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Collecting 19th Century photographs
From October 30, 2012 until November 07, 2012
Within the frame of "Sand Gardens. Commercial Photography in the Middle East 1859-1905", Casa Árabe and Canopia organized on November 7th a speech by Clark Worswick, curator of the exhibition.
The speech was titled "The first images of Orient: collecting 19th century photographs" and it was introduced by María Santoyo, at Canopia Cultural Management, and Nuria Medina, Culture and New Media Coordinator at Casa Árabe. The event took place at 19.30 at Casa Árabe’s Auditorium in Madrid (c/ Alcalá, 62). Free entrance limited by space availability.
“In 1959, I discovered a shop owned by the British photographer in Calcutta (Johnson & Hoffman, open since 1890) with Indian photographs from the 19th century. From then on I have been collecting Oriental photographs from this historical period, images whose documental value is immeasurable.
For the last fifty years I have written the first reference texts on 19th century photography in India, China and Japan. I was also one of the first 19th century photography collectors who focused on that geographical area, from Maghreb to Tokio”.
Those are collector Clark Worswick’s words. He talked about the pioneer experience in collecting and the miracle of preservation in those photographs in his collection, several of which were displayed in the exhibition “Sand Gardens. Commercial Photography in the Middle East 1859-1905”, hosted by Casa Árabe and Canopia.
Clark Worswick
He is a photograph historian, enthusiast collector and great expert on ancient Asian photography. Since the beginning of his career, he has been granted important fellowships to study the history of photography. He was the first one to be granted a cinema and photography research fellowship at Harvard University and he has been supported by The Asia Society, The Smithsonian Institute and The American Federation of Arts. He has plunged into the photographic culture of China, India or Japan and it has been compiled in six books and the same number of exhibitions. He has worked as guest commissioner or counsellor for FotoFest (Houston), The Arthur Sackler Museum / The Smithsonian Institute (Washington), The Korea Society (New York), The Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts) and The Getty Museum (Los Angeles).
Clark Worswick has already collaborated with two Canopia projects, sharing his collections and knowledge on ancient Asian photography: "Sheying: Shadows of China, 1850-1900" and the above mentioned "Sand Gardens". Both of them have been completed by two illustrated books edited by Turner.
“In 1959, I discovered a shop owned by the British photographer in Calcutta (Johnson & Hoffman, open since 1890) with Indian photographs from the 19th century. From then on I have been collecting Oriental photographs from this historical period, images whose documental value is immeasurable.
For the last fifty years I have written the first reference texts on 19th century photography in India, China and Japan. I was also one of the first 19th century photography collectors who focused on that geographical area, from Maghreb to Tokio”.
Those are collector Clark Worswick’s words. He talked about the pioneer experience in collecting and the miracle of preservation in those photographs in his collection, several of which were displayed in the exhibition “Sand Gardens. Commercial Photography in the Middle East 1859-1905”, hosted by Casa Árabe and Canopia.
Clark Worswick
He is a photograph historian, enthusiast collector and great expert on ancient Asian photography. Since the beginning of his career, he has been granted important fellowships to study the history of photography. He was the first one to be granted a cinema and photography research fellowship at Harvard University and he has been supported by The Asia Society, The Smithsonian Institute and The American Federation of Arts. He has plunged into the photographic culture of China, India or Japan and it has been compiled in six books and the same number of exhibitions. He has worked as guest commissioner or counsellor for FotoFest (Houston), The Arthur Sackler Museum / The Smithsonian Institute (Washington), The Korea Society (New York), The Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts) and The Getty Museum (Los Angeles).
Clark Worswick has already collaborated with two Canopia projects, sharing his collections and knowledge on ancient Asian photography: "Sheying: Shadows of China, 1850-1900" and the above mentioned "Sand Gardens". Both of them have been completed by two illustrated books edited by Turner.
