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Photography in Myanmar

the development of photography in Burma from the early colonial period to the end of the 1980s. It explores the relationship between early studios and the training of Burma-born photographers, the expansion of the photographic economy in the 1950s, and the challenges created by nationalisation after 1963.

[1]

The Oxford Companion to the Photograph, 2005, p. 91f

Burma, early photography in. In contrast to *India, where evidence of photographic activity is apparent from soon after its European announcement in 1839, the medium appears to have been slow to penetrate the reclusive Burmese Empire. The earliest surviving images appear to coincide with increasing European embroilment with the country, in the form of a small series of photographs taken by John *McCosh during the Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852-4), a conflict that placed Lower Burma under British control. Similarly associated with British interests is the more substantial series of 120 large-format views (mainly of architectural subjects) taken by Linnaeus *Tripe during the diplomatic mission sent to the Burmese court at Ava in 1 855. While an apparently abortive attempt to establish an amateur photographic society in Moulmein was made in the same the lack of any substantial European market in Upper Burma severely restricted the growth of commercial photography in subsequent decades. Early studios such as that of Jackson & Bentley were trading in Rangoon by 1865, and Philip Adolphe Klier, perhaps the longest surviving and among the most prolific photographers of the country, had opened a studio in Moulmein by 1871. A significant proportion of early photographic activity before the 1880s, however, was characterized by the practice of Indian commercial photographers such as *Bourne & Shepherd, who made photographic tours of the country without committing themselves to permanent studios. In fact, the development of photography continued to be closely associated with British colonial expansion: the absorption of the whole of Burma into Britain s Indian Empire after the campaign of 1885-6 led to an influx of European administrators, military personnel, and private traders which in turn stimulated a hitherto sluggish photograph market. The demands of tourism were also becoming a measurable factor by the 1890s, and this decade saw a significant increase in the numbers of commercial studios. Perhaps the most distinguished of these was that of the veteran war photographer Felice *Beato, who had arrived in Mandalay c. 1887 and was to spend the final years of his career in the new dependency, trading as both a photographer and a manufacturer of tourist goods and furniture. The rising demand for photographs from both residents and visitors is clearly evidenced by the large quantities of surviving work from firms like Klier (whose business survived until the First World War), while the Ceylon firm of ’'‘Skeen &Co. clearly felt by the late 1 880s that the opening up of the country justified the establishment of a Burmese branch, which operated from 1 887 as the partnership of Watts and Skeen. While several Indian photographers (most notably D. A. Ahuja) also established themselves in Burma towards the end of the 1 9th century, the work of indigenous Burmese photographers remains relatively scarce in this period.

The intimate connection between photography and the introduction of colonial rule to Burma is further emphasized in the work of some significant amateur photographers: Willoughby Wallace ^Hooper’s most celebrated work, later published, records the progress of the 1885-6 military campaign which saw the overthrow of the Burmese monarchy, while another military officer, Arthur George Edward Newland, recorded the subsequent pacification operations in photographs that were published in The Image of War (1894). The colonial administrator Sir James George Scott (‘Scott of the Shan Hills’) also produced an impressive photographic documentation of tribal life during his career as Resident in the Northern and Southern Shan States between 1890 and 1910. jf

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Bourne & Shepherd, the most successful commercial firm in 19th- and early 20th-century India, established in Simla in 1863 by Samuel ‘Bourne as ‘Howard, Bourne & Shepherd’, and becoming ‘Bourne & Shepherd’ by 1865. It opened further studios in Calcutta (1867-present) and Bombay (1870-c. 1902). Following Bourne’s departure in 1870, much of the new photographic work was undertaken by Colin Murray (1840-84), although during the 1870s Charles Shepherd continued to photograph and at least sixteen Europeans are listed as assistants. Between 1870 and 1911 the firm sent photographers to ‘Ceylon (Sri Lanka), ‘Burma, ‘Nepal and Singapore, as well as extending its coverage of India. The firm still survives in Calcutta today, although in a much reduced form.


Beginnings in the 19th century

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Thibaw Min as prince, c. 1880, unknown photographer
King Thibaw, Queen Supayalat and her sister Princess Supayalay, cropped image, by unknown photographer

The Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, mentions photographs of the last Burmese kings Mindon and Thibaw, and states that no daguerrotypes of them have survived.[2]

The earliest existing photographs were taken in the course of British military expeditions: In 1853, John MacCosh, an experienced amateur photographer and surgeon with the East India Company recorded ethnographic portraits and landscapes during the Second Anglo-Burmese War. In 1858, some 120 large paper negatives of landscapes and buildings taken three years before by Linnaeus Tripe were published by the colonial government.

Around 1865 German photographer August Sachtler visited Burma and made a portrait of a Burmese carpenter with a hand saw and a pick axe.[3] in Carl Dammann, Friedrich Wilhelm Dammann (1875), Ethnological photographic gallery of the various races of men, London: Trübner & Co.

Originally trained by the military, J. Jackson established his commercial photography studio in 1865 in Rangoon. From 1885 to 1890, Jackson worked in partnership with Philip Adolphe Klier (1845 – 1911), a German immigrant photographer, who spent most of his life in British Burma. His photographs, taken both in his studio as well as on location, were mainly sold as postcards for foreign visitors and expatriates. They have been published in the 1908 edition of Thomas Cook & Sons travel guide Burma, as well as in several later books on Burma. Collections of his works are also held in public archives, such as the British Library[4] and the National Archives in the United Kingdom,[5] as well as by the Smithsonian Institution[6] and Getty Images in the United States.[7]

Willoughby Wallace Hooper (1837-1912),[8] another amateur photographer working for the military... His photographs of the war in Burma are considered “one of the most accomplished and comprehensive records of a nineteenth century military campaign”. They were published in 1887 as Burmah: a series of one hundred photographs illustrating incidents connected with the British Expeditionary Force to that country, from the embarkation at Madras, 1st Nov, 1885, to the capture of King Theebaw, with many views of Mandalay and surrounding country, native life and industries. There were two editions, one with albumen prints, one with autotypes, and a set of lantern slides was issued. The series is also notable for the political scandal which arose following allegations by a journalist that Hooper had acted sadistically in the process of photographing the execution by firing squad of Burmese rebels. The subsequent court of inquiry concluded that he had behaved in a “callous and indecorous” way and the affair raised issues of the ethical role of the photographer in documenting human suffering and the conduct of the British military during a colonial war.[9]

One aspect of the Indian famine relief effort of the 1870s, which has passed virtually without comment by historians (as has, largely, the relief campaign itself), was its use of stark photographic images of famine victims. Willoughby Wallace Hooper, a British military officer stationed in India, had taken a series of photographs of the famine camps and, more strikingly, of emaciated men, women and children. 19 Hooper's motivation for taking these particular images remains unclear, although he had previously produced portraits for the ethnographic survey The People of India (1868–75) and later attracted controversy for his graphic photographs of the execution of Burmese prisoners during the Third Burmese War in the 1880s. [10]

The Queen's Baths in the Royal Palace of Mandalay, 1885

The Queen's Baths[11]

John Falconer, ‘“A Pure Labour of Love”: A Publishing History of The People of India’, in Colonial Photography: Imag(in)ing race and place, ed. Eleanor M. Hight and Gary D. Sampson, New York: Routledge 2002, 51–83.

John Falconer, ‘Willoughby Wallace Hooper: “A craze about photography”’, The Photographic Collector, 4:3 (winter 1983), 258–86.Felice Beato

"At the time Beato settled in burma, in 1887, commercial photography was beginning to expand there. The earliest surviving photographs of the country dated from the second Burmese war in 1852 to 53, but by the 1870s, the photographic studio of Bourne and Shepherd was offering views of the country. J.N. Johannes and Co. (active 1880s to 1890s), the German Adolphe Philip Klier, who operated one of the most successful studios in Mandalay, and the commercial firm of Watson and Skeen, already well established in Rangoon, were Beato's main competitors."[12]

Felice Beato in Burma from 1886 to 1905. It examines, on one level, his photographic business in Burma through a consideration of his portfolio and his business practices. On a more important level, it examines Beato's representation of Burma through visual and contextual analysis of his photographs of the Burmese people. It discusses this topic in the context of Beato's entire photographic career, his non?photographic preoccupations, and nineteenth?century commercial photographic production and consumption, as well as considering ways in which his photographs were used in travel literature. The core argument of this study is that Beato's desire to cater to consumer demands was a key element in shaping his photographic production, both in terms of his imaging strategies and his business practices. His photographic representation of Burma was thus closely tied to the context of its production and consumption. Essentially, Beato's representation of Burma can be understood as a commodification of the Burmese experience for the consumer. This commodification entailed depicting Burma in picturesque conventions ? as a series of familiar, pleasing, and ultimately saleable pictures.[13]

Captain-Surgeon Anthony Newland (1857-1924) first published a series of photographs depicting a British’s subaltern’s life in Burma in the Journal of the Photographic Society of India in 1892.Newland, Anthony George Edward. The Image of War, or Service on the Chin Hills. Illustrated with 191 photographs by the author. With an introductory historical note by J.D. MacNabb, Political Officer, S. Chin Hills., Calcutta, Thacker, Spink & Co.; printed by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company. 1894 First edition. 4to (29 x 22.5 cm), pp.[iv], 90, 40 [publisher's adverts], 38 plates, 154 text illustrations.

"An unusual photo-book, recording the experiences of the British military expeditions in the Chin Hills in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The plates and text illustrations are all after photographs taken by the author in the field: they include portraits, landscapes, scenes of daily life in camp and on the march, and images of the Chin and their customs. McNabb’s introduction sketches the effectively annual cycle of tribal raids and British retribution which saw British troops marching through the Chin Hills, “being picked off by an invisible enemy.”

In the author’s words: “Our object is not to weary the reader, but rather to entertain him by the few rambling notes we shall jot down, which will, we hope, help him to understand the pictures and to gather an idea of what service on these hills is like.” The text is a series of anecdotes, not an official history, grouped under headings such as “Our Servants make us Swear!”, “The Best Way to Climb a Hill”, and “Yu and its virtues,” an account of the local beer. None of the illustrations depict casualties or acts of war, despite the title.

King Thibaw's State Barge on the Mandalay Moat, 1885
Studio portrait of a Burmese woman by D.A. Ahuja

In 1892, German-born architect and archaeologist F. O. Oertel took a trip through large parts of Burma, exploring Burmese architecture and later published his notes and 41 photographs in his Note on a Tour in Burma in March and April 1892.[14] Sent by the Government of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Oertel visited Mandalay, Amarapura and Sagaing, from where he travelled down the Irrawaddy to Pagan and Prome (today Pyay). Back in Rangoon, he travelled South to Pegu (today Bago), Moulmein (today Mawlamyaing), Martaban (Mottama) and Thaton. On his return, he wrote a lengthy report illustrated with original photos which was published the following year.[15] The photos which he took during this journey also illustrated George W. Bird's book Wanderings in Burma, published a few years later, along with photos by Felice Beato.[16]

Picturesque Burma by British businesswoman Mrs. Ernest Hart contained some of Beato's images.[17]

"a series of 99 negatives from an unknown commercial photography studio in Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar). Mostly dated to 1890–1910, they are largely studio portraits of Indian and Burmese men, women, and children as individuals, couples, or groups. Showing diverse social, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds, some images are taken in a photographic studio with props and painted backdrops, while others are taken outside against walls or simple fabric backdrops. Some images show the streets of Mandalay in which graves, store fronts, horse drawn carriages, and railway cars are visible. This collection is unique in that it preserves a body of work (rather than only single surviving images) by an unknown Burmese photography studio. It also makes visible the migrant Indian community and the ways in which they occupied a hybrid cultural space in colonial Mandalay."[18]

D.A. Ahuja, a Punjabi photographer and also a major postcard publisher in Rangoon.[19]

H. Arnoux?[20]

Sixteen views and portraits in Burma by an unknown photographer between 1890 and 1906, on albumen and gelatin silver prints were sold in a 2009 auction by Bonhams in London.

"Washing for Rubies in the Burmah Ruby Mines, 1906"; a study of Orchids in Rangoon; the steamer Rangoon on the way to Mandalay; view of Strand Road; view of the cantonment gardens.[21]

In the 1920s, British photographer James Henry Green photographed ... [22]

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  • The embalmed body of Archbishop Taungdaw Sadaw, covered in goldleaf, 1895
    The embalmed body of Archbishop Taungdaw Sadaw, covered in goldleaf, 1895
  • Stereocard of Burmese pagodas, c. 1890s
    Stereocard of Burmese pagodas, c. 1890s
  • U Bein bridge in Amarapura, 1855 by Linnaeus Tripe
    U Bein bridge in Amarapura, 1855 by Linnaeus Tripe

2000 and beyond

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"Yangon youth are discovering the slow, unpredictable and life-affirming qualities of analogue film photography"[23]

Myanmar Photo Archive

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The Myanmar Photo Archive (MPA) is both a physical archive of photographs taken between 1890 and 1995 as well as an ongoing project for the public awareness of the country's visual culture. Through various exhibitions, an online presentation and a publication programme, MPA has become known for spreading Myanmar’s rich photographic culture, both on a local and an international level. With a collection of more than 30.000 images and other related materials, MPA has become the largest archive for Myanmar's photographic history. MPA has also published several books on the history of photography in Myanmar and former Burma and has been engaged in public events and artistic re-evaluation of the archive's collections.[24]

In 2019, American monthly trade publication for professional photographers Photo District News commented on this archive: "The Myanmar Photo Archive is currently the only anthology specializing in local Burmese photography and one of the largest collections of Burmese visual identity. It shows the Burmese people, by the Burmese people. In order to ensure these images continue to speak to the present day context, Birk constantly activates the archive."[25]

An amateur photographer, whose work only exists ... , was U Than Maung.[26]

The Czech travel photographer Jaroslav Poncar published a photographic travel account with his pictures taken between 1985 and 2013.[27] In a 2022 article, The Guardian reported about documentary photography in the context of protests in Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.[28]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Sadan, M. (2014). The Historical Visual Economy of Photography in Burma. Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia 170, 2-3, 281-312, Available From: Brill https://doi.org/10.1163/22134379-17002024 [Accessed 05 November 2021]
  2. ^ Hannavy, John, ed. (2013). Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography. New York: Routledge. pp. 1317f. ISBN 978-1-135-87327-1.
  3. ^ "photographic print (black and white); album; carte-de-visite | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  4. ^ "Explore the British Library Search - Philip Adolphe Klier". explore.bl.uk. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  5. ^ The National Archives. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  6. ^ "Search results for: Klier, Adolphe, page 1 | Collections Search Center, Smithsonian Institution". collections.si.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  7. ^ "Klier Pictures and Photos - Getty Images". Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  8. ^ Kathleen Howe, ‘Hooper, Colonel Willoughby Wallace (1837–1913)’, in Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, ed. John Hannavy, New York: Routledge 2013, p. 713–14.
  9. ^ Wright, Colin. "King Theebaw's State Barge on the moat, [Mandalay]". www.bl.uk. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
  10. ^ Twomey, Christina (2012). "Framing Atrocity: Photography and Humanitarianism". History of Photography. 36 (3): 255–264. doi:10.1080/03087298.2012.669933. ISSN 0308-7298. S2CID 191497841.
  11. ^ A caption by Hooper accompanying the photograph describes them: “This is a quadrangular building about 50 yards long by 30 broad, in the centre of which is the pool of water used by the Queen and her Maids of Honour as a bathing-place in the warm weather. A kind of covered colonade runs all round it, in each recess of which is a handsome couch, overlaid with gold and inlaid with pieces of looking-glass, on which the ladies reclined after their bath. At the far end, as seen in the photograph, is a wooden “Zyat” or pavilion, richly gilded and inlaid with brilliant coloured stones and glasses. There is also a fountain in the centre of the water.” Source: Wright, Colin. "The Queen's Bath, in the garden of the Palace, Mandalay". www.bl.uk. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  12. ^ Lacoste, Anne. Felice Beato: A Photographer on the Eastern Road. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010. ISBN 1-60606-035-X, p. 23
  13. ^ Suen, Wong Hong (2008-03-01). "Picturing Burma: Felice Beato's Photographs of Burma 1886–1905". History of Photography. 32 (1): 1–26. doi:10.1080/03087290701723139. ISSN 0308-7298. S2CID 193197524.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  14. ^ Oertel, F. O. (1893). Note on a tour in Burma in March and April, 1892. Rangoon: Government Printing.
  15. ^ Oertel 1893.
  16. ^ Bird's book is illustrated with photos by F.O. Oertel and Felice Beato. Some 28 photos are by Oertel.
  17. ^ Mrs. Ernest Hart (1897). Picturesque Burma. J. M. Dent Amp Co., London.
  18. ^ Deepali Dewan and Justine Lyn (2021-02-24). "Migration Through the Lens of an Unknown Burmese Studio". Royal Ontario Museum. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  19. ^ Lukas Birk and Carmín Berchiolly. REPRODUCED, rethinking P.A. Klier & D.A. Ahuja, Myanmar Photo Archive, Yangon, 2018 ISBN 978-3-9504079-1-4
  20. ^ "Bonhams : BURMA, CEYLON and INDIA Album of views and portraits in Burma, Ceylon and India". www.bonhams.com. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  21. ^ "Bonhams : BURMA Five views and studies in Burma". www.bonhams.com. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  22. ^ "James Henry Green". Discover. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  23. ^ Riise, Tanvi (2019-05-29). "Recapturing the moment with analogue film photography". Frontier Myanmar. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  24. ^ "Myanmar Photo Archive". www.goethe.de. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  25. ^ "Awesome Asian Archive | PDN Photo of the Day". Photo District News - Photo of the Day. 2019-10-18. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  26. ^ "U Than Maung - The No 1 Amateur Photographer". Fraglich Publishing. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  27. ^ "Jaroslav Poncar - Fine photography :: Gallery › Burma › Burma". www.poncar.de. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  28. ^ "I photographed Myanmar's protesters one day – and their funerals the next". the Guardian. 2022-02-01. Retrieved 2022-12-09.

Further reading

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Literature

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Berchiolly, Carmín (2021). Recontextualizing Burmese Colonial Photographs as Contemporary Fashion Accessories at Yangoods: 'To revitalize Myanmar's heritage'. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003096146-24. ISBN 978-1-003-09614-6.

Bieber, Joey, Melting the Stars: An Exhibition of Photographs of the People of Burma, Christies, London, 2001

Brackenbury, Wade, The Last Paradise on Earth: the vanishing peoples and wilderness of northern Burma (Flame of the Forest, Gold Beach, 2005)

Briels, Edwin, Yangon (Rangoon): The City I Live. Yone Kyi Chet Book House, Yangon, 2004

Chan Chao, Burma - Something Went Wrong: The Photographs of Chan Chao (Nazraeli Press, Tucson, 2000)

Dell, Elizabeth (ed), Burma: Frontier Photographs, 1918-1935: The James Henry Green Collection (Merrell, London, 2000)

Gray, Dennis; Falconer, John (2014). 7 Days in Myanmar: By 30 Great Photographers. Editions Didier Millet. ISBN 978-981-4385-74-9.

Hannavy, John (ed.), Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, Routledge, London 2013, ISBN 9781135873271, pp. 1317-1318

Lacoste, Anne. Felice Beato: A Photographer on the Eastern Road. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010. ISBN 1-60606-035-X.

Lenman, Robin (2005). The Oxford companion to the photograph. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866271-8. OCLC 60793923.

Moe Min, In Buddha’s Land: Visions of Buddhist Myanmar, Orchid Press, Bangkok, 2007

Newland, Anthony George Edward. The Image of War, or Service on the Chin Hills. Illustrated with 191 photographs by the author. With an introductory historical note by J.D. MacNabb, Political Officer, S. Chin Hills., Calcutta, Thacker, Spink & Co.; printed by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company, 1894, pp.[iv], 90, 38 plates, 154 text illustrations.

Poncar, Jaroslav: Burma/Myanmar. Reisefotografien von 1985 bis heute. Edition Panorama, Mannheim 2013, ISBN 978-3-89823-463-4. (in German)

Selth, Andrew (2022-01-24). Myanmar (Burma) since the 1988 Uprising: A Select Bibliography, 4th edition. ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. pp. 50–53, 253–254. ISBN 978-981-4951-78-4.

Singer, Noel Francis, Burmah: A Photographic Journey, 1855-1925. Kiscadale, Gartmore, 1993

Suen, Wong Hong (2008). "Picturing Burma: Felice Beato's Photographs of Burma 1886–1905". History of Photography. 32 (1): 1–26. doi:10.1080/03087290701723139. ISSN 0308-7298. S2CID 193197524.

Suga, Hiroshi, The Golden Paradise of Myanmar. n.p., Tokyo, 1997

Tun Tin, Frankie, Through Myanmar Eyes. Viscom Editions, Singapore, 1997

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