Abdullah Frères
{{Short description|Group of three Ottoman brothers, photographers of Armenian descent}}
File:Abdullah brothers - Marchio.jpg of the Abdullah Brothers. Note the tughra, indicating imperial patronage]]
The Abdullah Frères (French for "Abdullah Brothers"; {{langx|tr|Abdullah Biraderler}}) were a group of three Ottoman brothers of Armenian descent, Vichen Abdullahyan (1820–1902), Hovsep Abdullahyan (1830–1908), and Kevork Abdullahyan (1839–1918), photographers of international fame during the late Ottoman Empire.{{cite book|last=Hannavy|first=John|title=Encyclopedia of nineteenth-century photography|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=9780415972352|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJ8DHBay4_EC&q=abdullah+freres&pg=PA1036|access-date=6 December 2012}} They took pictures of scenic views and notable individuals, including sultans. Most of their photography was taken in the Ottoman Empire.
Vichen (later known as Abdullah Şükrü after converting to Islam) began his photographic career touching up photos for Rabach, who opened his photography studio in 1856 in the Bayezid district of Constantinople. In 1858, when Vichen's younger brother Kevork returned from his studies at the Moorat-Raphael College in Venice, they and another brother, Hovsep, decided to take over Rabach's photography studio and open their own, called the Abdullah Frères. In 1867, they sold their shop in Beyazid and moved to a more favorable location in Pera.{{cite book|last=Shaw|first=Wendy M.K.|title=Possessors and possessed : museums, archaeology, and the visualization of history in the late Ottoman Empire|year=2003|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, Calif.|isbn=9780520233355|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v65XlSj4ud8C&q=abdullah+freres&pg=PA141|access-date=6 December 2012|page=141}} The Abdullah Frères subsequently were among the most famous photographers in the Ottoman Empire. In 1863, Sultan Abdulaziz declared the Abdullah Frères as the official court photographers and Outstanding Artists of the City, an epithet they used until the closure of the shop in 1899. In 1886, at the request of the Khedive in Egypt, they opened a branch in Cairo, Egypt.
Over their lengthy career, the Abdullah Frères photographed numerous Ottoman sultans, Ottoman statesmen such as Ibrahim Edhem Pasha and Osman Nuri Pasha, international figures such as Mark Twain, scenic views, and more.
Several collections of Abdullah Frères photographs exist around the globe. A solid body of material was recently discovered in the personal archive of Alexandra C. Vovolini. Part of her ancestors archive, this collection includes rare material.
Gallery
File:Mark Twain by Abdullah Frères, 1867.jpg|Mark Twain (1867)
File:Ibrahim Edhem Pasha.jpg|Ibrahim Edhem Pasha (circa 1877)
File:GhaziOsmanPasha.jpg|Osman Nuri Pasha (around 1895)
File:Galata Bridge, Istanbul (Constantinople).jpg|View of Galata Bridge
File:Sultan Abdülaziz.JPG|Sultan Abdulaziz
File:Sultan Abdülmecit.jpg|Sultan Abdulmecid (photo of a painting)
File:Group portrait of eight Circassian men in uniform, with another man, possibly an Ottoman official.jpg|Group of Circassian men with Ottoman Official
File:Istanbul - Abdullah brothers - Viçen (1820-1902), Hovsep (1830-1908), Kevork (1839-1918) pre 1895.jpg|A ceremony in Yıldız Hamidiye Mosque, Constantinople
File:Abdullah frères - Trandafir G. Djuvara.JPG|Portrait of the Romanian diplomat and memoirist Trandafir G. Djuvara
File:ModernEgypt, Khedive Tawfiq, DHP13401-1-3 01.jpg|Photograph of Tawfiq Pasha
File:Hagia Sophia Bell.jpg|Bell of the Haghia Sophia
File:First Mobile Artillery.jpg|The sortie of the First Mobile Artillery Bodyguard Brigade from the barracks
File:Street in Galata, Istanbul, Turkey by Abdullah Frères, ca. 1880-1893 (LOC).jpg|Street in Galata
File:Stammesschule-JD.jpg|Mekteb-i Aşiret-i Humayun (Imperial Tribal School)
File:Istanbul - Abdullah brothers Quai de Bouyukdéré before 1895.jpg|A dock in Büyükdere, Sarıyer, Istanbul
File:Cuma selamlığı Abdül Hamid II Hamidiye Mosque 4.jpg|The Selamlik (Sultan's procession to the mosque) at the Hamidiye Camii (mosque) on Friday
File:Abdullah frères. Constantinople. Georgian. 1870.jpg|Georgian man (1870)
File:Turkish woman, full-length portrait, seated, facing front, holding parasol.jpg|Turkish woman, full-length portrait, seated, facing front, holding parasol
File:Stammesschule Schueler.jpg|Students of Mekteb-i Aşiret-i Humayun (Imperial Tribal School)
File:Abdullah Brothers - Rumelihisarı İskelesi - Google Art Project.jpg|Rumelihisarı İskelesi
File:Abdullah Brothers - The Port from the Galata Tower - Google Art Project.jpg|The Port from the Galata Tower
File:Abdullah Brothers - Holiday Workship at the Sinan Pasha Mosque - Google Art Project.jpg|Holiday Workship at the Sinan Pasha Mosque
File:Qerandiqo Berzeg2.jpg|Qerandiqo Berzeg, last leader of Circassia
File:Petar Mateev Mateev (1850-1943).jpg|Petar Mateev, Bulgarian diplomat
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?mark-twain-signed-photo-from-constantinople Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) Signed Photo by Abdullah Frères, Constantinople 1867] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605070957/http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?mark-twain-signed-photo-from-constantinople |date=2014-06-05 }} Shapell Manuscript Foundation
{{Ottoman families}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullah Freres}}
Category:Ethnic Armenian photographers
Category:Armenians from the Ottoman Empire
Category:Photographers from Istanbul
Category:Families from the Ottoman Empire