Original Photographs & Hand-Colored Images c. 1900

What Makes Our Editions Unique

Our collection contains thousands of historic photographs, many of them hand-colored around 1900 – a time when color in photography was a precious, labor-intensive craft.

These rare color works, often created in specialized studios, give the images extraordinary depth and presence. We restore them carefully and present them as high-quality master editions while preserving their original grain, paper structure and surface.

• Original photographs from the turn of the century (1895–1915)
• Numerous contemporary hand-colored works (c. 1900)
• Restored master editions with preserved historic texture
• Motifs from Europe, America, Asia and Oceania
• City views, harbors, streets, landscapes, travel scenes & everyday life
• Portrait and people photography, including rare studio and field portraits
• Special focus: Japan c. 1900 and the great hand-coloring ateliers of the era

Why This art Resonates

The turn of the century marks a transition:

• from rigid studio photography to vivid documentation,
• from purely black-and-white technique to dreamlike color worlds,
• from craft to visual cultural memory.

Hand-coloring around 1900 was never mass production. Each image was an individual act of interpretation: colorists had to understand light, fabrics, skin tones, religious robes, architecture and atmosphere.

Today, these works are rare – and sought after by collectors, museums and photography enthusiasts worldwide.

A Growing Archive – With a Focus on Japan

The archive of 1899art grows continuously. Alongside European and American city views, we maintain a strong focus on hand-colored Japanese photography c. 1900:

• Studio and landscape works in the tradition of major ateliers of Yokohama and Tokyo
• Temple scenes, street life, portraits of monks, samurai descendants, merchants, artisans and travelling entertainers
• Architectural views, ports, bridges, mountain passes and coastal landscapes
• Fine hand-coloring on albumen prints, collotypes and glass slides

Key Japanese studios & photographers represented or referenced in our focus:

• Kusakabe Kimbei (Kimbei Kusakabe)
• Tamamura Kozaburo
• T. Enami (Tamotsu Enami)

  Explore the T-Enami Archive →

  This archive is a historical mirror of the former website www.t-enami.org, which is no longer available online. The original author, Rob Oechsle (Okinawa Soba), explicitly encouraged the copying, sharing, and preservation of his texts and documentation for research and educational purposes. This archival version exists solely to safeguard the work of T. Enami and to prevent the loss of valuable historical material as parts of the original site and its images have already disappeared from the public web. All intellectual credit remains with Rob Oechsle. Where possible, missing or broken elements from the Wayback Machine version are restored or linked to their surviving sources on Flickr.

• Ogawa Kazumasa (Kazumasa Ogawa)
• Adolfo Farsari
• Ueno Hikoma
• Uchida Kuichi
• Stillfried & Andersen (Raimund von Stillfried and Hermann Andersen)
• Felice Beato and related Yokohama school photographers

Coming soon:

• Limited fine-art print editions
• Gallery formats up to 120 × 120 cm
• Curated collector’s boxes
• Digital archives and study editions for researchers & institutions

Contact & Channels