Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art

Casimir Zagourski photographs, EEPA 2002-005

Summary

Collection ID:
EEPA.2002-005
Dates:
between 1924-1935
Languages:
French
.
Physical Description:
120 Postcards
(silver gelatin prints)
black & white
9 x 14 cm.
3 Photographic prints
(silver gelatin)
black & white
26.5 x 19.7 cm. or smaller
3 Drawings (visual works)
black & white
29.8 x 22.7 cm. or smaller
Repository:
Container:
1

Scope and Contents note

Scope and Contents note
The photographs belong to the series of 417 images, entitled "L'Afrique qui disparaît", which Casimir Zagourski (1883-1944), a Polish photographer who lived in Léopoldville, created in the years between 1924 and 1935. He edited the series in different forms. One of the postcards includes a mistake in the captioning which could occur in the printing process. There are three larger unique silver gelatin prints. These images and several postcards were framed in the display frames. The three pen and ink drawings by are signed "Henry," and were framed.

Arrangement note

Arrangement note
postcards:organized in one volume and arranged numerically by original postcard number
prints:organized in one box
frames:organized in nine boxes

Biographical/Historical note

Biographical/Historical note
Casimir d'Ostoja Zagourski (1880-1941) was a Polish nobleman and professional studio photographer, who had maintained a studio in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), Congo, between the World Wars. He travelled across the Belgian Congo, Rwanda-Burundi Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda and French Equatorial Afrique in 1926 to take photographs for his collective photo album "L'Afrique Qui Disparait".

Administration

Author
Paul Wood
Custodial History note
Purchased, 2002. The photographic materials were brought to the U.S.A. in the late 1940s with the widow of Victor Ghislain Pilet, who had worked in the Belgian Congo during the late 1930s. In 1939, he received an honorable mention (Decoration Industrielle de 2ème classe) for his services in the Congo. The widow, since married and widowed again, lives in the Cape. There are also nine wooden display frames adorned with carved animal tusks, though not of elephant ivory, produced in a workshop somewhere in the Congo.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Conditions Governing Access note
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Africa Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Senegal Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographic prints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Drawings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Congo (Democratic Republic) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Picture postcards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
South Africa Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
National Museum of African Art
P.O. Box 37012
MRC 708
Washington, DC 20013-7012
elisofonarchives@si.edu