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Nouveau Musée - I Partie

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Marubi National Photomuseum in Shkoder. Albania

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Nouveau Musée - II Partie

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Origine et création du Musée

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Des images de Pietro Marubi

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Marubi photographs: A portrait of Albania - BBC News

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Salle des négatifs en verre

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Le nouveau projet et ses pièces.

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Le rez de chausée

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La naissance d'une invention en Monde.

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1- Les débuts de la photographie - La naissance d’une invention (1/4)

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Pièces d'un musée

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La quête de la légitimité artistique

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1- Les débuts de la photographie - La quête de légitimité artistique (2/4)

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Focus Gustave Le Gray et Hippolyte Bayard

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1- Les débuts de la photographie - Focus Gustave Le Gray et Hippolyte Bayard (3/4)

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Le métier de la photographie aujourd'hui - I

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Le métier de la photographie aujourd'hui - I

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1- Le métier de photographe aujourd’hui - Israel Ariño (4/4)

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La photographie pure (straight photography)

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2- La photographie au XXe siècle - La photographie pure (1/4)

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La photographie documentaire

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2- La photographie au XXe siècle - La photographie documentaire (2/4)

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Focus Paul Strand et Walker Evans

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2- La photographie au XXe siècle - Focus Paul Strand et Walker Evans (3/4)

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Le métier de la photographie aujourd'hui - II

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Le métier de la photographie aujourd'hui - II

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2- Le métier de photographe aujourd’hui - Françoise Huguier (4/4)

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La photographie des années 1980 à nos jours - I

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La photographie des années 1980 à nos jours - I

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La photographie contemporaine

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3- La photographie des années 1980 à nos jours - La photographie contemporaine (1/4)

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La photographie des années 1980 à nos jours - II

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La photographie des années 1980 à nos jours - II

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La photographie numérique

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3- La photographie des années 1980 à nos jours - La photographie numérique (2/4)

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La photographie des années 1980 à nos jours - III

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La photographie des années 1980 à nos jours - III

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Focus Jeff Wall et Pierre Faure

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3- La photographie des années 1980 à nos jours - Focus Jeff Wall et Pierre Faure (3/4)

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Le métier de la photographie aujourd'hui - III

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Le métier de la photographie aujourd'hui - III

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3- Le métier de photographe aujourd’hui - Alain Keler (4/4)

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L'histoire de la vie et d'Albanie selon Pietro MARUBI

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Na ishte njëherë Shqipëria - Shqipëria sipas Pietro Marubit

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L'histoire du fils adoptif de Pietro MARUBI

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Na ishte njëherë Shqipëria - Shqipëria sipas Kel Marubit

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L'histoire du fils de Mikel MARUBI

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Na ishte njëherë Shqipëria - Shqipëria sipas Gegë Marubit

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Critique PHOTOS. L'Albanie dans la mire du trio Marubi.

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Critique PHOTOS. L'Albanie dans la mire du trio Marubi.

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L'histoire a commencé avec Pjetër Marubi au XIXe siècle, elle a continué avec son fils adoptif Kel et le fils de celui-ci; sélection de quelques-uns de leurs 100.000 clichés, à mi-chemin du documentaire et de la mise en scène.

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Albanie, visage des Balkans,éditions Arthaud, 100 photos du studio

Marubi, 144 pp., 295 francs.

Au coeur du "pays des Aigles", dans cette Albanie abreuvée de légendes, l'histoire des photographes Marubi est aussi vraie qu'extraordinaire. Une exposition à Beaubourg, reprise joliment au dernier festival Est-Ouest de Die, nous l'avait contée, un livre au-jourd'hui la feuillette.

Tout commence par le portrait en pied d'un notable replet et moustachu, cachant sa virilité sous une jupe blanche traditionnelle et portant à hauteur du nombril quelques lames redoutables: Hamze Kazazi, l'un des leaders de l'insurrection de Shkodra en 1835. La photo date de 1858, elle est signée Pjetër Marubi et c'est la première jamais prise en Albanie.

Né en Italie à Piazenca, Marubi s'appelait Pietro. Actif garibaldien, il échappa aux geôles de l'empire austro-hongrois en trouvant refuge dans l'empire ottoman à Shkodra seconde ville albanaise à l'époque après Durrës et bientôt albanisa son prénom en Pjetër. Peintre et sculpteur, il est attiré par la photographie balbutiante. Il en fait, en vend, il finit par en vivre. Le libre-service photo de l'antenne Fnac locale n'étant pas encore ouvert, Marubi prépare forcément lui-même ses plaques au collodion, les développe. Et part en vadrouille sur tous les fronts de l'histoire et de la vie quotidienne albanaise.

Un travail harassant. Marubi embauche un apprenti, Rrok Kodheli, un gars venu des montagnes (nombreuses en Albanie). Marubi le forme mais quand l'apprenti-photographe meurt à 19 ans (en 1881), son frère Kel le remplace.

Marubi envoie ce dernier à Trieste apprendre le métier, à son retour l'activité photographique redouble d'intensité. Les techniques s'améliorent, le matériel aussi, les plaques deviennent industrielles et le studio de Marubi est désormais pourvu d'une verrière qui distille la lumière naturelle.

Quand Pjetër Marubi meurt en 1904, son compagnon de route Kel Kodheli troque son nom hommage et filiation contre celui de Kel Marubi.

Le grand artiste, c'est lui. L'archiviste, le conservateur lucide, cela sera son fils Gegë, photographe comme son père et son faux-vrai grand-père. Formé à l'école des frères Lumière à Lyon dans les années 1920, il ordonne, collectionne et préserve les clichés des Marubi (dont les siens) lesquels, à sa mort en 1984, constitueront le fonds fabuleux de la photothèque de Shkodra. Plus de 100.000 négatifs dans une continuité historique et une unicité de sujet (l'Albanie) s'étalant sur trois générations à cheval entre deux siècles et deux mondes, un exemple sans doute unique.

Une continuité qui trouve sa dramaturgie dans le studio des Marubi où, de Pjetër à Kel, toute la société albanaise prend la pose devant un même décor à peine modifié au fil des décennies, celui d'une toile peinte avec arbres et feuillage. Une Jeune Femme musulmane en 1884 (Pjetër), une Petite Fille dans la tenue d'une femme catholique de Shkodra en 1912 (Kel) ou des Paysans des montagnes de la Zadrima vers 1900 (Kel). Les Marubi, surtout Kel, font aussi oeuvre de mémoire de la vie sociale: boutiques (tailleur, chapelier, marchand de bonbons, etc.), marchés, hôpitaux, constructions. La réputation du nom de Marubi grandit et Kel photographie le roi Zog en tenue d'apparat ou lors de son mariage et, plus surprenant, en slip de bain, faisant des haltères sur un ponton de Durrës.

Si le travail de Pjetër a surtout une valeur documentaire par son ancienneté, celui de Kel révèle de surcroît un grand artiste. Kel compose ses photos comme un peintre ses natures mortes ou des scènes mythologiques, il soigne ses éclairages, bref, il met en scène.

Par exemple, cet étonnant Homme vêtu d'un costume de femme catholique à la pose très concertée ou ce Barbier posant en studio devant un décor peint qui, à lui seul méritait tout un article de commentaire tant cette photo est stupéfiante. Cet art au carrefour de la mise en scène et du témoignage social trouve son apogée dans les clichés des veillées mortuaires (rituel important dans les Balkans) où Kel Marubi excelle. Entre Pjetër le pionnier, Kel l'artiste, et Gegë l'archiviste, c'est toute l'histoire de la photographie qui est ici traversée.

Regrettons pour finir la scandaleuse édition de cet ouvrage. Non pour la qualité très honorable des reproductions photographiques mais pour l'irrespect dans lequel sont relégués les Marubi dont le nom n'est pas mentionné sur la couverture du livre (au titre tarte, Albanie, visage des Balkans) et où trône, en revanche, celui d'Ismaël Kadaré.

Le grand écrivain qu'il est ne gagne rien à faire ainsi de l'ombre à trois de ses compatriotes en signant ce livre qui n'est pas le sien. Dans son texte (inégal), Kadaré observe que "le dernier des Marubi", qui "s'éteignit une année avant le dictateur communiste (Enver Hodja), avait refermé son appareil au milieu des années 1940" et ne "devait plus jamais l'ouvrir jusqu'à sa mort, en 1984". Ce silence photographique fascine. Comment a vécu Gegë pendant ses derniers quarante ans? Ni Kadaré ni aucun des autres textes ne nous le dit. Reste l'essentiel: les mirifiques photos des Marubi.

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PHOTOS. L'histoire a commencé avec Pjetër Marubi au XIXe siècle, elle a continué avec son fils adoptif Kel et le fils de celui-ci; sélection de quelques-uns de leurs 100.000 clichés, à mi-chemin du documentaire et de la mise en scène. L'Albanie dans la mire du trio Marubi.

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Albanie, visage des Balkans,éditions Arthaud, 100 photos du studio Marubi, 144 pp., 295 francs. Au coeur du "pays des Aigles", dans cette Albanie abreuvée de légendes, l'histoire des photographes Marubi est aussi vraie qu'extraordinaire. Une exposition à Beaubourg, reprise joliment au dernier festival Est-Ouest de Die, nous l'avait contée, un livre au-jourd'hui la feuillette.

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La création d'une image en métal.

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Louis Daguerre

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La boîte noire ou la chambre noire.

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Le Calotype - La base de la création de la photo

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Le Calotype - La base de la création de la photo

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Henry Fox Talbot - Créateur du Calotype.

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Le Calotype - L'origine du Négatif 1841 #GHDLP

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Images du calotype d’Henry Fox Talbot. Les positifs.

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Une technique réalisé par Pietro Marubi.

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Une histoire semblable à celle de MARUBI 

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Une histoire semblable à celle de MARUBI 

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Le musée de Lille

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Expo Pasquero au musée de l'Hospice Comtesse

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Comment développer une pellicule argentique noir et blanc 

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Comment développer une pellicule argentique noir et blanc 

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La réalisation de nos jours des photos

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Comment développer une pellicule argentique noir et blanc de A à Z

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Tutoriel pratique pour réaliser toutes les étapes du développement argentique noir et blanc toi même.

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Appareils d'exception

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Brocantes - Appareils photos d’exception aux enchères

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Traitement préparatoire du négatif de verre au gélatino-bromure d'argent.

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Travail préparatoire  "Souvenirs du présent " 1900paris.fr

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En verre de gélatino-bromure d'argent

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Préservation d'archive Marubi - Marubi Archive Conservation

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Préservation d'archive Marubi - Marubi Archive Conservation

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Les fameux originaux de Marubi - Marubi Celebrates The Originals

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Les fameux originaux de Marubi - Marubi Celebrates The Originals

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Principe d'utilisation d'un appareil photo à plaque des années 1900.

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Principe d'utilisation d'un appareil photo à plaque des années 1900.

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Principe d'utilisation d'un appareil photo à plaque des années 1900.

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Papier photo ; séchage sur plaque de verre ou à la glaceuse

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Papier photo ; séchage sur plaque de verre ou à la glaceuse

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Support de la photographie

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Papier photo ; séchage sur plaque de verre ou à la glaceuse

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Support de la photographie

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Support de la photographie

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Rénovation de plaques de verre photographiques anciennes

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Rénovation de plaques de verre photographiques anciennes

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Support de la photographie

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Rénovation de plaques de verre photographiques anciennes

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La plaque photopolymère en taille-douce pour la photographie

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La plaque photopolymère en taille-douce pour la photographie

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Support de la photographie

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La plaque photopolymère en taille-douce pour la photographie

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Intro - I

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“Exclusive”, si u manipulua Marubi - Top Channel Albania - News - Lajme

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La manipulation au Communisme

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Exclusive, 15 Tetor 2017 - Top Channel Albania

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A patient carrying his amputated leg; heads applied to different bodies; important historical figures excised by photo technicians during dictatorial rule... Located in Shkodra, Albania, The Marubi museum contains a collection of more than five hundred thousand negatives dating from the second half of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth. Derived from its namesake, the Marubi photography studio founded in 1858, the museum features a multifaceted view of the uses-artistic, social, cultural, and political-of the photographic medium over the course of a century and a half in Albania.
The Albanian version is available here.

The history of photography in Albania begins with the Italian photographer Pietro Marubbi (1834-1903), who settled in the city of Shkodra during the second half of the nineteenth century and opened the first photography studio there in 1858. The Marubi, the National Photography Museum and Albania's first photography museum, opened in May 2016. The core of its collection is comprised of what was formerly the contents of the Marubi Photothèque.

Having no children of his own, Pietro Marubbi's first assistants and faithful successors in the field of photography were Mati and Kel Kodheli, the sons of his gardener Rrok Kodheli. Pietro sent Mati, the older of the two brothers, to Italy to study photography at the Sebastianutti & Benque studio in Trieste. When Mati died prematurely at age nineteen, in 1881, Pietro adopted Kel, whom he also sent to Italy to study and who would later assume the surname Marubi. Upon Pietro's death in 1903, Kel inherited his adopted father's studio and continued its work. He, in turn, was followed into business by his own son, Gegë Marubi, who studied photography and cinematography in France at the Lumière brothers' studio. What is notable through three generations of photographers is the desire to be modern, and as such, to stay abreast of contemporary aesthetic trends and new technologies.

With the onset of Communist rule in the 1940s, when every private enterprise was prohibited by law and he was unable to independently use and/or promote his own work or that of his ancestors, Gegë Marubi was forced to turn over his family's archive to the state. This way, although unable to remain in private business, he could oversee the Marubi archive. Other photo studios that had opened in Albania over the course of the same decades, including Dritëshkroja e Kolës (1886), Fotografija Pici (1924), Foto Jakova (1932), and Foto Rraboshta (1943), also had to relinquish their images. From these combined sources, the Marubi Photothèque was founded as a division of the Historical Museum of Shkodra. It remained a part of this museum until 2003, when it became an autonomous institution.

The Marubi museum preserves and promotes this collection of more than five hundred thousand negatives dating from the second half of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth. The Marubi family archive, along with archives of many other photographers in the museum's holdings, document pivotal moments in Albanian social, cultural, and political life over the course of a century and a half.

Fig.2.1 Claude Monet. Caricature of Mario Uchard

Manipulation
The invention of photography through the process of heliography opened the door to further development of the medium, including the manipulation of images. Direct intervention in print, including retouching or scratching; use of artificial lighting; and the manipulation of negatives has played a significant role in how an image is viewed. Historically, images have been altered to deceive, impress, or distort so-called truth, or to create false idols.

In 2013, when the entire Marubi archive was re-inventoried, previously unknown negatives were discovered. This process took place about forty years after Gegë, the last member of the Marubi Dynasty, undertook an inventory of the entire archive. These newfound images are testaments to an early history of photographic manipulation in Albania, beginning in the late 1800s. Among them is a photomontage created in 1860 by Pietro Marubbi (fig. 1), in which its subject Giacinto Simini is depicted in three different roles-that of a client who, clothed in the traditional Catholic dress of Shkodra, leans against a miniature building resembling a hospital; that of a patient carrying his own amputated leg; and that of a surgeon holding a hatchet. In trying to piece together a logical narrative to explain the combination, one should know that Giacinto Simini was the son of the Italian doctor Gennaro Simini, an immigrant in Ottoman Albania who, like many other Italians, had left Italy in the nineteenth century because of political persecution during the Risorgimento. Giacinto's book, Un patriota leccese nell'Albania ottomana (2011), is certainly foreshadowed in this image, which served as an advertisement for the hospital his father had opened in Shkodra.

Another early shot uses the wet-plate collodion process (fig. 2) to depict Pietro Marubbi, whose "big" head is mounted on a body too small for it, the composite applied to the side of an oversize coffee cup sitting on what looks to be a wooden cupboard. Curiously reminiscent of caricatures made by the Impressionist painter Claude Monet in the 1850s, this image was likely shot between 1865 and 1875, when there was mass dissemination of European caricatures. The archive holds many other such experimental images, including Visto buono per Napoli (fig. 3) and 100 franchi prima volta 1874 (fig. 4), both of which are photomontages by Pietro Marubi; a double portrait of Kel Marubi and his sister, whose heads have been mounted on the bodies of two African fighters (fig. 5); and a portrait of Jak Bjanku with his friend, each of whom holds up an image of the other's head (fig. 6).

Following in Pietro's footsteps, Kel and Gegë Marubi continued to develop photographic manipulation techniques. Like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's image in which he poses as an artist and model (1892), Gegë appears in a double portrait-as himself and as an interlocutor (fig. 7). Further examples reflecting the use of new techniques by the next generations of Marubis are images from 1927 (fig. 8) and 1940 (fig. 9). In both, the priest Anton Kiri is captured asleep-in a chair in the earlier picture and on a branch in the later one-while a "ghost" plays the violin alongside him.

Not all of the manipulated photographs in the Marubi family archive are experimental, however. For example, certain images were altered using ink and other means to eliminate "enemies of the state." This was a common Communist practice that spread quickly throughout the Eastern bloc countries, including in Albania. In 1952, the Albanian authorities set up state-run photography departments, initially as part of the "Cooperative for Repair Services." Employees of these departments became photographers and lab technicians, as well as members of the state security overseeing the process of censoring and/or "repairing," i.e., manipulating, images. Photographers who had previously worked in their private studios were not only forced to hand over their archives-but also to work for the state in this capacity. Some of the Marubi family's photographs that were confiscated in this process were then altered for use as political propaganda.

During the dictatorship period in Albania, records were created based on the limited information the Marubi family was allowed to provide. The errors photographers made when registering their original photographs, and the additional mistakes made when data from old inventories was transcribed to new ones, were the cause of misinformation and historical deviations.

The first publication of the Marubi Dyansty's photographs, Traces of the National History in the Phototheque of Shkodra (1982), includes a series of manipulated images from which Albanian patriots have been erased or cut. For example, a well-known photograph by Kel Marubi from 1923 depicts the deputies of Shkodra with Luigj Gurakuqi, secretary of the Independence Government; the priest Dom Ndre Mjeda; and Father Gjergj Fishta, a national poet (fig. 10). These men significantly influenced Albanian political and cultural life, their impact shifting the course of the political events that followed in 1921-24, but during the Communist regime in Albania, the only version of the photograph allowed to circulate was the one in which Father Gjergj Fishta had been erased. This was due to the fact that his Christian, national, and anti-chauvinist views conflicted with Communist ideology (fig. 11).

The album also includes one of the most spectacular photographs of the Communist regime's manipulation period, in which all but one of the people standing on the balcony of the building of the Municipality of Shkodra for the reburial of the patriots Çerçiz Topulli and Mustafa Qulli in 1936 (fig. 12) have been erased. In the manipulated version of the photograph, originally taken on September 12, 1936, the only person shown is the dictator Enver Hoxha, who is delivering a speech (fig. 13).

What is the hidden story behind this retouched photograph? One of the reburied patriots was from Gjirokastra (Ç.Topulli), the other from Leskovik (M. Qulli). In honor of the occasion, the mayor of Shkodra, Javer Rushidi had invited local authorities to make speeches and delegations from Gjirokastra and Leskoviku to honor the patriots. Enver Hoxha, who at that time was only twenty-eight, had just returned from Belgium, where he worked for the Albanian consulate, and gave a speech as a representative of Gjirokastra's youth. Various hypotheses suggest that he was at that time a part of the King Zogu youth assembly. Once Hoxha was in power, any image or document from his life prior to 1936 disappeared or was altered. Analysis of images in books about his life (1908-1985) published by the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Albanian Working Party indicate that almost everything was manipulated, including this image, which is part of the Marubi archive.
The First Albanian Photography
Numerous untouched negatives found in the archive and research led to a very important and ongoing debate in Albania about the first Albanian photograph, taken by Pietro Marubbi in 1858 of Hamza Kazazi, the Albanian fighter and leader known for his role in Albanian Uprising of 1835 (fig. 14).

Scholar Zija Shkodra argues that Marubbi's photograph of Kazazi is not the first example of Albanian photography since, in 1858, Kazazi was interned in Istanbul. "This argument is further supported by the face of the subject, that of a 50-year-old man, not a 79-year-old one, which Hamza Kazazi was in 1859." Another scholar, Dashnor Kokonozi, claims that "great photographers of that time avoided taking standing portraits since there is no guarantee of the person's stature in front of the lens, which surprisingly is not the case with Marubbi. In 1858, he took portraits of people standing." Although both authors are correct in their analyses, neither was able to give additional explanation regarding this issue for the simple reason that the Marubi archive was not available for research until it began to be digitized in 2013.

What would change if they had been able to conduct additional research? After reading previous publications and partaking in several debates, my interest intensified. Willy Kamsi, former ambassador of the Republic of Albania to the Holy See in the Vatican, told me that the person posing in Marubbi's first photograph was, in fact, an Italian consul in Shkodra. While that information greatly surprised me, it propelled me to seek the truth.

I immediately asked the archive staff to locate all of the photographs of the Italian consuls of Shkodra using the inventory records made in 1972-79 by Gegë Marubi as a guide. Two days later, I received a surprising response. One of my coworkers in the archives had gathered all of the images of the Italian consuls, among them "Hamz Kazazi." Upon reviewing them, I realized that something was not right, and in checking Gegë's records against earlier ones, noticed that the number and size of the negatives listed were the same, but that the description in the older registry (fig. 15) did not correspond to the newer one (fig. 16).

Fig.15.1 Old register "Eminent people and things". Marubi National Museum of Photography

Fig.16 Registry of register IV, Marubi donation, p. 270. Marubi National Museum of Photography

Fig.17 Registry of Register I, Marubi donation, p. 218. Marubi National Museum of Photography

The older registry, titled "Eminent people and important items" (fig. 15.1), notes: "Hamz Kazazi, Origin number (negative), 1951, 12×16." Whereas, Gegë's registry (fig. 17) notes: "Serial number: 67007, Origin number (negative) 1951, the Content of the document: Di Donato, Author of the Document: Pietro Marubbi, File Size: 12×16, Number of the shelf where the negative was placed: Shelf 9." Analyzing both registries, I noticed that the records for photographs of Hamz Kazazi had been added later to the older of the two-and written in a different ink. Evidently, the earlier registry had been manipulated but we do not know why or by whom.

Further investigation revealed that the person in the photograph is in fact the Italian consul Alessandro De Rege di Donato, who served in Shkodra from February 20, 1881, to February 18, 1886, and not Hamza Kazazi. A relevant discovery was another portrait of di Donato (fig. 18), also found in the archive. By magnifying both faces, I could see that they are one and the same person. These findings confirm that what has been recognized as the first Albanian photograph in publications regarding the history of photography in Albania, has in fact been misrepresented-reopening the discussion about what is, in fact, the first Albanian photograph.

Photographic manipulations undertaken over the course of fifty years by the Communist regime for political and ideological reasons have affected and shaped the history photography and of our country. The ongoing digitization of the Marubi archive is enabling further research and analysis of this practice and its impact. The museum's collection not only provides historical content but also evidence of the sociocultural context in Albania over the course of a century. With only one-fifth of the archive digitized, the work of the Marubi remains essential to saving the most important photography collection in Albania. Year after year, this process sheds light on new images, offering a new perspective and better understanding of a history that was intentionally manipulated to distort-a precious history that some didn't know about and still others were not allowed to learn.

*The exhibition Manipulation, which opened in August 2017 at Marubi, the National Photography Museum, shared for the first time these manipulated images spanning the years before and during the Communist regime. The exhibition is also a legacy of the historical and cultural importance of an archive to revealing real facts proven by original negatives that were exhibited for the first time.

Translated from Albanian by Hana Halilaj.

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Marubi Archive: Changing the History of Photography in Albania | post

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A patient carrying his amputated leg; heads applied to different bodies; important historical figures excised by photo technicians during dictatorial rule... Located in Shkodra, Albania, The Marubi museum contains a collection of more than five hundred thousand negatives dating from the second half of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth.

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Anton Kiri et sa soeur

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Anton Kiri et sa niece