EDUCATION RESOURCE

Produced by the Education and Publishing departments of the NGA

© National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2008

Dr John Murray (Great Britain 1809 – 1898) Agra, the Taj from the East c. 1858 India calotype (paper negative) collection: David Knaus, California

Front and back cover: Thornton Pickard half-plate camera c. 1915 collection: Keith Forsey, Canberra

Unknown photographer Portrait of a European child with Indian servant c. 1850 India half-plate daguerreotype collection: Jane and Howard Ricketts, London

The daguerreotype made its public debut in Europe in 1839 and by January 1840 the technology had reached India. The daguerreotype was the first practical and commercial photographic process and was made on a light-sensitive silver-coated metal plate. Daguerreotypes were fragile, expensive to produce and exuded a magical quality.

This photograph is an ambitious image. Exposure times were over 60 seconds, so this little girl, her pony and servant, were required to stay as still as possible while the image was taken. The photograph may have been taken as a family memento before the girl returned to boarding school in England.

Felice Beato (Corfu c. 1834- after 1907) Interior of the English entrance to the North Fort on 21 August 1860 1860 China albumen silver photograph National Gallery of Australia

The 1850s saw a new photographic system with a glass negative printed onto albumen (egg white) coated paper. This advance allowed a more sharply detailed image. Felice Beato’s photographs of the Second Opium War, fought in China between Britain and China, are the first to document a military campaign as it unfolded.

The Chinese soldiers appear to have just fallen, however Beato did gather and move bodies at the scene. He was well aware of the audience in Britain where his images were used to justify the Opium Wars.

Samuel Bourne (England 1834-1912) A ‘Bit’ on the new road at Rogi, near Chini, Himalayas 1866 India albumen silver photograph National Gallery of Australia

The wet-plate process required a range of chemicals and heavy equipment to be taken into the field. Samuel Bourne was an English landscape photographer who captured the grandeur of the Himalayas for an eager audience in Europe. His journeys were arduous; crossing rivers without bridges and facing wild animals and bandits. Thirty to forty porters were needed to carry his gear.

Bourne developed compositions where strong diagonal lines and dramatic forms emphasised the striking nature of the Indian landscape. Bourne’s photographs showed armchair travellers images of places illustrated in the growing number of travel books. They also appealed to officers in the British East India Company as souvenirs of visits to the mountains during their postings in India.

Julia Margaret Cameron (India 1815- Sri Lanka 1879) Portrait of two Tamil girls, Kalutara c. 1876 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) albumen silver photograph collection: Jane and Howard Ricketts, London

Julia Cameron is one of the first great women photographers. She was born in Calcutta (Kolkata) and educated in France. She settled in England where she established a career as an art photographer in the 1860s and 70s, before returning to Ceylon to live on a plantation. She was largely self-taught after being given a camera as a gift when she was in her late forties.

Cameron’s images were created as works of art rather than as sharply focused documentary records. She liked to dress people up and pose them to illustrate poetic or biblical themes with a psychological dimension. The girls in this image are Cameron’s servants who are represented like serving girls in biblical stories. This photograph catered to a growing interest in Europe of images of the exotic East.

Francis Chit (Thailand 1830-1891) Prince Vajirunhis was escorted to the Grand Palace for his investiture as crown prince. Bangkok 14 January 1886 1886 Siam (Thailand) albumen silver photograph National Gallery of Australia

Cameras were imported into Bangkok from 1845. Francis Chit was a Thai court photographer who was exceptionally skilled at using the wet-plate negative system with albumen papers which allowed fine detail to emerge.

This photograph was important as a confirmation that the dignified court system in Thailand was equal to any royal house in Europe. Thailand was one of the few countries in Southeast Asia not to be taken over by European rule.

The high angle shows the elaborate and festive nature of this occasion and the architectural features of the city reflected in the glass-like water of the river.

Kimbei Kusakabe (Japan 1841-1934) Young Japanese couple in Western clothes 1885-95 Japan albumen silver photograph National Gallery of Australia

One of the features of photography in the Asian region was the emergence of indigenous photographers. Kimbei Kusakabe was one of the first Japanese photographers to have his own studio and become well known in the West.

This photograph of a Japanese couple may be a personal commission or a particular genre where Japanese people wore European clothes in an attempt to reflect Japan’s transformation from an insular, feudal system to a rapidly advancing society open to international influences.

Japan was the only country to specialise in hand-colouring photographs using dyes rather than over painting.

A W A Plâté & Co (established Ceylon 1890) Sinhalese man c. 1920 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) gelatin silver photograph collection: David Knaus, California

From the 1870s, major studios in Ceylon were prolific in disseminating photographic material world wide such as images of temples, the tea trade and the beauty of the local people. A W A and Clara Plâté set up their studio in 1890, which is still in operation today.

The lighting in this image is similar to a Hollywood movie still as it emphasises light and dark (chiaroscuro) to highlight parts of the sitter’s body. There has been some manipulation of the image especially on the subject’s right arm, chest and profile. Sinhalese men were considered beautiful and feminine to Europeans at the time, often wearing their hair up in a topknot they fulfilled the notion of an exotic people living in a far off land.

André Roosevelt (France 1879- Haiti 1962) Legong dancer, Bali 1928 Bali gelatin silver photograph National Gallery of Australia

Bali was rediscovered by photographers in the 1920s and 1930s due its rich local customs and dance culture. The island seemed like a paradise where art and life were inextricably linked.

The Legong dance was performed in the royal court by male and female dancers. Court dancers were trained from the age of three or four years, progressing through the ranks as their expertise developed. The dancer is Ni Pollok, aged about eleven years old.

Andre Roosevelt was also a filmmaker. The cinematic quality of this image engages the viewer as we observe, in close up, an intimate moment during the dance. The photographic process captures the sense of movement, emotion and human interest of this section of the performance.

Olive Cotton (Australia 1911-2003) The sleeper 1939 Australia gelatin silver photograph National Gallery of Australia

Olive Cotton is recognised as one of Australia’s leading twentieth-century photographers. Cotton joined the studio of Australian photographer Max Dupain in 1934 after sharing an amateur interest in photography with him in their teens. She quickly acquired technical polish, managing the studio from 1941-45 during Dupain’s war service.

Cotton’s interest in the natural world was a lifelong obsession. This image is of her friend, Olga Sharp, relaxing in the bush. The play of light and shadow highlights the abandonment of the figure and the sun-drenched vista in the background. The sleeper juxtaposes the comfort found in the Australian bush with a sense of the ominous, provided by the dark shadows and a possible link to the looming threat of World War Two.