woensdag 10 september 2008

Batavia in Nineteenth Century Photographs Scott Merrillees Dutch East Indies Photography

Batavia in Nineteenth Century Photographs by Scott Merrillees

This beautifully illustrated book focuses on the topographical photography of Batavia in the late 19th century. Containing more than 150 old photographs of great historical value, maps and anecdotes about the buildings captured in these images, the book takes us on a nostalgic journey back to the 19th century.This beautifully illustrated book focuses on the topographical photography of Batavia in the late 19th century. Containing more than 150 old photographs of great historical value, maps and anecdotes about the buildings captured in these images, the book takes us on a nostalgic journey back to the 19th century.The book, the result of eight years of research, shows us glimpses of people, the state of technological development, the thriving economic life, the social setting, and then landscape and aura of the place now known as Jakarta. This book features a great many archival images that have never been published before.The appendices contain articles and illustrations on the photographers of 19th-century Batavia, mainly Woodbury and Page, J. A. Meessen and the Netherlands Topographical Bureau, as well as notes on the text and a bibliography. Large format, richly illustrated in colour.

The Prentenkabinet / Study and Documentation Centre for Photography (SDCF), University Library of Leiden, The Netherlands.
Self-description: "Soon after the invention of photography in 1839, a number of photographers set out for the remote colony of the Dutch Indies. Commissioned by the Dutch government and various historical societies, they documented the Indonesian treasures photographically. These pioneer photographers didn't have the best of luck. The damp, warm climate and their customers' high expectations frequently led to disappointments. Javanese temples and other antiquities were photographed by the photographers Schaefer, Cephas and Van Kinsbergen. The photographer Kleingrothe devoted special attention to tropical agriculture. Lastly, Nieuwenhuis concentrated on the indigenous population, showing the various different aspects of their culture.

The collection contains 4500 photographs pertaining to the former Dutch Indies in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Professional photographers took pictures of a huge variety of subjects. The many travel and family albums tell mostly of "tempo dulu", the high days of colonialism. Worth mentioning is the album published on the occasion of the International Colonial Exhibition in Paris in 1931."

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