An expedition under the guidance of the French scholar Paul Pelliot (1878– 1945) conducted between 1906 and 1908 gave one of its participants, Charles Nouette (1869– 1910), the opportunity to compile a comprehensive archive of over 1,500 photographs. Hereafter referred to in sources as the Mission Paul Pelliot, this expedition intended to unearth and bring back ancient artifacts (manuscripts, paintings, sculptures, etc…) found in several places across Central Asia and China.
Nouette was originally a self-taught photographer who only later became familiar with archaeological methods. Biographical information about him is rather scarce, except from the obituary Pelliot wrote in his memory in 1910. Thanks to this we know that Nouette was originally an electrician and that illness had prevented him from continuing in this profession. He then dedicated his life to photography and this, combined with his scientific knowledge and natural ingenuity, attracted the attention of various contemporaries, notably Pelliot. He died in Paris from tuberculosis at the age of 41 while he was still developing Pelliot’ s expedition photographs
Interestingly, Nouette’s photographs provide a useful case study for examining the emergence of preservation and archaeological concerns, as well as the growing place of photography in academic disciplines like archaeology, while highlighting how these images interacted with local and international cultures.
Photography Friday is a regular feature from Shanghaiist in association with Photography of China, Marine Cabos’s fantastic platform about photography and photographers in China.
