Poor Jo

One of Rejlander’s best-known photographs, Night in Town became known as Poor Jo after a street-sweeper in Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House (1852–53). Apparently a re-enactment of a scene the artist had witnessed on the streets of London, the photograph was staged in his studio. He made several versions of the photograph and paired it with the study Day in Town of another so-called street urchin.