IDNO

P.99904.VH

Description

F.H. Dufty studio portrait of Fijian youth holding a feather duster. See P.4101.ACH1.
Circa 1876. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Studio portrait of a youth with a short but flamboyant lime-bleached hairstyle, complete with plume.
Circa 1875-1876. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003, from record P.4101.ACH1, updated JD 20/1/2012]

Physical Condition: Print mounted onto card.

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Dufty, Francis Herbert (Dufty Brothers, Levuka)

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1875 - 1876

Collection Name

von Hügel Collection

Source

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.99726.VH to P.100050.VH were in the belted folder now numbered C539/3/. This was formerly kept in paper archive Large Box G; VH1/4/5. It has now been transferred to the photo archive. The lists describing the contents of this box have been returned to the Paper Archive.

Photographer: Dufty’s Levuka studio is recognisable through the use of the sideboard with darker decorative scroll work and leaves? added to the plainer and paler base (see P.4920.ACH1 for same? sideboard undecorated). The sideboard is normally positioned to the left, and often appears with an ornate wooden box? on top. The use of a feather duster? as a prop is also a common feature in Dufty’s Studio portraits. This configuration of studio props appears to be used by Dufty between circa 1875 - 1876. The Photographer, Date, and Place fields have been amended accordingly. [JD 20/3/2012]

Context: The number of deliberate frontal and profile portraits taken by F.H. Dufty in 1875-76 raises the question of whether or not he was commissioned to do this by somebody dabbling in physical anthropology. The most likely contenders in such case would be: Anatole von Hugel, his arch foe Rev. Lorimer Fison, and von Hugel’s real competitor, whom he only ever once mentions in passing (which is diagnostic!), Theodor Kleinschmidt, the competent professional collector for the Godeffroy Museum. See P.4101.ACH1. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Related Image: This print or negative appears to be the original image at MAA from which the associated photographs have been derived from. [JD 20/1/2012]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund. [A. Nadin, 18/9/2003]