EIGHTEEN MOUNTED AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHS—PORTRAITS, VILLAGE LIFE, AND BARNETT IMAGES, CIRCA 1890–1910

Item #1751

Group of eighteen mounted photographs measuring approximately 8 × 10.5 inches overall, with images of varying sizes. Primarily southern African subjects, including individual and group portraits, village gatherings, and views of rounded thatched dwellings. Several prints carry the name “Barnett,” sometimes accompanied by a negative number or copyright notation.

The photographs show women wearing elaborate beadwork, earrings, and distinctive hairstyles; men carrying hide shields and spears; women balancing vessels on their heads; a fire-making demonstration; and a kneeling woman holding a musical bow with a gourd resonator. Other scenes include adults and children outside a dwelling, a large gathering seated in the grass, and an elevated village view with a long line of people posed across the foreground. A double-image mount includes a woman identified in handwriting as “Herero” and two men in European-style clothing holding firearms.

One photograph reproduces a village illustration, captioned in German “Dorf der Niamniam,” with an annotation reading “K. K. Hof-Museum Wien, 1889.” This is a photographic reproduction of artwork rather than a directly photographed village scene.

Some mounts have handwritten identifications and German annotations, including historical terminology. Most bear penciled numbers above “25” on the versos, the purpose of which is unknown. These annotations may reflect an earlier collection or cataloging system, although no institutional provenance is established.

Condition varies, with scattered fading, spotting, surface marks, occasional lifting or curling of print edges, and wear to the mounts, including chipped corners, creases, and tears. Many images retain strong detail, particularly in the beadwork, clothing, and dwelling construction.

Price: $750.00