John Thomson: his life, photography and photobooks

This talk commemorates the centenary of the death of John Thomson FRGS (1837-1921), a member of the RPS from 1879 and an early travel photographer working in China and Asia. The RPS and the John Thomson Commemoration Group are delighted that Richard Ovenden OBE, Bodley's Librarian for the University of Oxford, who has researched Thomson’s life in great depth will present a lecture in advance of a commemorative blue plaque being unveiled in Edinburgh. It is introduced by Betty Yao MBE.

Richard Ovenden's online lecture will consider the life, work, and contribution to photography made by John Thomson, who died a century ago this year. From his humble origins in Edinburgh, through his ground-breaking photographic work in Asia, to his pioneering contribution to social documentary photography on the streets of Victorian London, John Thomson was one of photography’s innovators.

His work was disseminated through the medium of print, and his experimentation with the medium we now call ‘the photobook’ would help drive developments in the way photography was understood and received during crucial periods in its history. Thomson’s images are widely reproduced today, but his life and work deserve wider celebration and recognition.

Richard Ovenden has been Bodley’s Librarian, the senior Executive position of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, since 2014. Prior to that he held positions at Durham University Library, the House of Lords Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the University of Edinburgh. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Society of Arts, and a Member of the American Philosophical Society.
His book John Thomson (1837-1921): photographer was published in 1997 and his most recent publication is the critically acclaimed Burning the Books (2020). He was awarded an OBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours, 2019