![[Album of 226 albumen silver prints of Japan], by Raimund von Stillfried](https://cache.getarchive.net/Prod/thumb/cdn2/L3Bob3RvLzIwMTcvMDUvMjIvYWxidW0tb2YtMjI2LWFsYnVtZW4tc2lsdmVyLXByaW50cy1vZi1qYXBhbi02YzMyOGQtMTAyNC5qcGc%3D/320/415/jpg "[Album of 226 albumen silver prints of Japan], by Raimund von Stillfried")
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![Hara, from the series "Fifty-three Stations [of the Tokaido] (Gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Figure Tokaido (Jinbutsu Tokaido)](https://cache.getarchive.net/Prod/thumb/cdn2/L3Bob3RvLzE4NTIvMTIvMzEvaGFyYS1mcm9tLXRoZS1zZXJpZXMtZmlmdHktdGhyZWUtc3RhdGlvbnMtb2YtdGhlLXRva2FpZG8tZ29qdXNhbi10c3VnaS1hbHNvLTA4OGEwMC02NDAuanBn/40/56/webp "Hara, from the series \"Fifty-three Stations [of the Tokaido] (Gojusan tsugi),\" also known as the Figure Tokaido (Jinbutsu Tokaido)")
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[Album of 226 albumen silver prints of Japan], by Raimund von Stillfried
Summary
Kusakabe Kimbei (Japanese, 1841–1934)
The albumen silver print is a photographic printing process that was widely used in the 19th century. It involves coating paper support with a mixture of egg whites and salt, which creates a glossy surface to hold light-sensitive silver salts. The paper is then sensitized in a solution of silver nitrate, and exposed in a camera or under a negative. After exposure, the print is developed in a solution of gallic acid and silver nitrate, which reduces the silver salts to metallic silver and creates the final image. The albumen print process was widely used for commercial and fine art photography in the 19th century and produced high-quality, detailed images with a distinctive glossy finish.
Kusakabe Kimbei was a prominent Japanese photographer, born in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1841. He worked as an apprentice in a photographic studio before opening his own studio in Yokohama in the early 1870s. His studio specialised in producing hand-coloured photographs of Japanese landscapes, people and customs, which were popular with foreign tourists and collectors. Kimbei's work is notable for its technical skill and artistic composition, as well as its documentation of Japanese culture during a period of rapid modernisation and westernisation. He also collaborated with other photographers, including Felice Beato and Baron Raimund von Stillfried, to produce albums and photo series. Kimbei's photographs were exhibited internationally, including at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He continued to work as a photographer until his death in 1934 at the age of 93. Today, his photographs are highly sought after by collectors and are held in major museum collections around the world.
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