Kanak men by the waterfall at Canala, New Caledonia, 1874. by HUGHAN, Allan (1834-1883)

Albumen print photograph, 199 x 151 mm, inscribed in the negative at bottom left 'Hughan 6-74', laid down on its original album page of thick card, 320 x 250 mm, verso with contemporary caption in pencil in ink in a neat hand: 'Cascade à Canala'; a strong print with rich tonal range and excellent clarity; the mount is free from foxing. Allan Hughan was a British merchant and ship's captain who had been shipwrecked in New Caledonia in 1870. By 1871 he had started a commercial photography business in Nouméa, and the following year he was appointed government photographer. In addition to studio portraits his work included views of Nouméa and the interior of the island, documentation of the traditional way of life and customs of the Kanak people, and an official photographic study of the French penal colony on the Isle of Pines. For related images by Hughan taken in the same year, cf. Kakou, Serge. Découverte photographique de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, 1848-1900. Arles: Actes Sud, 1998, plates 56-61.