Malay Peninsula : Old photographs of Malaya and Singapore
Malaysia, oude fotografie
FALCONER, J & KHOR, N. & LIU, G., Malay Peninsula : Old photographs of Malaya and Singapore by Kleingrothe c. 1900. From the collection of HRH Sultan Idris Shah of Selangkor, Singapore 2009. Hard cover 26,5 x 39 cm[oblong] in slipcase 144 pag. with 140 photographs.
“This impressive volume presents a selection of works by German commercial photographer Charles J. Kleingrothe, who was active in the Malay Archipelago during the early 1900s. His large-format photographs are one of the key visual records of Malaya at a time of great transformation, and record life and landscapes in Malaya at the dawn of the 20th century. The book is based on the more than 100-year-old portfolio Malay Peninsula (Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States) from the personal collection of HRH Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Sultan of Selangor. It depicts 139 of 170 photographs of that portfolio.
The German Kleingrothe established himself as photographer in Medan, on the east coast of Sumatra, in 1889. After two years, he formed a partnership with H. Stafhell. Stafhell and Kleingrothe mostly photographed portraits.
When this collaboration ended in 1901, Kleingrothe focused on the detailed photography of tropical agriculture. His photographs illustrate the different phases of the tobacco, coffee, tea, rubber and palm oil industries. He illuminated every aspect, from the tilling of the soil to the shipping of the final product. Kleingrothe also photographed the newly constructed bridges and roads, the staff residences and the barracks where the farm labourers were sheltered.In the early twentieth century, Kleingrothe often worked on commission for companies like the Amsterdam- Deli Company, the Senebah Company and the Deli Company. The work entailed the creation of photo albums that were used as a kind of annual reports.
Such commissioned photographs offer a one-sided view of life in the Dutch Indies. They show colonialists as they would like to present themselves: both modern and civilised. The photographs' main focus is on the link between the European presence in Indonesia and the country's progress. This legitimised their presence in the Dutch Indies."
135,00 euro
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