Street Life in London by John Thomson is an influential photography project that combines visual storytelling with social commentary, capturing the complex realities of urban poverty in Victorian London. This series comprises 36 photographs, each accompanied by a vignette that delves into the lives of the city’s marginalized communities. Although it was later published as a book in collaboration with journalist Adolphe Smith, the project itself was conceived as a visual exploration of social documentation.
Emerging from a time when industrialization had deepened class divides, the project sought to highlight the harsh realities faced by London’s lower classes. Inspired by Henry Mayhew’s earlier work London Labour and the London Poor, Thomson advanced the conversation on poverty by integrating the evidentiary power of photography. This work was a response to the social inequalities of the era and aimed to foster empathy and action among the more affluent Victorians.
At its core, Street Life in London explores themes of survival, resilience, and urban hardship. The project delves into the lives of flower sellers, street performers, cab drivers, and itinerant workers, offering a dignified portrayal of individuals often marginalized in society. By focusing on specific characters and their stories, the work connects viewers with the humanity behind the statistics of urban poverty.
Thomson's photographs are remarkable for their compositional clarity and attention to environmental context, achieved through the use of a large-format camera and glass plate negatives, often under challenging conditions in crowded streets. The choice of the Woodburytype printing process enhanced the visual detail and tonal quality of the images, creating lifelike representations. His use of natural light and environmental settings ties the subjects to their surroundings, reinforcing the narrative of their lived experiences. These photographs are deeply empathetic yet measured, allowing the visual language to communicate the resilience and humanity of the subjects.
Issued in twelve monthly parts (1877–78) and then as a book (1878), Street Life in London has been regularly revisited in museum displays on social documentary and the photobook—particularly at the Museum of London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and MoMA. Substantial holdings at the V&A, Museum of London, MoMA, and the LSE Digital Library (with a full digital edition) support teaching and research, while focused presentations and loans have kept emblematic plates—such as "The Crawlers" and "The Temperance Sweep"—in circulation.
