Augusta Cornelia Paulina Curiel (1873–1937) was a

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

se photographer. She and her sister created an important record of life in the early twentieth century.

Life

Augusta was born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

in 1873. She took her mother's surname as her father abandoned them. Together with her sister Anna they were known as the ladies Curiel or the Curiel sisters. Augusta took pictures and Anna acted as her assistant. In 1929

Queen Wilhelmina Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the ...

granted her the title of '' hofleverancier''. She was the first photographer of Suriname for the royal house. The sisters Curiel were the owner of one of the most famous photo studios in Suriname: ''Augusta Curiel''. For almost forty years the sisters Curiel sisters took pictures of everyday life in Suriname. The photographs show that Augusta Curiel was a compositional and a technically gifted photographer. She always worked with available light and no

photometer A photometer is an instrument that measures the strength of electromagnetic radiation in the range from ultraviolet to infrared and including the visible spectrum. Most photometers convert light into an electric current using a photoresistor, ph ...

. Despite these limitations, they proved able to create beautiful images in dim government buildings, churches and factories. Curiel's oeuvre is made up of mostly daily life topics, which were of value to historians and other interested parties. They photographed both in their studio and on plantations and in the interior. The botanist Gerold Stahel took the women on some of his expeditions. Many of the surviving images are group portraits, made by and for (mission) schools, boarding schools and orphanages. They used a heavy

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

and

plate camera A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...

. After the shooting, the negatives were developed and printed by illuminating off the glass from below. A few times a week, a batch of ice was delivered to the

dark room A darkroom is used to process photographic film, to make prints and to carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of the light-sensitive photographic materials, including film and pho ...

, the required chemical baths to keep the proper temperature. Probably Anna and Augusta reused a lot of the expensive glass negatives. Fortunately, many cityscapes, landscapes, shots of factories, schools and orphanages have survived. Anna tried to continue the photo studio after the death of Augusta, but she sold the shop in the 1950s. The glass plates were expensive and may have been reused several times to take different pictures. In 2005 Janneke van Dijk, curator of the

Tropenmuseum The Tropenmuseum ( en, Museum of the Tropics) is an ethnographic museum located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1864. One of the largest museums in Amsterdam, the museum accommodates eight permanent exhibitions and an ongoing series of tem ...

in Amsterdam, found out that about 400 original glass plate negatives were stored in the depot of the

Surinaams Museum The Surinaams Museum is a museum located at Abraham Crijnssenweg 1 in Fort Zeelandia, Paramaribo, Suriname. Description The Surinaams Museum is located inside Fort Zeelandia, the site where British and Dutch colonists first arrived in Suriname. ...

in Fort Zeelandia. Despite the time and the climate the pictures were in good condition. They were digitised and published in 2007 as "Augusta Curiel, Photographer in Suriname from 1904 to 1937". File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 10018914 Meisjes slaapzaal van de melaatsen st.jpg, Girls' sleeping quarters of the melaatsen stichting Sint Gerardus Majella File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 60006277 Interieur van de suikerfabriek op pla.jpg, Sugar factory at plantation Mariënburg File:Tentboot met roeiers.jpg, Cabinboat with rowers File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 10018930 Het sorteren van de sinaasappelen voo.jpg, Sorting oranges in the Cultuurtuin File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 10019149 Markt in Lelydorp bij de halte langs.jpg, Market in Lelydorp at railway stop Landsspoorweg File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 60006255 Gezicht over Paramaribo vanaf de tore.jpg, View of Paramaribo File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 60006292 Huis op plantage Alliance.jpg, Plantation Alliance

Augusta Curiel in museum collections

* Photoarchive of the Stichting

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...

* Tropeninstituut Amsterdam * Nederlands Fotomuseum

Life

Augusta Curiel in museum collections

References

Further reading