, no. 8.
David Odo, "Deceptive Intimacy: Isabella Stewart Gardner’s 1883 Japan Travel Albums," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 21 March 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/deceptive-intimacy-isabella-stewart-gardners-1883-japan-travel-albums
Gallery
Vatichino
Rights and reproductions
The use of images, text, and all other media found on this website is limited. Please review Rights and Reproductions for details.
