Casimir Ostoja Zagourski (in Polish Kazimierz Zagórski; 9 August 1883 – 10 January 1944) was a Polish pioneering photographer of Central African peoples and customs.

Life

Zagourski was born in

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́мир, Zhitomir ; pl, Żytomierz ; yi, זשיטאָמיר, Zhitomir; german: Schytomyr ) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the administrative ...

in 1883. He was a Pole, from the noble

Clan of Ostoja The Clan of Ostoja (old Polish: ''Ostoya'') was a powerful group of knights and lords in late-medieval Europe. The clan encompassed families in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (including present-day Belarus and Ukraine), Hungary and Upper H ...

. He served in the

Imperial Russian Air Force The Imperial Russian Air Service (russian: Императорскій военно-воздушный флотъ, , Emperor's Military Air Fleet) was an air force founded in 1912 for Imperial Russia."''12 августа 1912 года прика ...

until 1917, rising to the rank of colonel, and in the Polish military during 1920. He emigrated from Europe in 1924 and settled in

Léopoldville Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of ...

(

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

), gallicizing his name and opening a photographic studio. Between 1924 and his death he travelled widely in Central Africa, undertaking expeditions to photograph "disappearing" native African traditions in 1929, 1932, 1935 and 1937.Christraud M. Geary, In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960 (Smithsonian Institution, 2002), 59-79. His albums and a postcard series collectively entitled ''L'Afrique qui disparaît!'' gained him considerable renown. He died in

in 1944.

Sources

* Krzysztof Pluskota. "Atelier Photo Cinématographique—C. Zagourski." In Christraud M. Geary, ''In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960.'' London: Philip Wilson, 2002. . pp. 59–68. * Christraud M. Geary. "The Image World of Casimir Zagourski." In ''In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960.'' London: Philip Wilson, 2002. . pp. 69–79. * ''Zagourski: Lost Africa.'' Skira, 2001. . ** ''Zagourski: Africa perduta.'' Skira, 2001. .

References

External links

Casimir Zagourski postcard collection
in

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new "Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 mill ...

.
Holdings of Zagourski photographs
in the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at the

National Museum of African Art The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African art from both Sub-S ...

.
Web gallery of Zagourski postcards

Photographs by Casimir Zagourski
in digital library

Polona Polona is a Polish digital library, which provides digitized books, magazines, graphics, maps, music, fliers and manuscripts from collections of the National Library of Poland and co-operating institutions. It began its operation in 2006. Colle ...

Life

Sources

References

External links

See also