One albumen print of Cawnpore, the Memorial Well. View from an angle with a few Indian men in the center of the photograph. Signed "Bourne 1205" in the center of the image.
Arrangement:
One folder in one flat box.
Biographical / Historical:
Samuel Bourne (1834-1912) had already begun to earn recognition for his work in England, having exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, when he decided to give up his position in a bank and depart for India to work as a professional photographer. He arrived in Calcutta early in 1863, initially setting up a partnership with William Howard. They moved up to Simla, where they established a new studio Howard & Bourne, to be joined in 1864 by Charles Shepherd, to form Howard, Bourne & Shepherd. By 1866, after the departure of Howard, it became Bourne & Shepherd, the name under which the firm continues to operate to this day. Although Bourne only spent 6 years in India, his time there was extremely productive. He undertook three major expeditions in the Himalayas, creating an impressive body of work which combined the highest technical quality and a keen artistic eye, while working under difficult physical conditions. Bourne left India for good in 1870, selling his interest in Bourne & Shepherd shortly thereafter and abandoning commercial photography.
This photograph depicts Cawnpore, the Memorial Well.
Local Numbers:
FSA A1999.17
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Albumen prints -- 1860-1880
Citation:
Still Prints of Asia: Cawnpore, the Memorial Well, FSA A1999.17. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Instiution, Washington, D.C.
Identifier:
FSA.A1999.17
Archival Repository:
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
One albumen print, circa 1860s-1880s, depicting Sacred carved stone angel in Cawnpore, Memorial Well, India. Signed "Bourne 1206 in the lower left corner of image.
Arrangement:
Organized in one flat box.
Biographical / Historical:
Samuel Bourne (1834-1912) had already begun to earn recognition for his work in England, having exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, when he decided to give up his position in a bank and depart for India to work as a professional photographer. He arrived in Calcutta early in 1863, initially setting up a partnership with William Howard. They moved up to Simla, where they established a new studio Howard & Bourne, to be joined in 1864 by Charles Shepherd, to form Howard, Bourne & Shepherd. By 1866, after the departure of Howard, it became Bourne & Shepherd, and within a few years, the firm had become the most successful studio in the subcontinent, with their work widely distributed throughout India and in Britain. Although Bourne only spent 6 years in India, his time there was extremely productive. He undertook three major expeditions in the Himalayas, creating an impressive body of work which combined the highest technical quality and a keen artistic eye, while working under difficult physical conditions. Bourne left India for good in 1870, selling his interest in Bourne & Shepherd shortly thereafter and abandoning commercial photography. He was replaced as principal photographer by Colin Murray. Shepherd returned to England in 1879. The firm changed ownership numerous times in the early 20th century and currently operates under the same name in Calcutta -- perhaps the oldest photographic studio still in operation.
Local Numbers:
FSA A1999.08
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Albumen prints
Citation:
Still Prints of Asia: Cawnpore, Memorial Well, FSA.A1999.08. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Identifier:
FSA.A1999.08
Archival Repository:
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
73 albumen photo prints, some mounted, many signed and numbered in the negative and some with hadwritten penciled identifications, various sizes. A small number are hand-tinted. Images depict Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Japan and China. Subjects include portraits, people in daily activities, street scenes, city views, architecture, fauna and gardens, and landscapes. Photographers include Scowen & Co., Skeen & Co. and Samuel Bourne. Images depict architectural monuments, city and village views, and picturesque landscapes such as the Great Imambara and Mosque in Lucknow, the quadrangle of the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) in Agra, the Memorial Well in Kanpur (Cawnpore), numerous views of villages, bridges and landscapes in Kashmir, and the botanical gardens at Ootacamund (Udagamandalam). There is also one photograph, an unmounted albumen print, signed and numbered in the negative, by John Edward Saché (active 1860-1880), also depicting a landscape in India. Additionally, an ethnographic portrait (unmounted albumen print) of two Sri Lankan aboriginal men titled "Veddahs" by Charles T. Scowen is included in the collection.
Arrangement:
Four flat boxes.
Biographical / Historical:
British photographer Charles T. Scowen arrived in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the early 1870s, where he was first employed as a clerk. By 1876, Scowen had established a studio, Scowen & Co., in Kandy, with a second location appearing in Columbo by the 1890s. There appear to have been several Scowens working in the studios, as Charles T. Scowen returned to England in 1885. C. Scowen was listed as the proprietor until 1891 and M. Scowen was the proprietor when the firm was finally sold in 1893. Images from Scowen & Co. were used to illustrate a number of books about Ceylon and the tea trade.
Skeen & Co. was a commercial photography studio active in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from 1860-1903. In 1860, William Skeen, who was the official Government Printer, purchased J. Parting's photography studio in Colombo for his son, William Louis Henry Skeen, who had studied at the London School of Photography. In 1891 another Skeen & Co. studio was opened in Kandy. The firm was known for its images of agriculture (particularly tea and spices), industry (the construction of the Ceylon railroads and the Colombo Breakwater), landscapes and ethnic groups.
John Edward Saché (1824-1882) was an American commercial photographer, born in Prussia as Johann Edvart Zachert. He arrived in Calcutta in 1864 and for the next twenty years traveled widely in northern India, photographing major towns and sites. Saché's first professional association was with W. F. Westfield in Calcutta but he would go on to establish other studios, either alone or in partnerships, in Nainital, Bombay, Lucknow and Benares, among other locations.
Samuel Bourne (1834-1912) had already begun to earn recognition for his work in England, having exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, when he decided to give up his position in a bank and depart for India to work as a professional photographer. He arrived in Calcutta early in 1863, initially setting up a partnership with William Howard. They moved up to Simla, where they established a new studio Howard & Bourne, to be joined in 1864 by Charles Shepherd, to form Howard, Bourne & Shepherd. By 1866, after the departure of Howard, it became Bourne & Shepherd, the name under which the firm continues to operate to this day. Although Bourne only spent 6 years in India, his time there was extremely productive. He undertook three major expeditions in the Himalayas, creating an impressive body of work which combined the highest technical quality and a keen artistic eye, while working under difficult physical conditions. Bourne left India for good in 1870, selling his interest in Bourne & Shepherd shortly thereafter and abandoning commercial photography.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2002.01
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Photographs in albums made by Frank Frick documenting architecture, people, agriculture, and scenery in India. Photographs are annotated with descriptions and dates that apparently relate to Frickʹs visits. Some photographs were made by Raja Deen Dayal (also known as Lala Deen Dayal) and Samuel Bourne. The collection also includes one loose photograph of the Budapest Opera House, published by Stengel & Markert in Dresden and possibly photographed by the Calderoni Es Tarsa studio.
Biographical/Historical note:
The collector has not been identified wth certainty, but was probably Frank Frick (1828-1910), a merchant from Baltimore, Maryland. Frick was a patron of the arts who, during the last years of his life, traveled in Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 82-44
General note:
Information on photographers taken from Clark Worswick, a curator and historian of photography.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional photographs by Raja Deen Dayal can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 97.
Addititional photographs of India by Samuel Bourne can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 97 and Photo Lot 161.
Additional photographs of India by Bourne can be found in the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives in A2006.02, 1998.07, A2001.5, A1999.8, and A2002.09.
Records of Frank Frick's patronage of the arts in Baltimore can be found in the Archives of American Art in the Peabody Gallery of Art records.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Photograph albums
Citation:
Photo lot 82-44, Frank Frick photograph collection relating to India, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
