Albert Kahn (1860-1940) - Photography for a Vision of World Peace

[opensecret51]

Hi dear Nick ..very interesting project ...That picture from Mongolia ....the punished woman in the  box .....horrific.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi opensecret51 - yes, absolutely horrific.

initially i didn't know whether to include the image or not but then i thought it said something about the position of women in that country at that time.

i've travelled round Inner Mongolia and life is still pretty tough, or was when i was there in the early 1990s

[opensecret51]

@nickwallacesmith Kahn had a great vision .....Yes I have been in Tibet ....now days is very bad .....and terrible things are happening ....Tibetans are setting themselves on fire in a desperate appeal to the world for help .....China does not share Kahn vision !!!

[nickwallacesmith]

hi opensecret51 - i suspected things are no better - i read a book while i was living in the PRC which documented the destruction of Tibetan culture and the mass killings of monks and others. Kahn must be rolling over (and over) in his grave!

[nickwallacesmith]

hi opensecret51 again - hi - i see on your channel you have a commitment to the freedom of Tibet - i lived in the PRC for a year and tried to get to Tibet on many occasions - curiously (or not!) tickets were always sold out. though i believe even from China it's easier these days. just been watching a documentary on the country with Richard Gere as the talking head. cheers!

[Bnesque]

The world is a savage garden, with its cruelty and nakedness life is beautiful, isn't it?

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Bnesque - yes, it is. curiously many of the images have a national geographic quality about them - not just taken but to some degree set up. i tried to take a photo of a woman in mongolia and locals grabbed her and made her stand straight and look at the camera. i had to take the picture to make things move on but it catches nothin of the life i saw her living there unselfconsciously, cheers from down the road

[Bnesque]

@nickwallacesmith Yes. I'm wandering how Kahn connected these people's existence itself.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Bnesque - the images in country sets seem a bit disparate - he employed a range of photographers to undertake his project - so the pictures can seem in different styles - i guess the continuity if there is one is in his 'mission statement' to the group, the 'vision for world peace' - i guess through cross-cultural understandings.

[Bnesque]

@nickwallacesmith Some look like composition of Henri Rousseau, some like Georges de La Tour. But capturing people out there just being themselves shows us his vision greatly. That's the beauty of these photos.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Bnesque - yes, early photographers looked with an artists eye - some midC19 images (say Margaret Cameron) are academic exercises in composition using an overall geometric shape, such as the triangle. cheers

[cavalonja]

Beautiful, amazing photos. Thanks so much for sharing!

[nickwallacesmith]

hi cavalonja - i was so bowled over by them i couldn't resist somehow constructing them into a YT upload - such diverse beautiful images at such an early date. cheers