Western Giant of the Speos of Phre
Original Language TitleIbsamboul. Colosse Occidental du Spéos de Phrè (Nubie)
Artist
Maxime Du Camp
(French, 1822 - 1894)
Date1850
MediumSalt print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 8 7/16 × 6 5/8 inches (21.43 × 16.83 cm)
Mount: 17 5/8 × 12 3/8 inches (44.77 × 31.43 cm)
Mount: 17 5/8 × 12 3/8 inches (44.77 × 31.43 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2007.17.9
SignedOn mount recto, lower left, printed in black type: "Maxime Du Camp."
InscribedOn mount recto, top center, printed in black type: "NUBIE."
Printed on mount recto, bottom right, in black ink: "Gide et Baudry, Editeurs."
Printed on mount recto, bottom center, in black ink: "IBSAMBOUL. / COLOSSE OCCIDENTAL DU SPÉOS DE PHRÉ. / Imprimerie Photographique de Blanquard-Evrard, a Lille / Pl. 107."
MarkingsOn mount verso, lower left, in pencil: "300588"
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of a man seated on top of a huge carved head, which is partially buried in the sand.Exhibition HistoryExploring Egypt: 19th Century Expeditionary Photography. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 6 - July 18, 2010, no cat.
Maxime Du Camp took this photograph as part of a commission from the French Ministry of Public Education to document Abu Simbel, the Egyptian temple site built by King Ramesses II.
To convey a sense of his subject’s colossal scale, Du Camp posed his boatman atop one of the giant statues of the Large Speos. Photographer Ruth Thorne-Thomsen, whose work is also in the museum's collection, took inspiration from Du Camp’s iconic image to construct a pinhole photograph of her own invented expedition.
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Maxime Du Camp
1850; printed ca. 1852
2009.27.15
