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We have been unable to find information on the history of photography in Romania. We do note that many of the 19th century photographic studios were operated by Germans. This reflects the fact that Germany rapidly industrialized in the 19th century and Romania was still a largely agricultural country. This suggests that photograophy was essentially intoduced to Romania and dominated by Germans living in the country. This presumavly included both Romanian citizens and resident aliens. Romania of course had a German monarchy and a substantial ethnic German minority. As in other countries we notice CDVs and cabinet cards in the 19th century. We do not note the earlier formats like Daguerreotyoes and Ambrotypes. As was common in Europe, CDVs continued to be popular in Romania longer than was the case in America. We have acquired very few 19th century image. the earliest dates to the 1870s, but we suspect there must hsve been at least some images taken in the 1860s.
We have collected quite a number of 20th century images at least given Romania's small size and economic condition. Images from Bucharest and the major cities suggest a life style much like Western Europe, but in the country side we see very tradition life style and clothing. With the devloping interest in genre photography, Romania because of its relative backward rural culture attracted considerable interest in the 19th century. According to one author, " Positioned at the ‘Gates of the Orient’, the Romanian Principalities attracted a large number of nineteenth century travellers, merchants, students and artists. For the artists, in particular, a visit to Romania was synomynous with a pilgrimage into the Romantic period, to a remote land filled with picturesque scenery, strange people and unbelievable adventures. Moreover, their services were welcomed by the local citizens." [Ionescu] We have very little information on individual Romanian photographers. One recently discovered a trove of Romanin pre-World War II was the work of Costică Acsinte. They were found stored in the back of a county museum. They are interesting because they are not just studio portaits, but genre images bringing the life style and economic images of a past era to life.
We have been unable to find information on the history of photography in Romania. We do note that many of the 19th century photographic studios were operated by Germans. This reflects the fact that Germany rapidly industrialized in the 19th century and Romania was still a largely agricultural country. This suggests that photograophy was essentially intoduced to Romania and dominated by Germans living in the country. This presumably included both Romanian citizens and resident aliens. Romania of course had a German monarchy and a substantial ethnic German minority.
As in other countries we notice Romanian CDVs and cabinet cards in the 19th century. We do not note the earlier formats like Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes. There may have been some, but they were certainly not very common. Commnercial photography was developed by researchers in a small number of countries (primarily Britain and France) annd then spread to other countries like Romania. Thus by the time Dags and Ambros reached Romania, CDVs apeeared and quickly prevailed because of their many advntages and lower costs. As was common in Europe, CDVs continued to be popular in Romania longer than was the case in America. So far the earlies CDV we have found dates to the 1870. We suspect that they are earlier ones, but our archive is very limitd. The cabinet card here is a good exmple of a cabinet card (figure 1). This look one look to date to the turn-of-the 20th century. The mount styles look similar to those we see in America and Western Europe. we suspect that the dating conventions are also the same, but do not have a large enough archive to substantiate this.
We have acquired very few 19th century image. And we do not have any mid-19th century images as we have in Western Europe and America. The earliest Romanian photographic images we have obtained dates to the 1870s, but we suspect there must hsve been at least some images taken in the 1860s. We have collected quite a number of 20th century images at least given Romania's small size and economic condition. Images from Bucharest and the major cities suggest a life style much like Western Europe. There would be no way of identifying the boy here as Romanian without the studio infomation on the mount (figure 1). The countryside and villages were different. We see very tradition life style and clothing being commonly worn once outide the major cities into the 20th century. We do note city boys in the 19th cntury dressing up in folk costumes.
With the devloping interest in genre photography, Romania because of its relative backward rural culture attracted considerable interest in the 19th century. According to one author, " Positioned at the ‘Gates of the Orient’, the Romanian Principalities attracted a large number of nineteenth century travellers, merchants, students and artists. For the artists, in particular, a visit to Romania was synomynous with a pilgrimage into the Romantic period, to a remote land filled with picturesque scenery, strange people and unbelievable adventures. Moreover, their services were welcomed by the local citizens." [Ionescu]
We have very little information on individual Romanian photographers. The first photgraphers were studio photraphers. Here we notice many German names. One recently discovered a trove of Romanin pre-World War II was the work of Costică Acsinte. They were found stored in the back of a county museum. They are interesting because they are not just studio portaits, but genre images bringing the life style and economic images of a past era to life. He traveled around the country and captured many wondeful impages of Romanian life. Hopefully our Romanian readers will provide more infoirmation about important photographers in their country.
Ionescu, Silvan. "Early portrait and genre photography in Romania," History of photography Vol. 13, No. 4 (October 1, 1989), pp. 271-85.
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