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Seydou Keïta: Bamako Portraits

Seydou Keïta: Bamako Portraits

In the 1950s and 60s, a colourful collection of inhabitants of Bamako, capital of Mali, posed for the camera belonging to Seydou Keïta (1921-2001, Mali). People came to Keïta’s studio to have their picture taken in the best and most beautiful way: wearing extravagant dresses made of wonderful textiles with splendid forms of head dress, or in a modern western…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the 1880s

Vintage: Everyday Life of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the 1880s

Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon. At first the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate from 1815, but from 1817 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka. via Patrick Montgomery
Tereza Zelenkova: The Essential Solitude

Tereza Zelenkova: The Essential Solitude

‘The Essential Solitude’ is Czech photographer Tereza Zelenkova’s first exhibition at the Ravestijn Gallery. In her preferred black and white images Zelenkova presents a room and its curious inhabitant, evoking the n de siècle movements of symbolism and decadence, to which the photographer pays homage, with references to the literature of Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and JK Huysmans. Together, the still lives,…
Vintage: Street Scenes of São Paulo, Brazil (1862 -1887)

Vintage: Street Scenes of São Paulo, Brazil (1862 -1887)

After Brazil became independent from Portugal in 1822, as declared by Emperor Pedro I where the Monument of Ipiranga is located, he named São Paulo as an Imperial City. In 1827, a law school was founded at the Convent of São Francisco, these days a part of the University of São Paulo. The influx of students and teachers gave a…
Sebastião Salgado: Exodus

Sebastião Salgado: Exodus

It has been almost a generation since Sebastião Salgado first published Exodus but the story it tells, of fraught human movement around the globe, has changed little in 16 years. The push and pull factors may shift, the nexus of conflict relocates from Rwanda to Syria, but the people who leave their homes tell the same tale: deprivation, hardship, and…
Biography: 19th Century Portrait photographer David Wilkie Wynfield

Biography: 19th Century Portrait photographer David Wilkie Wynfield

David Wilkie Wynfield (1837–1887) was a British painter and photographer. Wynfield was distantly related to the Scottish artist David Wilkie, after whom he was named. Born in India, he was originally intended by his family for the priesthood, but instead chose art as a profession. He studied at Leigh’s art school in the 1850s and his first painting was accepted…
Vintage: Boston Showgirls in the 1940s

Vintage: Boston Showgirls in the 1940s

A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer’s physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing or even toplessness or nudity. Showgirls are often associated with Latin music and dance, particularly samba. via Boston Public Library
Vintage: Street Shots of Oslo by Carl Størmer (1890s)

Vintage: Street Shots of Oslo by Carl Størmer (1890s)

Carl Størmer (1874-1957) is one of Norway’s pioneer photographers. He is known as an astronomer and mathematician. In history books Størmer is referred to as “The Northern Lights photographer”: he will go down in history as the first person to construct a camera that could capture the Northern Lights. From 1893 to 1897 he took everyday pictures of people.
Vintage: Everyday Life of People during Edwardian Era

Vintage: Everyday Life of People during Edwardian Era

The upper-classes embraced leisure sports, which resulted in rapid developments in fashion, as more mobile and flexible clothing styles were needed. During the Edwardian era, women wore a very tight corset, or bodice, and dressed in long skirts. The Edwardian era was the last time women wore corsets in everyday life. According to Arthur Marwick, the most striking change of…
Serge Ramelli: New York

Serge Ramelli: New York

Black-and-white urban photography has a unique effect: It can lend a historical feel or bring out perspectives and surfaces in a special way. Serge Ramelli’s New York photos do both—and much more. With his film director’s eye, he searches out locations using parameters that evoke a specific atmosphere and build tension. The New York skyline or typical New York street…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Norwegians (late 19th Century)

Vintage: Everyday Life of Norwegians (late 19th Century)

In 1886 20-year-old Ellisif R. Müller (1866-1949) married her cousin, regional doctor Andreas Wessel. The marriage led her to Kirkenes, where they lived out their lives. It was there, in her new home, that she made her debut as a photographer. In Finnmark Wessel encountered a reality which stood in stark contrast to that of her protected bourgeois youth. She…
Vintage: The Earliest Known Photographs of White House (1846)

Vintage: The Earliest Known Photographs of White House (1846)

A Welsh immigrant named John Plumbe, Jr., who was one of the country’s first prominent professional photographers, took the daguerreotype in January 1846. The White House as it stands today is a very different building than when it was first constructed. While its essential features—the classically inspired columns, large, airy windows, and rooftop railings—have stayed the same, it has gone…
Biography: 19th Century Scottish photographer James Valentine

Biography: 19th Century Scottish photographer James Valentine

James Valentine (1815 – 1879) was a Scottish photographer. Valentine’s of Dundee produced Scottish topographical views from the 1860s. The business Valentine & Sons Ltd was founded in Dundee in 1851 by James Valentine. He added portrait photography to the activities of his established Dundee business, which had been based up to 1851 on the engraving, printing and supply of…
Harf Zimmermann: Hufelandstraße: 1055 Berlin

Harf Zimmermann: Hufelandstraße: 1055 Berlin

Hufelandstrasse, 1055 Berlin is Harf Zimmermann’s 1986–87 portrait of the people and places of Hufelandstrasse, a bustling neighborhood street in the heart of communist East Germany. Inspired by Bruce Davidson’s East 100th Street (1970), his radical depiction of life on a block in East Harlem, Zimmermann set about documenting Hufelandstrasse where he also lived at the time. For over a…
Leigh Griffiths: Meat

Leigh Griffiths: Meat

Throughout China meat is an important part of life. Poultry and pork are staple proteins, so in the local marketplaces, live and freshly-killed animals make up most of what’s on offer. As a westerner who grew up only ever seeing meat already cut into unidentifiable pieces behind glass or on my plate, walking through a Chinese wet market is a…
Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Carole Lombard (1930s)

Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Carole Lombard (1930s)

Carole Lombard (1908 – 1942) was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but was raised in Los Angeles by her single mother. At 12, she was recruited by the film director Allan Dwan and made her screen debut in A Perfect Crime (1921). Eager to become an actress, she signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation…
Michael Kenna: Holga

Michael Kenna: Holga

Michael Kenna is internationally renowned for producing evocative black-and-white images of nature and the urban environment. Often photographing at night or in the early morning hours, the majority of his photographs involve long time exposures with the camera on a tripod. However, some of Kenna’s more quirky, whimsical, and unpredictable images have been photographed with inexpensive, hand-held, plastic Holga cameras.…
Vintage: Ottoman Clothing (19th Century)

Vintage: Ottoman Clothing (19th Century)

Ottoman clothing is the style and design of clothing worn by the Ottoman Turks. While the Palace and its court dressed lavishly, the common people were only concerned with covering themselves. Starting in the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, administrators enacted sumptuary laws upon clothing. The clothing of Muslims, Christians, Jewish communities, clergy, tradesmen, and state and military officials were…
Vintage: Portraits of Girls in Their First Communion (Edwardian era)

Vintage: Portraits of Girls in Their First Communion (Edwardian era)

The sacrament of First Communion is an important tradition for Catholic families and individuals. For Catholics, Holy Communion is the third of seven sacraments received. It occurs only after receiving Baptism, and once the person has reached the age of reason (usually, around the second grade). First confession (the first sacrament of penance) must precede the reception of the Eucharist.…