The images Genthe took of San Francisco’s Chinatown are the only known photographs of the historic neighborhood from before the devastating 1906 earthquake. Although an invaluable record, Genthe’s documentation reflects an outsider’s view of the segregated community, during a period when people of Chinese descent were the target of rampant, often violent discrimination and were legally barred from obtaining US citizenship. Genthe covertly photographed many of his subjects using a small portable camera. He sometimes cropped his images to remove evidence of Western culture, such as signs in English, emphasizing stereotypical attributes imposed on the neighborhood and its inhabitants.
2024
Explore more
Diaspora
Can refer to the movement or dispersal of a group of people with a shared identity or homeland from one place to another, or to the group of people itself.
Learn more →
From MoMA Design Store
Licensing
Artwork or archival images
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
Audio and film clips
MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.
Text from a publication or the archives
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.