Close, No. 139 Saltmarket
| Artist | Thomas Annan (Scottish, 1829–1887) |
|---|---|
| Title | Close, No. 139 Saltmarket |
| Series | The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow |
| Play | Plate 34 |
| Date | 1868, published 1877 |
| Medium | Carbon print |
| Dimensions | Image: 10 7/8 x 8 7/8 in. (27.6 x 22.5 cm) Mount: 20 1/16 x 15 in. (51 x 38.1 cm) |
| Credit Line | Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 85.53.5 |
| This artwork is currently off display. You may be able to see this artwork by filling out an art viewing room request. | |
This image depicts a narrow city street with old stone buildings on either side of the street. A blurred figure is partially visible at the bottom-right of the image.
This image is from a series commissioned by the City of Glasgow Improvements Trust. It was intended to document the impoverished living conditions of the working-class areas of old Glasgow. The city was in the midst of the largest population growth in its history, quadrupling in size between 1800 and 1850, and again between 1850 and 1925. Many of the new residents were immigrants from Ireland or the Highlands living in “made down houses” or tenements.
An English writer in 1844 wrote, “I have seen human degradation in some of its worst phases...but I can advisedly say, that I did not believe, until I visited the wynds of Glasgow that so large an amount of filth, crime, misery, and disease existed in one spot in any civilised country.” While Thomas Annan didn’t consider himself to be a social reformer, his naturalistic photographs of ghostly moving figures in alleyways with overflowing sewers comprise one of the most moving records of poverty produced in the nineteenth century.
Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art’s collection also includes a photogravure from this series (Eskenazi Museum of Art 78.2.6).
| Play Title | Plate 34 |
|---|---|
| Series Title | The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow |
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Close, No. 139 Saltmarket | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=85.53.5