Early Photography in Elmina
Larry W. Yarak
Texas A&M University
[From Ghana Studies Council Newsletter, No. 8 (1995)]
In an article published in Africa in 1987, Vera Viditz-Ward argued that the development of photography in 19th-century Europe took place in the context of a growing European appetite for images of "exotic and mysterious peoples and places".(1) She noted that the daguerreotype was "presented to the world as a gift of the government of France" in 1839, and that late in that same year "French daguerreotypists were traveling to North Africa, the Middle East and South America to photograph architecture, landscapes and ruins."(2) The earliest evidence she found for the existence of photography in Freetown, however, dates only from 1857. In my own research on the history of Elmina, I have been keenly interested in locating early photographic and lithographic representations of the town and its people. Such resources are especially vital to the reconstruction of the physical space of pre-colonial Elmina, as the original town, which was located adjacent to the Dutch Fort St. George, was destroyed by a British bombardment in 1873, and a new town was constructed at a different location.
That such photographs of old Elmina existed, and existed from a very early date, is testified by several references to the presence of daguerreotypists in Elmina which I have found in the Elmina Journal, the dairy of events kept by successive governors of the Dutch forts on the Gold Coast from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. The earliest - and most exquisitely detailed - reference I have found dates from early 1840. On 18 January 1840 the French brig of war La Malouine, commanded by Captain Bouet anchored in Elmina roads. The ship and the Dutch fort exchanged 21-gun salutes, as was customary, and the captain and his officers came ashore.(3) The next day:
Captain Bouet brought his Daguerreotype on shore in order to show us a test [made] with it. At eleven o'clock it was put into operation at the house of Mr. Coorengel, located close to the beach,(4) in order to produce a drawing of [the fort of] St. George. Although the process is very long and difficult, at two o'clock we had the most beautiful and faithful depiction of this establishment [i.e., the castle], along with a small portion of the krom [town of Elmina], all in a compass of 10 Rhenish inches broad and eight high.
The calm weather favored the proceedings, so that everything, down to the smallest objects, was visible on the plate.
The lines of flag poles were not missed in the scenery, even the leaves of some of the palm trees which stand near the fort could be counted with a magnifying glass. This machine was given to Captain Bouet by the French government.(5)
This brief reference confirms Viditz-Ward's suspicion that daguerreotypists were at work in West Africa from the very beginnings of photography.
Some years later another French daguerreotypist appeared at Elmina, but he was involved in a very different type of activity. In early 1847 a certain "Heer Sorin" was reported to be busy in Elmina taking portraits of Elmina citizens willing to pay $6 for a sitting.(6) He reportedly took portraits of some 34 people before he left for Cape Coast on 3 February. On this occasion the weather did not favor the daguerreotypist, as harmattan winds were blowing. The Dutch governor noted in his journal that for portraits of "Negroes" it was necessary for Sorin to expose the plate for 140 seconds; for "mulattoes" 100 seconds; and for "Europeans" 35 seconds.(7) The implication is that Sorin drew customers from a broad spectrum of Elmina's well-to-do citizenry.
What ever became of the products of these early photographic efforts? We would of course be exceptionally fortunate if any of the original photographs could be located, and perhaps one day some will. Vidlitz-Ward expressed scepticism that any daguerreotypes left at the coast could have survived the climate.(8) However, Paul Jenkins has recently shown that at least some of the early photographs made by Basel Missionaries on the Gold Coast formed the basis of engravings which were subsequently published or otherwise distributed to advance missionary activities.(9) It may therefore be possible that early Gold Coast photographs survive in a different form.
Such may be the case with a magnificent engraving which I was shown during my recent research stay in Ghana. The engraving is in the possession of Mr. E. F. Pobee of Adisadel College, Cape Coast, to whom I am most grateful both for the information about his family which he generously shared with me, and for permission to photograph the engraving of his ancestor. A digital reproduction of my photograph is found below. Mr. Pobee is a great-great-great-grandson of the man represented, Carel Hendrik Bartels (1792-1850). Bartels, who was of European and Ghanaian ancestry, was without doubt the most influential merchant in the town of Elmina during the 1840s. Those Ghana scholars who have visited the "Dutch cemetery" in Elmina will have seen the massive engraved stone marking his grave, which lies in front of the vault holding the remains of former Dutch governors, and which was placed there by his numerous children. When Mr. Pobee showed me the engraving of Bartels, which appears to have been produced sometime after the latter's death in 1850, I was struck by the lifelike quality of the image. It now seems to me quite possible that this engraving was produced on the basis of one of the photographs taken by Sorin during his stay at Elmina in 1847. Of course there is at present insufficient evidence to prove this hypothesis. I would like to conclude this brief note with a plea for researchers to seek out and attempt to document old family portraits, especially those found in the coastal communities, where the origins and practice of photography clearly date from the very beginnings of the art itself.
CARL HENDRIK BARTELS, 1792-1850
NOTES
1. V. Viditz-Ward, "Photography in Sierra Leone, 1850-1918", Africa, 57, 4 (1987), 510.
2. Ibid.
3. National Archives, The Hague, Archief van de Nederlandsche Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea (NBKG) 364: Elmina Journal, entry for 18 January 1840.
4. I believe this to be the structure known today in Elmina as "Bridge House". This house was still standing as late as 15 years ago, but is now in ruins. The "Save Elmina Association" (SEA), a group of Elminans based mostly in Accra, is determined to gather sufficient funds to reconstruct this historic structure to its 19th-century specifications. SEA would greatly appreciate any monetary contributions from members of the Ghana Studies Council. Mr. Michel van den Nieuwenhof, a Dutch architect currently employed in Accra, has produced a wonderful collection of drawings reconstructing this and other historic private houses in Elmina. It is hoped that these will serve as the basis for eventual restoration. John Fountaine Coorengel, a merchant of European and Ghanaian descent, may have been the original builder of "Bridge House", which was probably constructed in the late 1830s. I am grateful to Dr. M. Doortmont of Erasmus University, Rotterdam, for assistance in the identification of Coorengel.
5. NBKG 364: Elmina Journal, entry for 19 January 1840.
6. NBKG 366: Elmina Journal, entry for 30 January 1847.
7. Ibid.
8. Vidlitz-Ward, 511.
9. P. Jenkins, "The Earliest Generation of Missionary Photographers in West Africa and the portrayal of Indigenous People and Culture", History in Africa, 20 (1993), 92-3.
This material is Copyright © Larry W. Yarak 1995. Do not reproduce without the author's permission.
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