DUBAI: A photograph of Makkah, shot by Muhammad Sadiq Bey in 1881, will be displayed in Louvre Abu Dhabi’s first photography exhibition starting April 25, one of the earliest images taken in Saudi Arabia.
Photographs 1842 – 1896: An Early Album of the World will be open for visitors until July 13. It is the second international exhibition the museum will host this year.
(musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac)
The museum will display some of the earliest 250 photographs of the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, taken between 1842 and 1896, including some of the oldest photographs of Saudi Arabia and Yemen by Auguste Barthold.
Mohamed Khalifa Al-Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi, said the exhibition aims to “showcase part of our inspiring human heritage.”
“Photography is one of the most important tools that has contributed to documenting the history of the world and its diverse cultures,” he added.
(musee du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac)
The exhibition is organized by Louvre Abu Dhabi in collaboration with musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac and Agence France-Muséums, and is sponsored by the Bank of Sharjah.
Most of the images come from musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac’s collection, with some images from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, musée national des arts asiatiques – Guimet, Musée d’Orsay, la Société de Géographie and La Cité de la Céramique – Sèvres & Limoges.
The museum will feature works by renowned photographers, such as Luis Garcia Hevia from Colombia, the Abdullah brothers and Pascal Sebah from Turkey, Lala Deen Dayal from India, Marc Ferrez from Brazil, Lai Fong from China, Kassian Cephas from Indonesia, Alexandre Michon and Nikolai Charushin from Russia, Francis Chit from Thailand, and Ichida Sôta and Suzuki Shin'ichi II from Japan.
(musee du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac)
The exhibition will be accompanied by a number of educational and cultural activities related to photography, such as workshops, film screenings, a conference and a cine-concert.
The cine-concert, In the Land of the Head Hunters, is a musical interpretation of a Native American version of Rome and Juliet silent movie by French musician Rodolphe Burger.
Visitors can enjoy a multimedia tour of the exhibition in Arabic, English and French.
