Désiré Charnay
1863
[Family Group]

Albumen silver print, from glass negative
21.3 × 16.8 cm (8 3/8 × 6 5/8 ins) (image) 28.8 × 23.2 cm (11 5/16 × 9 1/8 ins) (mount)
 
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2005, Accession Number: 2005.100.74
 
Curatorial description (accessed: 15 March 2017)
Because of the lack of cooperation he received from the government, run by the Hova, the most powerful ethnic group in Madagascar, Charnay's exploration of the island was limited to a few excursions around the port of Tamatave, on the east coast. This photograph of a Betsimitsaraka family was taken on Nossi-Malaza, the Island of Delights on Lake Nossi-Be, a lagoon south of Tamatave. Charnay noted the warm welcome he received there, the lanky beauty of the women, and the general air of affluence. He described the women's braided hair and their graceful costume: a shoulder wrap, a shirt of silk or cotton, and a long printed skirt imported from India. The woman in the photograph wears such garments, indicative of her high status; her son, on the right, is simply wrapped in a lamba, or cotton shawl, while the young man on the left, wearing pants, shows the European influence. Charnay's directness and clarity of style show to particular advantage in this image, his sympathetic rendering belying his normally more clinical approach. He was obviously drawn by the sitters' composure, the strength of their family bond, and the harmonious ensemble they presented to the camera.
 
LL/73875