Performing academic Masculinity in the Arctic: Sophus Tromholt and Roland Bonaparte’s photographic accounts of Sámi peoples and Northern landscapes
This article discusses photographs of Sámi people produced in 1883 and 1884 by the Danish-Norwegian scholar and photographer Sophus Tromholt (1851–1896) and G. Roche, the expedition photographer of the French prince, Roland Bonaparte (1858–1924). While Tromholt’s photographs have been understood as...
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Taylor & Francis Group
2018
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2018.1498677 https://doaj.org/article/c3f6d2d9e5464904987c835f1045c9b8 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c3f6d2d9e5464904987c835f1045c9b8 2023-05-15T14:55:46+02:00 Performing academic Masculinity in the Arctic: Sophus Tromholt and Roland Bonaparte’s photographic accounts of Sámi peoples and Northern landscapes Sigrid Lien 2018-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2018.1498677 https://doaj.org/article/c3f6d2d9e5464904987c835f1045c9b8 EN eng Taylor & Francis Group http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2018.1498677 https://doaj.org/toc/2000-4214 2000-4214 doi:10.1080/20004214.2018.1498677 https://doaj.org/article/c3f6d2d9e5464904987c835f1045c9b8 Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, Vol 10, Iss 4 (2018) Photography painting visual representation Sámi culture indigenous portraits Arctic expeditions academic masculinity Sophus Tromholt Roland Bonaparte Arts in general NX1-820 Aesthetics BH1-301 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2018.1498677 2022-12-30T21:24:53Z This article discusses photographs of Sámi people produced in 1883 and 1884 by the Danish-Norwegian scholar and photographer Sophus Tromholt (1851–1896) and G. Roche, the expedition photographer of the French prince, Roland Bonaparte (1858–1924). While Tromholt’s photographs have been understood as an example of how Sámi people were portrayed as individuals, and how they adapted the medium of photography for their own purposes, Roche/Bonaparte’s anthropometric photographs are seen as the opposite, an attempt to document the typical, racial features of the Sámi population. Contrary to such an understanding, the article argues that there are more common features between these portraits and their contexts of production than earlier suggested. Inspired by Ali Behdad’s discussions on the nature of orientalist photography, it neither sees Roche’s/Bonaparte’s nor Tromholt’s photographic representations as entailing a binary visual structure between the Europeans as active agents, nor Sámi people as passive objects of representation. Furthermore, it suggests that there are common features to be observed in relation to their respective contexts of production, stressing how both Tromholt’s and Roche’s/Bonaparte’s photographs of Sámi people and northern landscapes must be understood not only in the context of the photographic identity performances of the academic male subjects who represented them, but also in relation to the visual economy in which these representations were embedded. This involves a consideration of how travel narratives from pre-photographic Arctic expeditions played a mediating role for the later photographic practices in the Sámi areas. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Sámi Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Bonaparte ENVELOPE(160.833,160.833,-83.083,-83.083) Roland ENVELOPE(-64.050,-64.050,-65.067,-65.067) Journal of Aesthetics & Culture 10 4 1498677 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Photography painting visual representation Sámi culture indigenous portraits Arctic expeditions academic masculinity Sophus Tromholt Roland Bonaparte Arts in general NX1-820 Aesthetics BH1-301 |
spellingShingle |
Photography painting visual representation Sámi culture indigenous portraits Arctic expeditions academic masculinity Sophus Tromholt Roland Bonaparte Arts in general NX1-820 Aesthetics BH1-301 Sigrid Lien Performing academic Masculinity in the Arctic: Sophus Tromholt and Roland Bonaparte’s photographic accounts of Sámi peoples and Northern landscapes |
topic_facet |
Photography painting visual representation Sámi culture indigenous portraits Arctic expeditions academic masculinity Sophus Tromholt Roland Bonaparte Arts in general NX1-820 Aesthetics BH1-301 |
description |
This article discusses photographs of Sámi people produced in 1883 and 1884 by the Danish-Norwegian scholar and photographer Sophus Tromholt (1851–1896) and G. Roche, the expedition photographer of the French prince, Roland Bonaparte (1858–1924). While Tromholt’s photographs have been understood as an example of how Sámi people were portrayed as individuals, and how they adapted the medium of photography for their own purposes, Roche/Bonaparte’s anthropometric photographs are seen as the opposite, an attempt to document the typical, racial features of the Sámi population. Contrary to such an understanding, the article argues that there are more common features between these portraits and their contexts of production than earlier suggested. Inspired by Ali Behdad’s discussions on the nature of orientalist photography, it neither sees Roche’s/Bonaparte’s nor Tromholt’s photographic representations as entailing a binary visual structure between the Europeans as active agents, nor Sámi people as passive objects of representation. Furthermore, it suggests that there are common features to be observed in relation to their respective contexts of production, stressing how both Tromholt’s and Roche’s/Bonaparte’s photographs of Sámi people and northern landscapes must be understood not only in the context of the photographic identity performances of the academic male subjects who represented them, but also in relation to the visual economy in which these representations were embedded. This involves a consideration of how travel narratives from pre-photographic Arctic expeditions played a mediating role for the later photographic practices in the Sámi areas. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sigrid Lien |
author_facet |
Sigrid Lien |
author_sort |
Sigrid Lien |
title |
Performing academic Masculinity in the Arctic: Sophus Tromholt and Roland Bonaparte’s photographic accounts of Sámi peoples and Northern landscapes |
title_short |
Performing academic Masculinity in the Arctic: Sophus Tromholt and Roland Bonaparte’s photographic accounts of Sámi peoples and Northern landscapes |
title_full |
Performing academic Masculinity in the Arctic: Sophus Tromholt and Roland Bonaparte’s photographic accounts of Sámi peoples and Northern landscapes |
title_fullStr |
Performing academic Masculinity in the Arctic: Sophus Tromholt and Roland Bonaparte’s photographic accounts of Sámi peoples and Northern landscapes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Performing academic Masculinity in the Arctic: Sophus Tromholt and Roland Bonaparte’s photographic accounts of Sámi peoples and Northern landscapes |
title_sort |
performing academic masculinity in the arctic: sophus tromholt and roland bonaparte’s photographic accounts of sámi peoples and northern landscapes |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2018.1498677 https://doaj.org/article/c3f6d2d9e5464904987c835f1045c9b8 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(160.833,160.833,-83.083,-83.083) ENVELOPE(-64.050,-64.050,-65.067,-65.067) |
geographic |
Arctic Bonaparte Roland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bonaparte Roland |
genre |
Arctic Sámi |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sámi |
op_source |
Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, Vol 10, Iss 4 (2018) |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2018.1498677 https://doaj.org/toc/2000-4214 2000-4214 doi:10.1080/20004214.2018.1498677 https://doaj.org/article/c3f6d2d9e5464904987c835f1045c9b8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2018.1498677 |
container_title |
Journal of Aesthetics & Culture |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1498677 |
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