The Maison Europꦮne de la Photographie will present a century’s worth of images from Albania, mixing European culture with oriental influences
TIRANA, Sept. 14 – An exhibition entitled “The Golden Age of Albanian photography: The Marubi dynasty and the rhapsodes of light 1858-1945” will soon be held at the Maison Europꦮne de la photography in Paris. This event will be on show from 5 October 2011 to 8 January 2012.
Albania is not known for its contribution to the history of art photography. Nevertheless, the exhibition seeks to highlight this neglected art form. The Maison Europꦮne de la Photographie will present a century’s worth of images from this country, mixing European culture with oriental influences.
Albanian photography started with Pietro Marubi, an Italian emigrant fleeing political repression from his country. He opened Albania’s first photography studio in 1858. Three generations of Marubis followed in his footsteps. For about a century, the Marubi family has amassed more than 120,000 negatives. Several dozens of photographers also worked in Albania during the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. The selection of pictures reveal the political, social, cultural and religious diversity of the country.
Following several years of research, sixty photographs have been carefully selected for this exhibition. After fifty years of totalitarianism, Albania rediscovers and shares a very rich chunk of its memory and heritage.
This event was organised in cooperation with the Albanian embassy in Paris with the support of the Franco-Albanian friendship group of the French Senate. It has been supervised by Lo࣠Chavin and Christian Raby.
Last year, The National Museum of History hosted a special exhibition with photos taken by famous Pjeter Marubi and his student Kole Idromeno, Albania’s first professional photographers in the 19th century. The exhibition featured 26 black and white pictures taken from 1888 to 1913.
The “Portrait of a People” exhibition brought pictures of northern Albania, portraits of men and women, landscapes of northern areas of Dukagjin and Zadrima as well as moments from the country’s declaration of independence in 1912.
The photos were part of the Folk Culture Institute in Tirana collection. The exhibition was organized in three sections called “Groups and family,” “Women” and “Men” giving a clear picture of life in Albania at the end of the 19th century and early 1900s.
Photographer Pjeter Marubi is the founder of the Marubi Photo Collection (Fototeka Marubi) in the northern city of Shkodra comprising over 150,000 photos, many of which are of great historical, artistic and cultural significance. The collection was compiled by three generations of photographers.
