Skip to main content

ICONIC PHOTOS OF OVER A CENTURY AGO

Image
By
In an earlier blog titled "Rana Court Photographers" I introduced two of the prolific photographers of their age plying their trade in the Indian Subcontinent based in their renowned studios in India. During the years 1868-71 A.D. Samuel Bourne was most active in Nepal. He was a partner with Charles Shepherd in the largest studio of its day Bourne & Shepherd Studios based at Calcutta. Then during the 1930's there was Richard Gordon Matzene based in Simla who visited Nepal several times to take photographs.

There are two more famous studios that have done extensive work in Nepal making portraits, photographing royal hunts, temples, monuments and ethnic tribes of the Himalaya. The very renowned studio of Johnston & Hoffmann was opened at 22 Chowringee Lane in Calcutta in 1882 A.D. by Theodore Julius Hoffmann and Peter Arthur Johnston. This was the second largest enterprise in India after Bourne & Shepherd Studios. Although Johnston died in 1891 Hoffman was active until 1921 when he passed away. They opened branches in Darjeeling, Simla and Rangoon. They took some iconic photographs of the times in Sikkim, Darjeeling and in Nepal.

Limbu Woman with doko (wicker basket), Nepal, J&H

Nepalese beauty from Sikkim, J&H

Sons of C-in-C Dhir Shumsher, L to R, Dambar, Lalit, Dev, Chandra, Fatteh & Rana, J&H 
 


Boy King Prithivi Bir Bikram Shah, circa 1886 A.D. by J&H

Queen of Nepal, a daughter of Maharajah Jung Bahadur Rana, by J&H


Herzog & Higgins photographic studio was owned by two Englishmen P. A. Herzog and P. Higgins. Both worked in the Johnston & Hoffman Studio before embarking on their own enterprise in 1894 based in Mhow in Central Province (Madhya Pradesh) and were active until 1921. They were commissioned to cover important occasions such as the Indian Durbar organized in honour of the visit of King George V to India in 1911 and many royal hunts including the tiger hunts in Nepal organized for King George V during the time of Maharajah Chandra Shumsher and for Viceroy Lord Curzon a decade earlier shortly after Maharajah Dev Shumsher assumed office. 

Herzog and Higgins Studio office in Mhow, Central Province

King George V and Maharajah Chandra Shumsher in Nepal shikar camp, 1911 A.D., H&H

Viceroy Lord Curzon with Colonel Harkha Jung Thapa (hat under arms), grandson of Maharajah
Jung Bahadur from his daughter, organizer of the hunt at shikar camp in Nepal, 1901 A.D., H&H

Rare photo of Maharajah Chandra Shumsher without a head dress, H&H

These photographers helped introduce Nepal in the world stage at a time when very few people knew about us. This is my tribute to them! 

Comments

  1. Akash BhairabAugust 4, 2020 at 5:14 AM

    These are priceless pictures with relevant comments regarding the intrepid photographers who chose to come to this part of the world and even set up shop. I especially like the picture with Chandra Shumsher and King George V th with the tiger in the foreground by Herzog and Higgins. And also a very telling picture is the one with the Limbu woman carrying the heavy doko byJohnstone and Higgins. Looks like not much has changed. Women in the hills are still carrying those heavy dokos and still leading challenging lives.

    ReplyDelete
  2. familyahonenAugust 5, 2020 at 11:23 AM

    Thank you very much Subodh for sharing these marvellous and impressive photos! Highly professional quality and style from the 19th century!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ramesh ShresthaAugust 7, 2020 at 3:43 AM

    Subodhji, Going through these marvelous photos of a gone era you have so painstakingly put together, I was thinking if someone could invest in a historical drama series based on the Ranas bringing all that history and lifestyle to life: relationship with the British, among themselves, marriages within themselves and with rich Indian rajahs, their costume, customs, hunting and all that . And stream it to the world on Netflix. I'm sure it'll be comparable to the big Hollywood productions you see these days ( Jodha Akbar, for example) and become a worldwide hit.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hippies, Hashish and 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna'

By
  Hippies, Hashish and 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' - Kami Kanetsuka Kami Kanetsuka is a traveller and writer based in V ancouver, Canada. During the 1960s and ‘70s, she travelled all over South East Asia and lived in Nepal for many years. I did a piece on her husband's restaurant and posted it on by blogsite earlier. https://historylessonsnepal.blogspot.com/2012/08/eating-around-world-in-kathmandu-first.html  ********************** Kathmandu in the 1960s and ‘70s was a serene, peaceful and cosmopolitan place that attracted travelers, seekers and filmmakers. A still from "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" The year 1971 was marked with several ‘big victories’ – in politics, cricket and in war – all of which had long term implications for India. The national mood was buoyant, even if the country continued to struggle with endemic problems.   Fifty years later, we look back at those times and evoke some of that mood.  In a series of articles , leading writers recall and analyze ...
Post a Comment
Read more

INTO THE MAELSTROM - JUNG BAHADUR LEADS AN ARMY

By
G overnor General Lord Canning's request to Jung Bahadur to assist the British militarily in Avadh sent a maelstrom through the court of Nepal. Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa's war was still fresh in peoples' mind and the wound of Sugauly had not yet healed. The pacifists wanted to stay neutral saying it was not our fight. The powerful conservative faction still smarting from the earlier defeat wanted to fight the British instead by reinforcing Begum Hazrat Mahal. Maharajah Jung Bahadur was a brave-heart but he had first-hand witnessed the might of Britain; he knew that it was not the time to fight them. Too, he disliked the duplicity of the Indian rajas and the decadence of the Avadhi court where, until recently, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was ruling the roost. He had also heard of savage killing of British civilians, women and children too, anathema to the chivalrous Jung. But decision to go to war is always a soul-searching affair. Jung held counsel with h...
23 comments
Read more

THE MAHARAJAH'S LAST REPOSE

By
T he maharajah was having a nightmare. He often did since he left the hurly burly of Nepalese politics for a life of a raj-rishi with determination to devote the remaining few years of his life in spiritual pursuit. He dreamt of a calamity striking Nepal and taking him in its wake. Although not residing in Kathmandu any longer, he was still close enough to feel the ripples of a revolution should it come sooner or later, but come it would. The maharajah woke up sweating. He asked his attendant to light up his hookah. This would make him calm again. Ridi Bazaar on the banks of Kali Gandaki River Ridi is a very holy place in Nepal. Located at the confluence of the small Ridi stream and the larger Kali Gandaki River in Gulmi district, the site is acclaimed far and wide as a pilgrimage site as holy as Benaras. Throughout the ages pilgrims not able to reach faraway Benaras flocked to Ridi for salvation. The famous temple of Rishikesh founded by King Mukunda Sen graces the site. Nearb...
8 comments
Read more