1898 Large Format Panoramic Bird's Eye View of Saigon, Vietnam

The only known example of what can only be the largest and most spectacular panoramic bird's-eye view of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) ever produced. Drafted by Gaston Pusch and published in Saigon by Claude et Cie., this c. 1898 view was printed using a sophisticated multi-color chromolithograph process - a testament to the intellectual and industrial prosperity of Saigon at the height of French imperial rule. The perspective Bird's-eye view looks on Saigon from a high point to the east of the city just across the bustling Saigon River. The view celebrates the massive and all-encompassing rebuilding of Saigon on a grand scale in the late 19th century, reveling lively city full of imposing colonial buildings, sprawling formal gardens, and grand tree-lined boulevards.

French Cochinchina

French forces captured Saigon for the Emperor Napoleon III in 1859 and the territory formally ceded to France in 1862 by the Vietnamese emperor Tự Đức. It the same year it was made capital of French Cochinchina or South Vietnam, a large colony central to French colonial ambitions in Asia. In 1887, it became the capital of the greater the Union of French Indochina. Unlike most French Colonial cities, Saigon was French administered both de jure and de facto. The French lavished wealth on their new city. As the capital of Cochinchina, Saigon was transformed into a major port city and a metropolitan center, with beautiful villas, imposing public buildings, railroad infrastructure, and well-paved, tree-lined boulevards. By the late 19th century, Saigon was the principal port for rice and other goods from the Mekong Delta. In 1902, the capital of the Incochinese Union was moved to Hanoi.

Chromolithography

Chromolithography is a color lithographic technique developed in the mid-19th century. The process involved using multiple lithographic stones, one for each color, to yield a rich composite effect. Oftentimes, the process would start with a black basecoat upon which subsequent colors were layered. Some chromolithographs used 30 or more separate lithographic stones to achieve the desired effect. Chromolithograph color could also be effectively blended for even more dramatic effects. The process became extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it emerged as the dominate method of color printing. The vivid color chromolithography produced made it exceptionally effective for advertising and propaganda imagery.

Publication History and Census

This view was drafted by Gaston Pusch and published by the Saigon firm of Claude et Cie. The view was printed by chromolithograph in Saigon, or Ho Chi Min City, when it was the capital of French Cochinchina (South Vietnam). This view is exceedingly rare with no other surviving examples known.