Vendor with a barrow in an unknown city 1904

Here’s a small photograph, probably made by James Higson, of a vendor with a barrow, sometime around the turn of the last century. What strikes me about this image is its beautiful, sepia-toned palette, so evocative of that era. It’s almost as if the world itself was once rendered in shades of brown. And then there’s the composition—the way the vendor and his barrow are framed by the buildings, the children clamoring for his attention, and a figure in the foreground that obscures the view. It feels candid, capturing a fleeting moment in the life of this unknown city. It makes me think of Eugène Atget, who documented the streets of Paris with a similar sense of curiosity and detachment. This image is not just a record of the past, but a reminder of the ongoing dialogue between art and life. It reminds me that art is not about fixed meanings, but about inviting us to see the world in new and unexpected ways.