Emil Schulthess (1913-1996) - Straßenszene, China

Original photo by the Swiss photographer Emil Schulthess (1913–1996), approximately 23.5 × 15 cm, stamped on the back with name and contact information from Zurich.

The image shows a street scene in a Chinese district from the 1960s, probably in one of the historic cities such as Soochow (Suzhou) or Harbin, photographed by Schulthess on his travels.

Emil Schulthess undertook two trips to China in 1964 and 1965, from which a total of about 4,000 photographs were created for his photo book about the country. His book with these images was published in 1966, which reliably dates the period of his photographic activity.

Emil Schulthess (1913–1996) was a Swiss photographer and designer who is regarded as a master of postwar photography. He studied graphic design and photography under Hans Finsler at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich and deepened his training in Paris. Schulthess traveled worldwide and documented landscapes, cultures, and extraordinary light moods in groundbreaking image books. His work is characterized by precise composition, technical innovations such as 360° panoramas, and a poetic visual language. For his photography he was awarded several times, including the U.S. Camera Award (1951) and the Culture Prize of the German Society for Photography (1964). Schulthess continues to shape the visual memory of Swiss and international photography to this day, and his works are presented in institutions such as the Fotostiftung Schweiz.