Oscar Mallitte
Oscar Mallitte | |
|---|---|
 Oscar Mallitte by John Murray | |
| Born | 1829 |
| Died | 13 June 1905 (aged 75–76) |
| Education | Faculty of Medicine, Paris |
| Known for | Photography of Andaman Islands, Indian Rebellion of 1857 sites, Second Opium War |
Oscar Jean-Baptiste Mallitte (1829 – 13 June 1905), was a French surgeon and photographer, known for his photographs at the Andaman Islands, being responsible for processing John Murray's negatives of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and capturing images of the Second Opium War.
Early life and education
Oscar Mallitte was born in 1829 and studied medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Paris, where he possibly first met Frederic J. Mouat of the Bengal Medical Service.[1] He began his career as a surgeon in France.[1]
Early photography
Andaman Islands
Mallitte left Bordeaux in 1857, and on 23 July that year reached Calcutta, where he shared the same address as Mouat.[1] Later that year he joined Mouat with a British expeditionary party to survey the Andaman Islands for the purpose of founding a penal colony for prisoners of the Indian Uprising.[2][3] Called the "Andaman Committee", the party had been formed at the instruction of Lord Canning and also included among its members the surgeon George Playfair and J. A. Heathcote, of the Royal Navy.[4]
Their journey began in Calcutta, on the Semiramis on 23 November 1857 and reached Mawlamyine, where they transferred to the smaller Pluto.[3][4] They arrived at Port Cornwallis on 11 December, after first sighting Narcondam Island.[3] During the expedition Mallitte photographed landscapes, settlements, and native Andamanese inhabitants, producing a series of eleven images that were subsequently printed, mounted, and presented to the Government of India after the party returned to Calcutta.[4] These included images of Barren Island, Port Blair, Ross Island, and three views of John Andaman.[5][6]
John Andaman
School of Industrial Art
After the Andamans Mallitte was appointed teacher of photography at the School of Industrial Art, and in that capacity became responsible for processing John Murray's negatives of the Indian Uprising.[1]
Later photography
Mallitte left the School of Industrial Art in 1859.[1] That year, he exhibited his photographs at Bengal Photographic Society's meetings and in August that year presented at its second annual exhibition.[1] A year later, he was a commercial photographer in Agra, and by September 1859 he was preparing works for the Lahore Chronicle.[1]
Canning's tour
In late 1859 Mallitte was recruited by Lord Canning to accompany him on his tour of the Uprising sites of the North-Western Provinces, though it was noted by the New Times that much of the ruined sites and rubble had been cleared up by this time.[1] Mallitte photographed the same view of Metcalfe House a year after Murray, documenting the clearing that had taken place since then, and also like Murray took a similar view of Humayan's Tomb, though with surrounding overgrown vegetation.[1]
Metcalfe House, Delhi
Lady Canning
Mallitte took several photographs of Charlotte Canning, including on elephant, and on horse back.[1]
Countess Canning
Canning on elephant
Canning on her horse
Indigo plantations
Mallitte was commissioned by the Planter's Association to take photographs of indigo plantations, for the purpose of depicting the industry in favourable light.[7] The images were published in 1877 in The Planting & Manufacture of Indigo in India. 29 photographic views.[8]
Beating a vat
Indigo plantation
Plantar's residence
Indigo beaters
Second Opium War
Mallitte also captured photographs of the Second Opium War.[9]
Death
Mallitte died on 13 June 1905, at his home in Calcutta.[10]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bharath, Stephanie Roy (2017). "Photographing the uprising of 1857". In Llewellyn-Jones, Rosie (ed.). The Uprising Of 1857: The Alkazi Collection of Photography. Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Limited. pp. 232–261. ISBN 978-93-85360-11-4.
- ↑ Anderson, Clare (1 March 2009). "Oscar Mallitte's Andaman Photographs, 1857–8". History Workshop Journal. 67 (1): 152–172. doi:10.1093/hwj/dbn078.
- 1 2 3 Ainsworth, William (1866). "The Islands of the Indian and Eastern Seas: The Andaman Islands". All Around the World: An Illustrated Record of Voyages, Travels, and Adventures in All Parts of the Globe. London: W. Collins, Sons, & Company. p. 212.
- 1 2 3 Sircar, Pronob Kumar (2026). "4. Andaman Committee". The Hidden History of Andaman and Nicobar. Notion Press. p. 147. ISBN 979-8-90362-907-7.
- ↑ Anderson, Clare; Mazumdar, Madhumita; Pandya, Vishvajit (2016). New Histories of the Andaman Islands: Landscape, Place and Identity in the Bay of Bengal, 1790–2012. Cambridge University Press. p. 392. ISBN 978-1-316-42523-7.
- ↑ "Oscar Jean Baptiste Mallitte 1829 - 1905". Science Museum Group. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
- ↑ Edwards, Elizabeth; Morton, Christopher (2015). Photographs, Museums, Collections: Between Art and Information. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-4725-2733-2.
- ↑ Ray, Romita (2023). "4. Unruly indigo? Plants, plantations and partition". In Göttler, Christine; Mochizuki, Mia (eds.). Landscape and Earth in Early Modernity: Picturing Unruly Nature. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis. p. 175. ISBN 978-9463729437.
- ↑ "Jean Baptiste Oscar Mallitte". artera. Archived from the original on 22 July 2026. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
- ↑ "Deaths". Madras Weekly Mail. 29 June 1905. p. 141. Retrieved 23 July 2026 – via British Newspaper Archives.
