John Møller (photographer)

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John "Ujût" Peter Christian Møller (born November 19, 1867 in Nuuk ; † July 9, 1935 ibid) was a Greenlandic photographer , printer , interpreter , ornithologist , expedition member and councilor .

Life

education

Even before his confirmation, John Møller helped his father in the Nuuk print shop founded by Hinrich Johannes Rink . In 1881 he began training there at the request of his father, although he would have much preferred to be a hunter. He received his first kayak at the age of 15 . In 1887 he went to Denmark on board the Ceres for further training. On the ship he learned the Danish language and at the request of Inspector Carl Julius Peter Ryberg , John Møller was also instructed in photography , zinc composition and cliché printing in Copenhagen . In 1889 he returned to Nuuk on Hvidbjørnen . On arrival he photographed Fridtjof Nansen , who had just finished his Greenland expedition. From then on he worked under his father in the print shop. Thanks to John's newly acquired knowledge, works were now produced using cliché instead of lithographs .

Working as a photographer

In the printing shop, John Møller set up his photography studio , Godthaabs photographiske Anstalt ( Greenlandic Nûngme tarrarssugkanik ássilialiorfik / Nuummi tarrasukkanik assilialiorfik ). He was the first professional photographer in Greenland. Over the decades he took several thousand photographs here, of which around 3,000 photo plates are still preserved today. Most of the pictures were taken in John's home and work place Nuuk, while others mostly come from South Greenland. These were recorded until 1913, when he was on the road as an interpreter for the South Greenland inspector , like his father had before.

The most common subjects in John Møller's photographs were individual or family portraits. Others show hunters at work in their kayaks. The last large group of pictures shows places and landscapes. The photographs are in the Greenland National Archives . From 1954 to 1955 they were loaned to the Danish Royal Library , where two thirds of them were copied. Subsequently, the photos were interpreted by captain Johannes Balle and his nephew library advisor Poul Edinger Balle together with contemporary witnesses for their motives.

John Møller's photographs can be found as illustrations in numerous scientific books. In addition, in Knud Oldendow's Traek af kolonien Godthaab's historie, 1728–1928 , he himself described in detail the earlier conditions in Greenland. His works were shown to the public for the first time at Dansk Fotografisk Forening in 1894. On the 100th anniversary of the printing house, an exhibition of his photographs was also held in 1957 in the Danish National Library.

Further work

John Møller's greatest hobby remained fishing and hunting throughout his life. Already in his youth he went kayaking once a week and later he caught seals, white fish and sea hares. Even when motor boats appeared in Greenland, he continued to advocate traditional kayak hunting. As a fisheries advisor, he also revived humpback whale hunting in Greenland.

John Møller's other great hobby was ornithology . He collected numerous birds, stuffed them himself and donated them to museums and exhibitions. He provided Knud Oldendow with the necessary material for his book Fugleliv i Grønland from 1933. In 1925 he accompanied Eiler Theodor Lehn Schiøler as a hobby ornithologist and Greenland expert on his bird expedition through Greenland and was a participant in The Oxford University Greenland Expedition in 1928. In 1907 he showed the first Eider species Somateria mollissima dresseri and in 1923 the first Bartramia longicauda in Greenland.

As a politically interested person , John Møller was a member of the Forstanderskaber before he was first elected to the Nuuk City Council in 1911. At the same time he was elected to the first South Greenland State Council , where he stayed for a term up to and including 1916. In 1915 he was re-elected to the local council until 1919. During this time he was particularly committed to better education and initiated the first Greenlandic hunting textbook in 1922, to which he himself contributed three chapters on fishing, humpback whale hunting and eider fishing.

In 1922 John's father left the print shop at the age of 80 and handed over the management to his son, from whom it passed to Kristoffer Lynge after just a few weeks . In the same year the photography studio was outsourced from the print shop. In 1927 John Møller retired. In 1931 he was appointed Dannebrogsmand . He died of a flu epidemic in the summer of 1935 at the age of 67.

family

John Møller was the eldest son of the printer Lars Møller (1842-1926) and his wife Louise Malene Kristiane Rasmussen (1847-1928). His younger brother was the draftsman and painter Stephen Møller (1882–1909). John Møller was married to Mariane Ingeborg Karitas Nielsen (1870-1913) in his first marriage since November 3, 1889. The following children were born from the marriage:

  • Charlotte Ane Kathrine Møller (born January 27, 1891 in Nuuk)
  • Kirsten Karitas Helene Møller (born November 14, 1892 in Nuuk)
  • Kirsten Karitas Rosa Møller (born February 26, 1895 in Nuuk)

After the death of his first wife, he married Sofia Kristine Charlotte Kristiansen (1893–1929) on April 13, 1914. From this marriage emerged:

  • Stephen Karl Klaus Peter Møller (born January 7, 1915 in Nuuk)
  • Maren Mariane Ane Møller (born August 8, 1916 in Nuuk)
  • Karen Louise Sofia Møller (born May 29, 1918 in Nuuk)
  • Steffen Johan Peter Søren Møller (born July 25, 1920 in Nuuk)
  • Lars Peter Albrecht Johan Møller (born December 11, 1923 in Nuuk)
  • Bodil Birgitte Stine Charlotte Møller (born October 14, 1925 in Nuuk)

Illustrated works

John Møller's photographs illustrate the following books, among others:

  • Søren Hansen : Bidrag til Vestgrønlandernes Anthropologi . In: Meddelelser om Grønland . tape 7 , no. 6 . Copenhagen 1893, p. 163-250 .
  • Georg Carl Amdrup , Louis Bobé , Adolf Severin Jensen , Hans Peder Steensby : Grønland i Tohundredeaaret For Hans Egedes Landing . Ed .: Commissions for Ledelsen af ​​de geologiske og geografiske Undersøgelser i Greenland. CA Reitzel, Copenhagen 1921.
  • Daniel Bruun : Det høje nord: Færøernes, Islands og Grønlands udforskning . E. Bojesen, Copenhagen 1902, ISBN 978-1-248-08524-0 .
  • Louis Bobé : Grønlandsbogen: Billeder efter fotografiske Optagelser . CA Reitzel, Copenhagen 1921.
  • Knud Rasmussen : Myter and Sagn from Grønland II . Gyldendal , Copenhagen 1924.
  • Sophie Petersen: Greenland i hverdag og fest . CA Reitzel, Copenhagen 1928.
  • Knud Oldendow : Naturfredning i Grønland . Gad, Copenhagen 1935.
  • Knud Oldendow : Træk af Grønlands politiske historie: Grønlændernes egne samfundsorganer . Gad, Copenhagen 1936.
  • Knud Oldendow : Greenland : Folk og Land in front of the day . Fremad, Copenhagen 1936.
  • Knud Oldendow : Træk af kolonien Godthaabs historie, 1728–1928 . Sydgrønlands Bogtrykkeri, Nuuk 1928.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Inge Kleivan : Træk af John Møllers liv og virke in the Tidsskriftet Grønland (1958/8) (. Pdf)
  2. ↑ Biography in Den Store Danske
  3. ↑ a b c biography in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon
  4. ↑ a b Entry in Weilbach's artist lexicon
  5. ^ Church records Nuuk 1887–1901 (Born girls p. 34)
  6. ^ Church records Nuuk 1887–1901 (Born girls p. 37)
  7. ^ Church records Nuuk 1887–1901 (Born girls p. 39)
  8. ^ Church records Nuuk 1902-1915 (Born boys p. 29)
  9. ↑ Church records Nuuk 1915–1926 (Born girls p. 35)
  10. ↑ Church registers Nuuk 1915–1926 (Born girls p. 40)
  11. ^ Church records Nuuk 1915–1926 (Born boys p. 14)
  12. ^ Church records Nuuk 1915-1926 (Born boys p. 25)
  13. ↑ Church records Nuuk 1915–1926 (Born girls p. 61)
personal data
SURNAME Møller, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Møller, John Peter Christian (full name); Ujût (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greenlandic photographer, printer, interpreter, ornithologist, expedition member and national councilor
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuuk
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 1935
Place of death Nuuk