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Image / A completed house in Bamum

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Title
A completed house in Bamum
Fertiges Haus in Bamum
Creator
Wuhrmann, Anna (Ms)
Date Created and/or Issued
1911/1915
Publication Information
University of Southern California. Libraries
Contributing Institution
University of Southern California Digital Library
Collection
International Mission Photography Archive, ca.1860-ca.1960
Rights Information
All the images (photographic and non-photographic) made available in this collection are the property of the Basel Mission and are managed by mission 21. mission 21 / Basel Mission claim copyright on the images in their possession and require those publishing any of the images--both individuals and organisations--to pay a user's/copyright fee.
Contact the Archives of mission21 at address mentioned or at info@bmpix.org.
info@bmarchives.org
mission21
mission21, Missionsstrasse 21, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland, tel. (+41 61 260 22 42), fax (+4161 260 22 68)
Description
Note: "Haus (bau) fertig. Wie schön steht das fertige Haus des vornehmen Bamummannes da. Wie regelmässig ist an der untern Dachkante das lange Gras beschnitten, und wie kunstvoll ist das Fries, das zwischen den Hauswänden und dem Dach schmückend rings ums ganze Haus läuft. Dies Fries wird aus Grasbüscheln hergestellt und zwar sehr einfach. Die schwarzen Figuren meistens Tierbilder, sind angesengte Grasbüschel, die, schon während des Brennens schnell in ein Gefäss mit Wasser getaucht, die schwarze Farbe beibehalten. Rings um unser Haus herum läuft eine kleine wohnliche Veranda, nur aus Palmrippen hergestellt. Das ist der Ort, wo sich die Bewohner des Hauses während der Regenzeit oder über die grösste Mittagshitze gerne aufhalten. Da ist es trocken und kühl und vor allem heller als drinnen in der rauchgeschwärzten Hütte, die auch vom Eingeborenen nur dann aufgesucht wird, wenn er sein frugales Mahl zubereitet oder verzehrt, und wenn die Nacht um das weite Land ihren schwarzen Mantel schlägt." (Wuhrmann, A., 1917. Beschreibung zu den Lichtbildern aus Bamum. E-30-0,6).
Note translation: "The completed house of a noble Bamum gentleman looks beautiful. See how straight the grass of the thatch has been cut on the bottom edge of the roof. Look how artistic the frieze is between the walls and the roof, and which runs all the way round the house. This frieze is made very simply from bundles of grass. The dark figures, mostly pictures of animals, are made of singed bundles of grass which were quickly dipped in a bucket of water once they began to burn, and which then retain their blackness. Round this house runs a small, comfortable-looking verandah, built simply of the ribs from the palm tree. The people who live in the house like sitting there in the rainy season, or during the great heat in the middle of the day. It is dry there and cool and above all there is more light than inside the house, with its smoke-blackened walls. Indigenous people only use the inside of the house to prepare or eat their frugal meals, and when the night spreads its black robe over the land." (A. Wuhrmann, "Commentaries on Slides from Bamum", 1917, E-30-0,6, K 382). - A house for men or rather a husband (PV 02.2002).
Type
image
Format
b/w positive, paper print, gelatin-silver
8.2 x 11.2 cm.
Identifier
impa-m28909 [Legacy record ID]
impa-abmpix-3864
http://doi.org/10.25549/impa-m28909
http://thumbnails.digitallibrary.usc.edu/impa-abmpix-3864.jpg
Subject
Architectural view
Fence
Thatched roof
Type and material of construction
Open space
Time Period
1911/1915
Place
Bamum
Foumban
Source
E-30.33.017 [Reference number]
QE-30.006.0026 [Same image reference number]
Relation
Cameroon. Grasslands. Bamum. 1. Panorama of Fumban, town walls, town gates. 2. Compounds in Fumban. 3. Economy. 4. Markets. 5. Craftsmen and artists. 6. Hausas in Bamum. 7. Landscape
Historical Photographs from the Basel Mission
International Mission Photography Archive, ca.1860-ca.1960
impa-m15099; impa-m17106
impa-m39017
mission 21 / Basel Mission

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