名称: The Bride and Groom/新郎和新娘
类别: Glass Slides/玻璃底片
日期: 1930s
尺寸: 9x11cm



名称: Official/官员 
类别: Albumen Print/蛋清照片
日期: 1930s
尺寸: 20x26cm



名称: Official/官员 
类别:  Glass Slides/玻璃底片
日期: 1930s
尺寸: 20x26cm


William Saunders (1832-1892), a British photographer, was an important figure active in Shanghai. From 1863 to 1887, he operated the Sutter Studio (“森泰”照相馆) in Shanghai, and his photographs became invaluable visual records of Chinese society at the time, exerting far-reaching influence. On March 7, 1863, the first Chinese-language newspaper in Shanghai, Shanghai Xinbao (《上海新报》), published an advertisement for Sutter Studio, which read in essence: “Our studio produces high-quality small portraits, available daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at very reasonable prices. Those interested are welcome to visit the studio.”

威廉·桑德斯（William Saunders，1832-1892），英国摄影师，是19世纪活跃在上海的重要影像人物。他于1863年至1887年间在上海创办并经营“森泰”照相馆，其作品成为当时中国社会宝贵的影像记录，影响深远。1863年3月7日，上海第一份中文报纸《上海新报》刊登了森泰像馆的广告，明确标注“本馆印照上等小像，上午十点至下午三点，价钱甚为公道，如有意照相者，请至本馆也可”，可见其业务颇具规模。 

In 1888, Saunders left Shanghai and returned to Britain, where he died in 1892. Before leaving China, he sold most of the negatives and a number of prints from his studio to other Chinese photographers. Consequently, it is not surprising that some of his negatives were later reprinted and circulated in the market without his signature or the copyright mark of Sutter Studio.  

From the surviving works, it is evident that Saunders preferred to design his own scenes, hire models, and carefully stage compositions that reflected Chinese traditional culture and customs. His subjects included court scenes, prisoners, opium smoking, food stalls, sedan chair carriers, and horse-drawn carriages. His works demonstrate ingenious design, refined composition, and precise photographic language, reaching a remarkably high aesthetic standard. As a result, his photographs were highly sought after at the time. They were published in periodicals such as Far East, Illustrated London News, and American magazines, and many were also reproduced as engravings for circulation in Western countries.   

Beyond their documentary value, Saunders’s photographs possess distinct artistic merit. He combined the precision of photography with the sensibility of pictorial staging, creating images that were not only ethnographic records but also works of visual art. His ability to orchestrate light, gesture, and setting gave his images a dramatic and painterly quality, elevating them above ordinary studio portraits. This unique aesthetic places Saunders among the pioneers of 19th-century cross-cultural visual representation. Today, his works are held in major museum collections worldwide, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Royal Photographic Society. These institutions preserve his photographs as vital testimonies of Sino-Western cultural encounters, as well as exemplars of early artistic photography in China. Saunders’s oeuvre continues to be studied for its blend of artistry, historical significance, and its role in shaping Western perceptions of China in the late Qing dynasty. 

1888年，桑德斯离开上海回到英国，1892年去世。在离开之前，他将大量底片及部分照片转售给国内摄影同行，因此后世在市场上见到由他拍摄却未署名或未标注森泰照相馆版权的影像并不罕见。从其存世作品来看，桑德斯善于自设场景、雇用模特，拍摄了许多展现中国传统文化与民俗的题材，如法堂、囚犯、吸食鸦片、小食摊、轿夫、马车等。这些作品构思巧妙、构图精美，摄影语言精准，充分体现出高度的审美追求，因此在当时颇为畅销，并被刊载于《远东》《伦敦新闻画报》及美国期刊，部分还以版画形式在西方广泛传播。  

除历史记录价值外，桑德斯的作品亦具有鲜明的艺术价值。他将摄影的写实性与绘画化的场景布置相结合，使作品既是视觉文献，又是富有审美意味的艺术创作。其对光线、姿态与场景的把控赋予照片以戏剧性和绘画感，使其超越一般影楼肖像，成为19世纪跨文化影像的重要范例。如今，桑德斯的摄影作品被世界多家重要机构收藏，包括美国保罗·盖蒂博物馆、大都会艺术博物馆、伦敦维多利亚与艾尔伯特博物馆以及英国皇家摄影学会等。这些馆藏不仅见证了中西文化交流的重要瞬间，也确立了桑德斯作为早期艺术摄影先驱的地位。>>返回>>