African studies

Details

Attributed to Cunha da Moraes (fl.1870s), Photographer
African studies
a collection of 42 photographs, mounted on card, the majority portraits and studies of Africans in Angola, Western, Central and Equatorial Africa
albumen prints
unframed
3¾ x 6.18in. (9.5 x 15.5cm.) and smaller

Special notice

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Lot Essay

'Individual European photographers began working professionally in Angola -- and possibly the other Portuguese African territories of Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guiné, and Sao Tomé -- at least as early as the 1860s. There were at least two photographic studios in Luanda by 1870: J.N. da Silveira (already an award-winning exhibiter in Porto and London) and Widow Moraes and Sons. Another photographer, Rocha Figueiredo, was established in Benguela, while a fourth, Nicola de Luizy, was apparently based in Mossamedes by the same date. In Mozambique, well-known professional photographers such as J. and M. Lazarus, J.P. Fernandes, and J. Wexelson were working in Beira and Lourenço Marques from at least the 1890s.' (J.R. Dias, 'Photographic Sources for the History of Portuguese-Speaking Africa, 1870-1914', History in Africa, Vol. 18, 1991, p. 67)

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