Descriptive Summary
Biographical/Historical Note
Administrative Information
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Henry Lemasson views of Tahiti and Moorea
Date (inclusive): 1895-1897
Number: 2002.R.22
Creator/Collector:
Lemasson, Henry, 1870-1956
Physical Description:
1 album(s)
(52 photographic prints)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The album contains 52 collodion photographs of Tahiti and Moorea by Henry Lemasson. Included are coastal views and interior
landscapes, views of Papeete's streets and buildings, and photographs of Tahitians.
Language: Collection material is in French.
Biographical/Historical Note
Henry Lemasson was stationed in Papeete, Tahiti where he served two terms as postmaster (1895-1904 and 1912-1925), as part
of the French PTT administration (the former French Postal and Telecommunications service). He photographed events, people,
and locations in Tahiti and other nearby islands. Paul Gauguin, who was in Tahiti during the same period, had his paintings
photographed by Lemasson and also seems to have owned some of Lemasson's photographs.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Henry Lemasson views of Tahiti and Moorea, 1895-1897, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 2002.R.22
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2002r22
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 2002.
Processing History
Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn and Jamie Allen in 20)5; finding aid encoded by Holly Larson with grant funding
from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in 2010.
Scope and Content of Collection
The majority of the 52 collodion photographs by Henry Lemasson contained in the album are views of Tahiti and Moorea. Included
are coastal views and interior landscapes, views of Papeete's streets and buildings, and photographs of Tahitians. Also included
are photographs of the king's palace, the tomb of King Pomare V (the last king of Tahiti), a police building on the island
of Moorea, and two photographic reproductions of art works (one of Paul Louis Narcisse Grolleron's 1888
Soeur Saint-Henri de l'hospice de Janville s'oppose à un off and another of Jean Alexandre Coraboeuf's engraving after Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1846 painting
Le combat de coqs). Twenty-seven photographs are identified as Papeete, Tahiti, and nine views are of the nearby island of Moorea. This album
may be one of Lemasson's sample albums, which he used to sell his photographs.
The album is half bound in dark brown with brown leatherette covers. The paste-downs are green and yellow marbled paper. The
blue board mounts with printed orange borders are consecutively numbered by hand 0 to 51, above the center of each photograph.
French captions are written on the mounts below each image; these serve as titles for the photographs.
Arrangement
Arranged in a single series: SeroesI. Henry Lemasson views of Tahiti and Moorea, 1895-1897.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Grolleron, Paul Louis Narcisse
Coraboeuf, Jean Alexandre
Subjects - Topics
Pomare V, King of Tahiti, 1839-1891 -- Tomb.
Ships
Streets -- French Polynesia
Vernacular architecture -- French Polynesia
Indigenous peoples -- French Polynesia
Subjects - Places
Tahiti (French Polynesia : Island) -- Description and travel.
French Polynesia -- Description and travel
Moorea (French Polynesia)
Papeete (Tahiti)
Tahiti (French Polynesia : Island) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
France -- Colonies -- Oceania
French Polynesia -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Genres and Forms of Material
Collodion prints -- French Polynesia -- 19th century
Photograph albums -- French Polynesia -- 19th century
Copy prints -- 19th century
Contributors
Lemasson, Henry, 1870-1956