An eloquent picture gallery: the South African portrait photographs of Gustav Theodor Fritsch, 1863-1865

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Title:	An eloquent picture gallery: the South African portrait photographs of Gustav Theodor Fritsch, 1863-1865
Editors:	Dietrich, Keith Hamilton Bank, Andrew Fritsch, Gustav
Year:	2008
Pages:	176
Language:	English
City of publisher:	Auckland Park
Publisher:	Jacana Media
ISBN:	1770096418; 9781770096417
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	portraits photography racial classification
About person:	Gustav Theodor Fritsch (1838-1927)
Abstract:	In the early 1860s, Gustav Theodor Fritsch, a 25-year old German medical doctor and anthropologist, travelled through southern Africa on a scientific expedition to study the 'native races', making great use of the new medium of photography. The present publication brings together a comprehensive collection of his photographs, particularly his portraits of the indigenous peoples of South Africa. All but five of the 234 of Fritsch's South African photographs reproduced here were sourced from the photographic collection of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory kept in the Africa Department of the Museum of Ethnology in Berlin. The photographs are accompanied by several essays that describe Fritsch's journey and scientific project and set them in the context of his racial theories and life's work. Contributing authors: Andrew Bank, Andreas Broeckmann, Keith Dietrich, Michael Godby, Michael Hagner, Annette Lewerentz, Lize van Robbroeck. [ASC Leiden abstract]