Many pictures of Siam are currently owned and kept by foreigners abroad and have never been shown in Thailand, until now. A total of 150 rare photographs, developed from foreign collectors and institutes' original photo prints and collodion, record the development of Siam and are on view at "Unseen Siam -- Early Photography 1860-1910" at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC). Hosted by the centre and River Books, the show runs until Nov 7.
The two-month exhibition showcases portraits of royals, commoners and foreigners in Siam, and photos of the Siamese ways of life, architecture, performance art, royal ceremonies and major incidents during the reigns of King Rama IV and King Rama V. These photos have been selected from 700 photos shown in Joachim K. Bautze's book Unseen Siam -- Early Photography 1860-1910. Both the exhibition and the 364-page book were launched yesterday.
The show is curated by River Books CEO MR Narisa Chakrabongse and old-photo collector Paisarn Piammattawat, who also organised last year's popular photo exhibition "Siam Through The Lens Of John Thomson 1865-66".
A photo showing King Rama V seated, taken by Henry Schuren in 1874. Unseen Siam – Early Photography 1860-1910
"This exhibition features 150 pictures. We chose photos which have never or rarely been seen by Thais. Some of them were taken by Fedor Jagor and Pierre Rossier. Rossier also wrote a memoir about Siam. We selected a wide variety of photos, including 30 photos of royals, 40 of ceremonies and 40 of ways of life. The show is comprehensive," MR Narisa said.
According to the curator, the exhibition was inspired by the book of the same name. The German author developed his passion for old photos of Siam from his interest in pictures of India more than 20 years ago.
"This is the first time [for people] to see the photos of 15 photographers taken in Siam during the 50-year period from 1860 to 1910 all together," Paisarn, who is also the sales and marketing director of River Books, added.
According to him, the 15 photographers are Abbé Larnaudie, Fedor Jagor, Pierre Rossier, Carl Bismark, Siam's Francis Chit, John Thomson, Henry Schuren, Gustave Richard Lambert, Max Martin, William Kennett Loftus, Fritz Schumann, Joaquim Antonio, Robert Lenz, Emil Groote and Kaishi Isonaga. Several of them were so proud that they later had their former positions as "royal photographer by the appointment of the King of Siam" printed on their cards and city directories.
These photos reflect the development of Siam in various aspects, including urban and rural expansion, the Siamese ways of life and fashion during the reigns of King Rama IV and King Rama V.
"Some of the photos are on view in public for the first time. To name a few, the portrait of King Rama IV and his children and the portrait of King Rama IV's Muslim wife. The many other photos are the work of Siamese photographer Francis Chit, as well as Robert Lenz and Joaquim Antonio. Francis Chit took many pictures of King Rama V and his queens, and scenic photos," Paisarn said.
According to MR Narisa, this exhibition is bigger than the photo exhibition "Siam Through The Lens Of John Thomson 1865-66" and involves other themes besides formal traditions. At this show, the pictures vary from people's daily lives to extravaganzas. Some of them depict someone holding a cat at home, a Western boy riding a horse and a man riding a tricycle.
The cover of Unseen Siam Early Photography 1860-1910. Unseen Siam – Early Photography 1860-1910
"Focusing on the reigns of King Rama IV and King Rama V, the photos are on a wide variety of themes. They are also about the lives of local villagers, canals, rivers, temples, durian markets and women, both ordinary and royal. They provide glimpses of elephant capturing and classical dances. There are also pictures seen through stereoscopes," she noted.
To her, the audience will learn from the exhibition about a lot of things, such as qualities of white and royal elephants, a kind of chess called kuad and topless laywomen. They are exotic and different. Among them are unseen photos of the young handsome King Rama V and of King Rama IV and his children taken by Carl Bismark.
Bismark visited Siam as part of a German delegation and won royal permission to take the pictures of King Rama IV. The King changed clothes to match the theme of each photo. One of the pictures depicts the King with a present from Queen Victoria of Great Britain and another one shows the King holding a sword given by a US president. The King might have sent his pictures to those leaders, reflecting the King's smart diplomacy and intention to show Siam was civilised.
A photo of the procession of the body of French Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix (1805-1862) on the Chao Phraya River confirms a historical account of King Rama IV's visit to the procession to express his condolences. The King and the vicar apostolic of Eastern Siam were good friends.
Apart from the photos, the exhibition includes collages and art pieces inspired by the photos.
According to Paisarn, it was very hard to choose 150 photos from the 700 in the book. The chosen ones, however, are very good and clear, and have never been seen by the majority of Thais. They are presented in large sizes, of 1m or bigger.
The original copies of the photos are owned by foreign collectors, institutes and libraries in Germany, Belgium, France, England, Switzerland and the United States. They are in the forms of photo prints and collodion, and are kept in temperature-controlled rooms.
The owners, including the Pitt River Museum in England and descendants of photographer Emil Groote, allowed the use of their photos and sent digital files to Thailand for printing on paper for the show. The photo printing cost about 500,000 baht and was sponsored by the Royal Photographic Society of Thailand (RPST).
To him, many other old photos of Siam can still be found here, especially at the National Archives of Thailand, and also among some 200 Thai photo collectors.
Nitikorn Kraivixien, president of the RPST, who reproduced the photos from the digital files, said this set of photos mirrors various dimensions of Thailand more than a century ago and most of them have never been seen by Thais before.
"Such photos are very rare. Few century-old photos survive. Many others are gone forever because they were not well-maintained. As a matter of fact, the greatest treasure in Thailand is yet to be shown. These photos are now kept in the National Archives of Thailand, including many photo prints, negatives and 40,000 collodion negatives. The Fine Arts Department has begun its mission to conserve the collodion."
The exhibition runs until Nov 7. Admission is free. Located at Pathum Wan intersection, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) is open from 10am-9pm on Tuesdays-Sundays. Call 02-214-6630/8 or visit www.bacc.or.th.
King Rama V presided over the opening of the Thonburi-Phetchaburi railroad in 1899.
Clockwise from top left Western employees in Siam at the Temple of Dawn; a Belgian girl in a traditional Thai costume;Phraya Prasertsartthamrong, the Belgian royal doctor of King Rama V, and his wife in a flower-adorned car at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the King's accession to the throne in 1909; and a portrait of a young Siamese woman.
