Emile Gsell

Vintage: Portraits of Vietnamese People by Émile Gsell (1880s)

Vintage: Portraits of Vietnamese People by Émile Gsell (1880s)

Émile Gsell was born in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, Haut-Rhin, France on 31 December 1838. He served in the military from 1858 to 1866, during which time he learned photography and travelled to Cochin China (now Southern Vietnam). In Cochin China, Gsell was hired by the Commission d’exploration du Mékong, directed by Ernest Doudart de Lagrée (b. 1823 – d. 1868), to photograph…
Biography: Portrait photographer Emile Gsell

Biography: Portrait photographer Emile Gsell

Emile Gsell (1838 – 1879) was a French photographer who worked in Southeast Asia, becoming the first commercial photographer based in Saigon. He participated in at least three scientific expeditions, and the images he produced from the first, to Angkor, are amongst the earliest photographs of that site. Though he died at an early age he managed to make several…