Raharla, Minister to the Queen

Artist Claude-Joseph Désiré Charnay (French, 1828 - 1915)

Date1863

MediumSalt Print

DimensionsImage and sheet: 8 × 5 1/2 inches (20.32 × 13.97 cm)
Mount: 16 11/16 × 11 3/4 inches (42.39 × 29.85 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation

Object number2017.61.6

Signednone

InscribedOn mount recto, bottom, in blue ink: “Raharla.”

MarkingsOn mount recto right edge, in pencil: “22.”; On mount verso, lower left corner, in pencil: “cs.93.252”.

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of man wearing suit with bow tie holding top hat in his left hand and cane in his right. He is standing in the middle of a field with a small house blurred in the background.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Rotation 26. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 29, 2019- August 25, 2019, no cat.

Gallery Label

A noted adventurer and archaeologist, Claude-Joseph Désiré Charnay had the backing of the French Ministry of Education to visit Madagascar in 1863. In his two-month stay, Charnay photographed the island’s landscape, indigenous peoples, and ruling elite. While most of his photographs of people are relatively impersonal and "scientific" in intention, this portrait of the Queen’s Minister in Western dress conveys a sense of Raharla’s authority and dignity.

Provenance

Purchased at Photographs No. 8748, Christie's, New York, NY, October 9. 1997, lot 124 by Howard Stein (1926-2011) , New York, NY, 1997;
Given by Howard Stein to The Joy of Giving Foundation, New York, NY;
Purchased at The Joy of Giving Foundation's sale The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something, Phillips, New York, NY, April 4, 2017, lot 132 by the Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2017;
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2017.

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