Abdullah Mirza Qajar album of Iran, between 1883 and 1896

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Summary

Creators:
Qajar, Abdullah Mizra, 1850-1909
Abstract:
An album of 61 albumen photographs of Iran taken by Abdullah Mirza Qajar between 1883 and 1896. Although there are a few bird's-eye views of Tehran and some images of Qajar buildings, the photographs primarily depict buildings in ruins or disrepair located near towns and villages or in isolated settings. Locales present in the album include Kerman, Khurāsān, Qom, Ray, Dāmghān, Bāstāan, Qazvīn, Ribat-ī Machi, and Radkan.
Extent:
1.5 Linear Feet (61 photographs in 1 album)
Language:
Collection material is in No linguistic content; Not applicable .

Background

Scope and content:

The album contains 61 albumen photographs of Iran taken by Abdullah Mirza Qajar between 1883 and 1896. Although there are a few bird's-eye views of Tehran and some images of Qajar buildings, the photographs primarily depict buildings in ruins or disrepair located near towns and villages or in isolated settings, and are thus representative of the photographic campaigns Qajar made throughout Persia. Locales depicted include Kerman, Khurāsān, Qom, Ray, Dāmghān, Bāstāan, Qazvīn, Ribat-ī Machi, and Radkan. While many of the photographs include horsemen, in only a few are humans the main subject: one photograph depicts a pottery vendor sitting in his shop; another shows fishermen standing along a shore holding their catches, and the third depicts bathers at a watering hole.

The album is half bound in brown leather with gilt bands at corners and decorative gilt bands on the spine. The photographs are numbered in their negatives.

The titles of the individual photographs were devised by the archivist.

Arrangement

Arranged in a single series: Series I: Abdullah Mirza Qajar album of Iran, between 1883 and 1896.

Biographical / historical:

Abdullah Mirza Qajar (1850-1909), the son of Jahangir Mirza Qajar and the grandson of Fath'ali Shāh Qajar, was member of the royal family of Iran. After attending Dār ul-Funun polytechnic school, Iran's first institution of higher learning, Qajar was sent to Paris around 1878 by the school's director who was also the Iranian minister of Science, Commerce, and the Arts, to complete his training in photography. He followed his year-and-a-half in Paris with studies in Vienna and then spent three years at Salzburg's Kaiserliche-Kƶnigliche Staastgewerbescule. Qajar studied chemistry and typographic and photographic techniques such as zincography, phototypy, photolithography, and galvanoplasty as well as practical skills such as photo retouching.

After his return to Tehran, Qajar printed maps of Iranian towns, but the meager success he experienced as a printer caused him to turn to photography. By 1883, he was a photographer in the Qajar court of Nāį¹£ir al-DiĢ„n Shāh with the title of Royal Private Photographer. He also taught photography at Dār ul-Funun. Over the years Qajar was sent on assignment to photograph both new and ancient buildings in places such as Khurāsān, Ray, Qum, TabrÄ«z, Kirmānshāh, Masshad, and Kāshān. He photographed urban development in towns throughout Iran and documented archeological and historical sites including Astarabad, the birthplace of the Qajar dynasty. In short, Abdullah Mirza Qajar had moved from one type of visual mapping to another, recording the territories of Persia, and especially areas of geopolitical importance to the dynasty, with his camera.

After the assassination of Nāį¹£ir al-DiĢ„n Shāh in 1896, whose funeral Qajar photographed, Qajar's commissions decreased. Aside from trips to Europe in 1900 and 1903 accompanying Nāį¹£ir al-DiĢ„n Shāh's successor, Muįŗ“affar al-DÄ«n Shāh, as special photographer, Qajar seems to have received few new royal commissions. He spent the remainder of his career as head of the Royal Printing Office.

Sources Consulted:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Finding aid for the Nafisi Family Photograph Albums of Qajar Iran, FSA.A2010.05. https://sova.si.edu/record/FSA.A2010.05?s=0&n=10&t=C&q=*%3A*&i=0

Pinguet, Catherine. "Le photographe Abdullah Mirza Qajar (1850-1909) et les funƩrailles de Nassered Din-Shah (1896)." In: Adnan Sezer and Bruno Tartarin, Perse. https://photo-discovery.com

Stepanian, Arman. "A Study of Aesthetics in the Works of Photographers during Qajar Reign," Aks (Picture: Scientific, Cultural & Artistic Monthly), vol. 12, no. 140 (Oct. 23-Nov. 21, 1998). http://www.qajarpages.org/qajarphotoart.html

Acquisition information:
Acquired in 2021.
Physical location:
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Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
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