Two views of the Kanak village at Gouars, New Caledonia, 1874.

I. Albumen print photograph, 203 x 153 mm, inscribed in the negative at bottom right ‘Hughan 4-74’, laid down on its original board mount, 370 x 240 mm, the lower margin with contemporary caption in ink in a neat hand: ‘Cases au village de Gouars. Côte Sud Ouest’.

II. Albumen print photograph, 153 x 199 mm, inscribed in the negative at bottom right ‘Hughan 4-74’, laid down on its original board mount, 370 x 240 mm, the lower margin with caption in the same hand as (I): ‘Village de Gouars. Côte Sud Ouest’.

Both are strong prints with good tonal range and excellent clarity; the mounts are free from foxing.

Allan Hughan was a British merchant and ship’s captain who had been shipwrecked in New Caledonia in 1870. By 1871 he had started a commercial photography business in Nouméa, and the following year he was appointed government photographer. In addition to studio portraits his work included views of Nouméa and the interior of the island, documentation of the traditional way of life and customs of the Kanak people, and an official photographic study of the French penal colony on the Isle of Pines.

For related images by Hughan taken in the same year, cf. Kakou, Serge. Découverte photographique de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, 1848-1900. Arles: Actes Sud, 1998, plates 56-61.