Philipp Remelé
Philipp Remelé (born February 25, 1844 in Euskirchen , † July 5, 1883 in Cologne ) was a photographer and Africa explorer.
Life
He was born as the son of the private teacher Matthias Remelé and his wife Therese. Maissiat born. Therese Remelé inherited the Gastendonk estate in Kerken near Geldern in 1838 . The family moved into the estate in 1845 and managed it until 1869. Ernst Remelé , who later became a judge, was his brother.
As a young chemistry student, Philipp Remelé learned photography in Krefeld in 1858 and devoted himself entirely to it when he had completed his studies at the Royal Trade Academy in 1864. In contrast to most other photographers, he did not deal with portrait photography , but turned to landscape photography . Soon various German publishers published his series from the Harz (Mittelgebirge) Harz , the Thuringian Forest , the Giant Mountains and Styria . In 1869 Remelé published a series of landscape shots from the Lower Rhine and a short handbook of landscape photography on wet roads . His series of stereoscopic images of the Rhine and its surroundings was published by E. Linde in Berlin.
It was probably created in 1870 or 1871, because in 1871 Linde presented Remelé's views of the Remagener Apollinariskirche to the Berlin “Association for the Promotion of Photography” which, according to the members, were characterized by “very clear reproduction of the oil paintings there”. In autumn 1870 the photo series Scenes from the war camp Metz 1870 , the battle ruins near Metz 1870 and ruins from the area around Metz were created .
As early as 1865, he was awarded the best performance at the Berlin Photographic Exhibition. Philipp Remelé was very interested in technical questions, especially in the newly developed dry plate method , which, due to its high sensitivity and shorter exposure time, had many advantages over older methods of photographic recording.
Libyan expedition
Remelé achieved a new dimension in photographic excursions in 1873 when Gerhard Rohlfs took him on a trip to the Libyan desert on the recommendation of the chairman of the Berlin Association for the Promotion of Photography. At this point Rohlfs had already had an eventful life. After dropping out of medical school and a time in the French Foreign Legion , he worked as a doctor for the Sultan in Fez , where he learned the Arabic language . Over time, he developed from an adventurer into a serious explorer of Africa. In December 1873 he set out with a hundred camels and 97 men to explore the Libyan desert. Participants in the expedition included the geologist Karl Alfred von Zittel , the geodesist Wilhelm Jordan , the botanist Paul Ascherson and the photographer Philipp Remelé, who was also assigned the task of stewardship.
The purpose of the trip was geographical and archaeological research, above all to clarify whether there was an old bed of the Nile ( Bahr bela ma , river without water) in the desert . Maps of the area should be made. The connection between the Egyptian oases and the Kufra oases should also be investigated . Egypt supported the expedition financially. Together with Wilhelm Jordan, Remelé carried out the topographical survey of the oases. For his scientific achievements in Egyptology, he photographed an Egyptian temple and its inscriptions, he was awarded the Medischieorden by the Khedive (viceroy) Ismail Pasha .
After his return, he attracted attention and admiration in professional circles and the public with a series of extremely interesting, excellently successful papers . In total, Remelé took around 200 photos: green oases, stony deserts, excavation sites, cities, houses, men sat his portrait. Scenes of everyday life were missing because of the long exposure times.
Remelé has put together 110 magnificent albums, most of which are given away to princes, scientific associations and scholars. In 1875, Philipp Remelé received a silver medal in Vienna for taking pictures of landscapes and buildings in the Libyan desert.
From 1876 he worked for Oskar Kramer in Vienna.
Trip to Morocco
The following year he took part in the delegation of the resident Weber to Morocco , which was sent by Kaiser Wilhelm . He also brought 50 to 60 photos with him from this area, which had hardly been photographed until then, including those of the garden and house of the Imperial Minister's Residence. In April 1877 the magazine "Photographische Mitteilungen" reported:
- “Mr. Remelé (...) arrived happily in Tangier and had to lie there for several weeks to await the riding animals sent by the Sultan to meet the expedition. They did not arrive until the end of April, and the travelers took them on the inland expedition. During his stay in Tangier, Mr. Remelé took very interesting group photos of natives. It should be noted that the advisor for the Vossische Zeitung in Berlin, Mr. L. Pietsch, accompanied the expedition and, according to a letter that arrived here, it has already covered a good part of its way. "
In 1878 the association magazine writes about a meeting of the Berlin "Association for the Promotion of Photography" (1878):
- “Mr. Philipp Remelé gives a very interesting lecture on his trip to Fez, presenting all the photographs he took on this trip, which arouse general admiration for the excellent representations of the country and its people. The association rewarded the speaker with extensive applause. "
Remelé made two albums for "His Majesty the Emperor and the High Foreign Office". All pictures from this trip are lost.
Journey with the Bismarck
In 1878 Remelé took part in a long voyage on the SMS Bismarck under Captain Karl August Deinhard , which led via South America around Cape Horn to Samoa and Australia. The voyage began on November 22nd and led through the Strait of Magellan into the South Pacific, where deep-sea plumbing was carried out. Then it went to Raiatea. There they visited the royal family to sign a friendship treaty. The ship then went to Bora Bora and Huahine. On May 10, 1879, Apia was reached in Samoa. On May 22nd, an exploration trip through the waters around the Samoan Islands began . On August 8th we went to Sydney for overhaul work. The ship was supposed to represent the German Empire at the world exhibition in Melbourne , Australia in 1880/81 . On the way, however , the Bismarck received an urgent call for help from Samoa, where a conflict between the population, the German and British colonial powers had broken out. The Bismarck presence forced the installation of Malietoa Talavou as head of all Samoans.
On the return voyage, the ship got caught in a heavy storm and ran to Sydney for repair work. Now the Bismarck could still take part in the world exhibition. The ship then called at Peruvian and Chilean ports and left Chile on July 18 . Cape Horn was circled and the journey continued via Port Stanlay in the Falkland Islands to Plymouth . The ship reached Wilhelmshaven on September 30, 1880 .
Remelé reported in the " Photographische Mitteilungen " in 1881 in a multi-page report on his experiences with photography on sea voyages . Two years ago he started on a trip to the South Seas, Australia and South America with Bismarck and returned last autumn.
In 1880 his book Kurzes Handbuch der Landschafts-Photography was discussed in the same magazine . After his trip with the Bismarck, Remelé worked in Breslau and Cologne .
He died unexpectedly on July 5, 1883 in Cologne, not yet forty years old, presumably by suicide. It is not known whether an eye injury caused by ammonia during his trip to Samoa and Australia in 1879 played a role, or whether the economic situation was not particularly good.
Works
- Brief Handbook of Landscape Photography on Wet Roads , 1869
- Landscape shots from the Lower Rhine , photographic series, 1869
- The Rhine and its surroundings , photographic series
- Scenes from the Metz war camp 1870 , photographic series, 1870
- Battle ruins near Metz 1870 , photographic series, 1870
- Ruins from the environs of Metz , photographic series, 1870
- Photographs from the Libyan desert: expedition of the Africa explorer Gerhard Rohlfs in the years 1873/74, photographed by Philipp Remelé. Ed. Temmen, Bremen 2002, ISBN 3-86108-791-X
- Short handbook of landscape photography , Verlag Robert Oppenheim, Berlin 1880
- Experiences about photography on sea voyages In: Photographische Mitteilungen , 1881
Web links
- Literature by and about Philipp Remelé in the catalog of the German National Library
- Journey with SMS Bismarck to the South Seas and Australia 1878–1880 (photos and letters)
- The world before Instagram
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Remelé, Philipp |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 25, 1844 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Euskirchen |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 5, 1883 |
| Place of death | Cologne |