#PF64
Ca. early 1970s
Eighty-two loose original gelatin silver photos, all ca. 9x12 cm (3 ½ x 4 ¾ in). All images with period ink numbers and dates (either “26.6.72” or “16.6.72”) on verso. Mild foxing, otherwise a very good collection of rare interesting photos.
Interesting extensive collection of 82 original rare gelatin silver photos of the Republic of Niger and its people, dating back to the early 1970s. A part of French West Africa since the 1900s, Niger declared independence in 1960. The collection features a scene with Niger’s first president, Hamani Diori (1916-1989), driving in an open car with an African military commander (possibly in the country’s capital, Niamey), being greeted by a crowd of spectators. There are also views of the mosque in Agadez (Tchirozerine Department, central Niger) and a cenotaph to the soldiers fallen in WW1 (a fort with a waving flag of Niger is seen in the background). A series of six photos documents a public parade, featuring representatives of different ethnic groups in traditional clothing walking or riding camels or horses down a street (possibly in Niamey). All six photos display a sign for the “British Petroleum” company, and two images also show the waving flags of Niger.
The remaining images focus on the lives and traditional cultures of the people of Niger. About a dozen photos depict a Guerewol ceremony of the Fula people (young men, face-painted and dressed in elaborate outfits, young women with elaborate hairdos and headdresses in a crowd of spectators). Several images show native villages of traditional mud huts. The other photos portray native craftsmen, market buyers and sellers, cattle herders, women grinding grains, elders, dancers, families and children, a man transporting firewood on his donkeys, a Muslim congregation during prayer, Tuareg riders and their camels, and others. Overall an interesting collection of original photos of Niger and its people during the first decades of the country’s independence.
