Hugues Krafft (1853 – 1935) was a

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He travelled around the world, and visited

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1882–1883. He left numerous quality photographs of the period. He was among the first to use instantaneous

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

in Japan (he used a

Zeiss Zeiss or Zeiß may refer to: People *Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), German optician and entrepreneur *Emil Zeiß (1833–1910), German Protestant minister and painter Companies *Carl Zeiss AG, German manufacturer of optics, industrial measurem ...

camera with

gelatine Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...

silver bromide Silver bromide (AgBr) is a soft, pale-yellow, water-insoluble salt well known (along with other silver halides) for its unusual sensitivity to light. This property has allowed silver halides to become the basis of modern photographic materials. A ...

plates, a process which became widely available in 1880), which allowed him to take vivid pictures in an open environment, in contrast to the many staged studio photographs made by his predecessors.

Works

''Souvenirs de notre tour du monde'' (1885)''A travers le Turkestan russe'' (1902)A travers le Turkestan russe : ouvrage illustré de deux cent-soixante-cinq gravures d'après les clichés de l'auteur et contenant une carte en couleurs (1902)

Gallery

Image:KoishikawaArtillery1882.jpg, Artillery unit at the

Koishikawa is a district of Bunkyo, Tokyo. It consists of five sub-areas, . In Koishikawa are located two well regarded gardens: the Koishikawa Botanical Garden (operated by the University of Tokyo) in Hakusan, and the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in Kōra ...

arsenal, Tokyo, in 1882. Image:SaigoTsugumichiAndBeato1882.jpg,

Felice Beato Felice Beato (1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, ...

with

Saigō Tsugumichi Saigō may refer to: Places * Saigō, Shimane * Saigō, Miyazaki People * Saigō-no-Tsubone (Lady Saigō) (1552–1589), consort of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the samurai lord and shōgun * Saigō Takamori * Saigō Tanomo * Teruhiko Saigō * Saigō ...

(seated in front) in 1882. Image:SaigoTsugumichiHouse1882.jpg, The house of Saigo Tsugumichi.

References

Anglo-American Name Authority File, s.v. “Krafft, Hugues”, LC Control Number n 88619670
Accessed 27 March 2007. * Esmein, Suzanne. ''Hugues Krafft au Japon de Meiji: photographies d'un voyage, 1882–1883'' (Paris : Hermann, 2003). . * Ladam, Nicolas. ''Le Voyage d'Hugues Krafft au Soleil Levant. Pratiques du voyage et représentations du Japon d'un grand bourgeois français dans les années 1880'', mémoire de Master d'Histoire soutenu à l'université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, sous la direction de Catherine Nicault, 2008
Available for free here
1853 births 1935 deaths French photographers Pioneers of photography French expatriates in Japan {{France-photographer-stub

Works

Gallery

See also

References