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Carl Vincenti (1871 – 1940 in Munich) was a German photographer and owner of a photographic studio in Dar es Salaam, German East Africa. His photographs, approximately taken between 1894 and 1910, encompass a wide range of subjects, including portraits of Germans and Africans, colonial architecture, urban views, and landscapes that document aspects of everyday life and nature in the former German colony.

Life and Work

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Vincenti grew up in Miesbach, Bavaria. Information about the circumstances of his journey to German East Africa and his training as a photographer is not documented. By no later than 1894, Vincenti was active in Dar es Salaam as a photographer and publisher at his "Photographic Institute and Trading of Photographic Articles."[1][2] As a publisher, he produced individual prints as well as picture postcards, some of which were stamped with his company mark and the year of the photograph.[3]

Photographic Works

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Vincenti's historical photographs, found in European and American collections, provide insights into the history, population, culture, and natural environment of the colony German East Africa. His images capture scenes of daily life, such as markets, villages, and traditional ceremonies, members of the German colonial society, and locals from various ethnic groups. Additionally, there are photographs of colonial buildings, landscapes, animals, and the natural scenery of the colony from 1894 to around 1907. Vincenti's photographs were taken both in his studio and outdoors and were published in several works on German East Africa until 1919.

Depictions of Colonial Life

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Vincenti's photographs of colonial life in Dar es Salaam include images of the harbor, streets, residential houses, a military parade on the Kaiser's birthday, and an appeal of the Askaris, African troops with German officers in white uniforms. A 1903 photograph from a government school depicts a German teacher and local students during a lesson, with blackboards showing examples of reading and writing in the Swahili language using Latin letters and arithmetic instruction.

Depictions of Indigenous People

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The preserved photographs of Vincenti include numerous images of indigenous people and their everyday life under colonial rule. These depict representatives of ethnic groups such as the Nyamwezi, Wahere, Wayao, Wagogo, Maasai, Swahili, and Indian merchants, as well as so-called Arabs, a group resulting from the unions of Arab immigrants with African women. Among the portraits are staged studio photographs with a painted backdrop, including a full view of a young woman of the Wayao ethnicity, a three-quarter view of a Swahili boy and girl, and a young Maasai man with traditional hairstyle.

Reception

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Vincenti's photographs are considered historical documents for research on the history of East Africa and its inhabitants, their significance for the viewer, and as examples in visual anthropology, visual history, and historical visual studies. His photographs are held in collections such as the German Historical Museum, the University of Frankfurt, and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin.

Awards

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1905: Silver Medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis

Leben und Wirken

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Vincenti wuchs im bayrischen Miesbach auf. Informationen über die Umstände seiner Reise nach Deutsch-Ostafrika sowie seine Ausbildung als Fotograf sind bisher nicht dokumentiert. Ab spätestens 1894 war Vincenti in Daressalam als Fotograf und Verleger in seiner „Photographischen Anstalt und Handlung photographischer Artikel“ tätig.[4] Als Verleger stellte er sowohl Einzelabzüge wie auch Bildpostkarten her und versah diese zum Teil mit seinem Firmenstempel und dem Jahr der Aufnahme.[5]

Klappkamera der Firma Goerz

Walther Dobbertin, who later also became a professional photographer in German East Africa, worked for a few years at Vincenti's photographic studio after his arrival around 1903.[6] However, a serious dispute soon arose between Vincenti and Dobbertin, which was even brought to court. Vincenti accused Dobbertin of stealing or embezzling photographic materials.[7]

Due to his experience as a local photographer, Vincenti was able to provide advice to photographers who were temporarily staying in German East Africa. For instance, the German paleontologists Werner Janensch and Edwin Hennig, who documented their significant excavations of dinosaur fossils in Tendaguru with photographs, corresponded with Vincenti about technical problems with their photographs in the years 1909 and 1910.[8] Additionally, the colonial official Oscar Bongart reported in his notes on photographic recordings in the tropics that he only managed to achieve successful photographs using a Goerz-Anschütz folding camera lent to him by Vincenti.[9]

Apart from his activities as a businessman, Vincenti was also a member of the Government Council. In 1896, the German authorities housed Khalid ibn Barghash, the exiled Sultan of Zanzibar, in Vincenti's home, where he subsequently lived.[10] During World War I, Vincenti was a member of the city committee in Dar es Salaam. In this capacity, he continued to correspond with the Reich Colonial Office in Berlin and the British District Political Officer about the repatriation of the Germans after the German defeat in World War I and the end of the German colony.[11]


Photographic Works

[edit]

Vincenti's historical photographs, found in European and American collections, provide insights into the history, population, culture, and natural environment of the colony German East Africa. His images capture scenes of daily life, such as markets, villages, and traditional ceremonies, members of the German colonial society, and locals from various ethnic groups. Additionally, there are photographs of colonial buildings, landscapes, animals, and the natural scenery of the colony from 1894 to around 1907. Vincenti's photographs were taken both in his studio and outdoors and were published in several works on German East Africa until 1919.[12][13]

The proceedings of the German Colonial Congress, 1905, in Berlin on 5, 6 and 7 October 1905 commented on Vincenti's photographs as follows: "These very beautiful pictures of stately format depict views of vegetation, scenic landscapes and types of people from our East African colony."[14]

Depictions of Colonial Life

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Residence of the German Gouvernor in Dar es Salam

Vincenti's photographs of colonial life in Dar es Salaam include images of the harbor, streets, residential houses, a military parade on the Kaiser's birthday, and an appeal of the Askaris, African troops with German officers in white uniforms. A 1903 photograph from a government school depicts a German teacher and local students during a lesson, with blackboards showing examples of reading and writing in the Swahili language using Latin letters and arithmetic instruction.[15][16]

Depictions of Indigenous People

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The photographs of Vincenti include numerous images of indigenous people and their everyday life under colonial rule.[17] These depict representatives of ethnic groups such as the Nyamwezi, Wahere, Wayao, Wagogo, Maasai, Swahili, and Indian merchants,[18] as well as so-called Arabs, a group resulting from the unions of Arab immigrants with African women. Among the portraits are staged studio photographs with a painted backdrop, including a full view of a young woman of the Wayao ethnicity,[19] a three-quarter view of a Swahili boy and girl,[20] and a young Maasai man with traditional hairstyle.[21]

Regierungsschule mit Lehrer und Schülern, 1903
Studioaufnahme einer jungen Wayao-Frau
Bildpostkarte mit Porträt eines jungen Massai, 1900
Porträt des Wālī Mohamed bin Salim, 1902

On the other hand, an outdoor photograph shows a man and a woman with a boy, labelled "Family (native)". They are wearing kangas and sitting in front of a tent, facing the camera.[22] Other shots document locals dancing a ngoma dance or playing an African board game.[12]

The half-portrait of Wālī Mohamed bin Salim, a dignitary from Mikindani, shows the sitter with typical garments of his Arab descent and the curved dagger Jambia.

Vincenti also documented scenes of African workers building railway tracks,[23] from an expedition camp[24] or from a caravan with porters and tusks,[25] which bear witness to the working conditions under colonial rule in German East Africa.[26] In addition, Vincenti's photographs were also published in scientific publications, for example by the botanist Walter Busse on plants and agriculture in German East Africa.[27]

Reception

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Like other historical images and texts, photographs from German East Africa serve as documents for research into the history of East Africa and its inhabitants, as well as their significance for the viewer.[28] In particular, scholars such as visual anthropology, visual history and historical visual studies should be mentioned here.[29]

For example, a website of the German Historical Museum on German East Africa shows a photo of a colonial schoolroom with blackboards for lessons and murals of the German Emperor Wilhelm II and his wife as a visual document for life in the colony. At the top of the same website is another historical photo showing the German photographer Otto Haeckel during his trip to German East Africa with a bellows camera on a tripod in front of a hut.[30]

.[31] A contemporary history research project on the collection of the botanist Karl Braun published Vincenti's panoramic picture of the Amani research station in the Usambara Mountains in 2024.[32]

Compared to the photographs taken by colonial officials, scientists and amateurs, less authentic images of Africa and its peoples were created by the commercial photographers who catered to the rapidly expanding European market for photographs from Africa from the 1880s onwards. Commercial photo studios produced appealing and sales-promoting photographs by carefully staging the people photographed in certain poses and with "typical" clothing and jewellery. Their manipulated depictions thus contributed to the stereotyping of Africa and Africans.[33]In the context of postcolonial studies, visual culture and critical whiteness studies, such representations have been labelled with the term colonial gaze.[34]

A study of German colonial photography with reference to the territory of the modern state of Rwanda, which at the time belonged to German East Africa, attempts to discuss the background to its creation using a picture postcard from Vincentis Verlag. It shows two men in traditional dress, labelled "Watussi Sultans. German East Africa."[35]. However, there is no further information about this photograph in the colonial image archive of the University Library of Frankfurt am Main. Even though the photographer of this photograph is unknown,[2] the author of the study assumes that Vincenti was very interested in images of members of the Rwandan kingdom. In the context of her image analysis of colonial photographs, the author concludes: "The results of Vincenti's work thus come to light without being able to make life-historical or colonial-political statements about the background to his imagery."[36]

Vincenti's photographs in collections

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In Germany, photographs by Vincenti can be found in the collections of the German Historical Museum, the University of Frankfurt am Main[37] and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin.[38] In the latter, in addition to individual positive prints in black and white, there is also a photo album entitled Original photographs from German East Africa; Dar-es-Saalam [sic] from the years 1901-1902 with silver gelatine prints on cardboard with Vincenti's company logo and the note "Vervielfältigung vorbehalten" (reproduction reserved).[39]

The Ethnographic Museum in Budapest owns a series of Vincenti's photographs of the construction and operation of a Catholic mission station of the Benedictine Congregation of St Ottilien in Kurasini, south of Dar es Salaam, in the years 1894-1895. These are labelled "Original photograph and publisher by C. Vincenti, Dar-es-Salaam. East Africa" and were also distributed by Vincenti as picture postcards.[40]

In the USA, there is an extensive collection in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University[41][42] and a smaller one in the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.[43]

Private collectors also own historical photos of Vincenti. For example, the auction house Sotheby's auctioned a photo album on Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, in which 32 photos bear Vincenti's round company stamp.[44] Furthermore, the art agency Artnet sold a collection of 58 original Vincenti photographs from German East Africa in 2014.[45]

Awards and honours

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Further reading

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  • Eliane Kurmann (2023), Fotogeschichten und Geschichtsbilder: Aneignung und Umdeutung historischer Fotografien in Tansania (in German), Frankfurt / New York: Campus Verlag, ISBN 978-3-593-45187-9
  • Sophie Junge (2021), "Fotografie und Kolonialismus. Editorial", Fotogeschichte. Beiträge zur Geschichte und Ästhetik der Fotografie, no. 162
  • Heike Behrend (2014), Contesting Visibility: Photographic Practices on the East African Coast, transcript Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8394-2456-8
  • Jens Jäger (2009), Fotografie und Geschichte (in German), Campus Verlag, ISBN 978-3-593-38880-9
  • Paul S. Landau (2002), "Empires of the Visual: Photography and Colonial Administration in Africa", in Paul S. Landau, Deborah D. Kaspin (ed.), Images and Empires: Visuality in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa, Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, pp. 141–171, ISBN 0-520-22949-5
  • Thomas Theye, ed. (1989), Der geraubte Schatten: eine Weltreise im Spiegel der ethnographischen Photographie (PDF), München / Luzern: Bucher, ISBN 3-7658-0646-3
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Munfarid1/Carl Vincenti.

References

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  1. ^ Deutsches Kolonialblatt: Amtsblatt des Reichskolonialamt 5 (1894), S. 585
  2. ^ "Carl Vincenti (1871–1940)". museum-digital deutschland. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
  3. ^ "„C. Vincenti, Dar-es-Salaam. Ost-Afrika"" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2025-01-07.
  4. ^ "Carl Vincenti (1871–1940)". museum-digital deutschland. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
  5. ^ "„C. Vincenti, Dar-es-Salaam. Ost-Afrika"" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2025-01-07.
  6. ^ Ana Carolina Schveitzer (2024-05-15). "Visualizing Labour in German East Africa: Photographic Images and their Circulation". German Historical Institute London Blog. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  7. ^ Eliane Kurmann: Fotogeschichten und Geschichtsbilder: Aneignung und Umdeutung historischer Fotografien in Tansania. Frankfurt: Campus 2023, ISBN 9783593451879, S. 47 mit Anm. 133
  8. ^ Ina Heumann, Holger Stoecker, Marco Tamborini, Mareike Vennen (2018), "hier: Mareike Vennen, Arbeitsbilder – Bilderarbeit. Die Herstellung und Zirkulation von Fotografien der Tendaguru-Expedition", Dinosaurierfragmente: Zur Geschichte der Tendaguru-Expedition und ihrer Objekte, 1906-2018, Wallstein Verlag, p. 57, ISBN 978-3-8353-4305-4, retrieved 2024-12-01{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Oskar Bongard (1909). "Staatssekretär Dernburg in Britisch- und Deutsch-Süd-Afrika" (in German). p. 10. Retrieved 2024-12-14.
  10. ^ Moritz Schanz: Streifzüge durch Ost- und Süd-Afrika. Berlin: Kolonialverlag 1900, S. 32
  11. ^ "Deutsches Stadt-Komitee in Daressalam: Schriftwechsel des Komitee-Mitgliedes C. Vincenti -". Bundesarchiv. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  12. ^ a b "Recherche | Carl Vincenti". Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
  13. ^ "Digitale Sammlung Deutscher Kolonialismus / Suche Vincenti (11-20)". Digitale Sammlung Deutscher Kolonialismus (in German). Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen. Retrieved 2024-12-14.
  14. ^ E. Vohsen, Paul Staudinger (1906), Verhandlungen des Deutschen Kolonialkongresses, 1905, zu Berlin am 5., 6. und 7. Oktober 1905, D. Reimer (E. Vohsen), pp. XXXVI, retrieved 2024-11-28
  15. ^ Carl Vincenti. "Regierungsschule in Dar-es-Salaam" (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
  16. ^ Die deutsche Kolonialverwaltung hatte Swahili, die Sprache der Küstenbevölkerung, jedoch mit lateinischen statt arabischen Buchstaben für den Unterricht in Schulen bestimmt. Daraus entstand auch das Swahili-Wort shule für allgemeinbildende Schulen. Siehe hierzu Andreas Covi, Die Sprach- und Schulpolitik der „späten“ Kolonialmächte Deutschland und Italien, retrieved 2024-12-01
  17. ^ Thomas Theye, Experte für die Geschichte der Fotografie, schreibt mit Bezug auf die Fotografie des 19. Jahrhunderts in außereuropäischen Ländern: „Die Fotostudios verkauften neben den Landschaftsdarstellungen in großem Umfang auch Genredarstellungen der Einheimischen, welche einerseits den Habitus der fremden Menschen, das körperliche Erscheinungsbild, ihre Kleidung, ihre Haartracht und Schmuck, Körperhaltung, andererseits aber auch in gestellten Inszenierungen ‘häusliche’ Verrichtungen und gewerbliche Tätigkeiten festhielten.“ Siehe Thomas Theye (Hrsg.): Der geraubte Schatten. Eine Weltreise im Spiegel der ethnographischen Photographie. München/Luzern 1989. S. 42.
  18. ^ Carl Vicenti. "Inder Kaufleute". Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
  19. ^ Carl Vincenti. "Miau-Mädchen" (in German). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
  20. ^ Carl Vincenti. "Suaheli boy na bibi (Swahili-Junge und Mädchen)" (in German). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
  21. ^ Carl Vicenti. "Massai Mann um 1900". www.dhm.de (in German). Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
  22. ^ Carl Vincenti. "Familie (Einheimisch)". Ethnologisches Museum Berlin. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
  23. ^ Carl Vincenti (1907). "Reihe 590 / Bild 49". Koloniales Bildarchiv Universitätsbibliothek, Universität Frankfurt/M. (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-08.
  24. ^ Carl Vincenti. "Expeditionslager" (in German). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
  25. ^ Carl Vincenti. "Kamp F. Sigel, Karawane" (in German). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
  26. ^ Vergleiche hierzu entsprechende Fragen in Mareike Vennen, Arbeitsbilder – Bilderarbeit. Die Herstellung und Zirkulation von Fotografien der Tendaguru-Expedition, 2018, S. 57: „Welche Arten von Arbeit wurden fotografsch festgehalten? Auf welchen Wegen wurde dieses Bildmaterial gemeinsam mit Texten verbreitet? Welche Vorstellungen über die Expedition, über die Arbeit in diesem kolonialen Kontext und über Afrika wurden durch diese Bilder und Beschreibungen vermittelt?“
  27. ^ Walter Busse (1908), Deutsch-Ostafrika 2. Ostafrikanische Nutzpflanzen., Jena: Gustav Fischer Verlag {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |kommentar= ignored (help)
  28. ^ Jens Jäger, Martin Knauer (2009), Bilder als historische Quellen? Dimensionen der Debatten um historische Bildforschung, München: W. Fink, ISBN 978-3-7705-4758-6
  29. ^ Felix Axster (2014), Koloniales Spektakel in 9 x 14: Bildpostkarten im Deutschen Kaiserreich, transcript Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8394-2209-0, retrieved 2024-12-06
  30. ^ Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum. "Die Kolonie Deutsch-Ostafrika". www.dhm.de (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
  31. ^ Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum. "Die Kolonie Deutsch-Ostafrika". www.dhm.de (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
  32. ^ "Panorama Postkarte des Amani Instituts mit persönlichen Beschriftungen von Karl Braun". www.museen-stade.de (in German). Museen Stade. Retrieved 2025-02-12.
  33. ^ Anne-Marie Eze (2013), John Hannavy (ed.), "Africa (Sub-Saharan)", Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, Routledge, p. 18, ISBN 978-1-135-87327-1
  34. ^ Antony Easthope (1998), Mark Terkessidis, Ruth Mayer (ed.), "Der kolonialistische Blick. Medien gegen den Strich lesen.", Globalkolorit Multikulturalismus und Populärkultur, St. Andrä-Wördern: Hannibal, p. 195, ISBN 3-85445-152-0
  35. ^ Die Bezeichnung „Sultan“ ist hier unzutreffend, da die Tutsi nie islamisiert waren.
  36. ^ Anne D. Peiter (2024-06-04). "Die Ethnogenese und der Tutsizid in Ruanda" (in German). Visual History. Retrieved 2024-12-08.
  37. ^ Die Sammlung in Frankfurt enthält mehr als 30 Diapositive im Format 8,5 × 10 cm auf Glasplatte, mit mehreren Aufnahmen der Sisalproduktion im Jahr 1907.
  38. ^ Carl Vicenti. "Digitale Sammlungen / Drucker / Verleger / Filter Vincenti, Carl". Koloniales Bildarchiv der Universitätsbibliothek. Universität Frankfurt am Main. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
  39. ^ Carl Vincenti. ""Original-Aufnahmen von Deutsch-Ost-Afrika; Dar-es-Saalam" - Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek" (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-02.
  40. ^ "„C. Vincenti, Dar-es-Salaam. Ost-Afrika"" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2025-01-07.
  41. ^ "Collection of photographs relating to European colonization in Africa". Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
  42. ^ "Guide to the Collection of photographs relating to European colonization in Africa. Series III: East Africa Collection of photographs relating to European colonization in Africa, 1887–2005" (PDF). Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
  43. ^ "Search results: Vincenti". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
  44. ^ "(#235) Zanzibar and East Africa--Carl Vincenti, and others". Sotheby's Ltd. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  45. ^ Carl Vincenti (2014). "58 Original-Fotografien aus Deutsch-Ostafrika". Artnet. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
  46. ^ Photographische Chronik 1905, S. 19


[[Category:1940 deaths]] [[Category:1871 births]] [[Category:German people]] [[Category:History of Tanzania]] [[Category:20th-century photographers]] [[Category:19th-century photographers]]

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