A new exhibition at the V&A looks at the photographs of the brilliantly named Captain Linnaeus Tripe (1822-1902). Captain Tripe was a pioneer of early photography and he created a renowned collection of outstanding photographs of India and Burma in the 1850s.
Versions of this excellent exhibition of Linnaeus Tripe’s photographs have been shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This is its final and only European presentation and the V&A are putting it on as part of their India Festival, which celebrates the art and culture of the Asian subcontinent.
At 17 years old, Devon-born Linnaeus Tripe joined the East India Company Army and was stationed in India throughout the 1840s. He taught himself photography when he was on leave in England in the early 1850s and when he returned to India he was appointed by the governor-general to accompany an army mission to Burma to study the area. Tripe was the first person to photograph the then virtually unknown architecture and landscapes of Burma.
He went on to be appointed as photographer to the Madras government and for them he created a massive body of work capturing scenes of South India. Captain Linnaeus Tripe was a highly skilled photographer and his works capture a lost world in a most evocative and beautiful way.
Well worth a visit.
Exhibition closes 11th October 2015
www.vam.ac.uk/linnaeustripe
Admission: FREE
Opening times:
Daily 10am – 5.45pm
Fridays 10am – 10pm
Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road,
London SW7 2RL
www.vam.ac.uk
The London Art File 