From April 25 to July 13, visitors will discover more than 250 photographs depicting the beginnings of photography in the world, with images of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well as old photographs taken in India, the Philippines and elsewhere.
Fourth International Exhibition of the Cultural Season A World of Exchange at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Opening the Album of the World: Photographs 1842 – 1896, explores the development of photography in the world during its early years through an exhibition that includes the first images taken by travelers and sailors in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, India and the Americas. Presented until July 13, 2019, the exhibition traces the dissemination of photography as a tool for presentation, documentation and instrument of discovery and understanding of the world and peoples, through a vast selection of more than 250 historical photographs made between 1842 and 1896.
Organized by the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac and Agence France – Muséums, and sponsored by the Bank of Sharjah, the exhibition brings together some of the first photographs produced outside Europe. The exhibited works include exceptional loans from the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, the National Library of France, the National Museum of Asian Arts – Guimet, the Public Establishment of the Musée d’Orsay, the Society of Geography and of the City of Ceramics – Sèvres & Limoges. Christine Barthe, head of the Heritage Photography Unit at the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, is curator of this exhibition.
The exhibition includes works by eminent photographers, including Charles Guillain, a French ship captain who took part in a diplomatic trip along the African coast in 1847-1848; Désiré Charnay, archaeologist who photographed the first pre-Hispanic sites in Mexico; Marc Ferrez, the first Brazilian photographer to receive international recognition; William Ellis, an English missionary who traveled to Madagascar; Lai Afong, a Chinese photographer who established one of the first photographic studios in Hong Kong; Kassian Cephas, the first Indonesian to become a professional photographer, and the Egyptian military engineer Muhammad Sadiq Bey, who took the first photographs of the holy places in Medina and Mecca around 1881. The exhibition also presents a visual testimony of the journey of Auguste Bartholdi in Egypt, Nubia (now Sudan) and Palestine to photograph the main monuments. This collection was Bartholdi’s first and last interaction with photography, he later sculpted the Statue of Liberty.
Taking into account the universality of the museum, Manuel Rabaté, Director of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, said: “It is with great pride that the Louvre Abu Dhabi hosts its first photography exhibition in our cultural season” A world of art “. ‘trades “. The exhibition Opening the World Album: Photographs 1842 – 1896 explores the development of photography as a universal medium and brings together, under our dome, the collective stories of these photographers from around the world. We are indebted to the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, in particular to its president Stéphane Martin, curator Christine Barthe and Agence France-Muséums for their contribution to the organization of this exhibition and of course to our sponsor the Sharjah Bank for its sponsorship. ”
Open the album of the world : Photographs 1842 – 1896
From April 25 to July 13
Louvre Abu Dhabi
