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The Bantu Tribes of South Africa
Alfred Martin
Duggan-Cronin (1874-1954)
The Bantu
Tribes of South Africa
Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin
Complete Set - The Bantu
Tribes of South Africa - All Volumes
On offer - a complete set
of Duggan-Cronin's 'THE BANTU TRIBES OF SOUTH AFRICA - REPRODUCTIONS OF
PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIES. This eleven-part study was published over a
twenty-seven year period, making complete sets very rare. In fact, it
took eighty-four years before this extraordinary set came together, and
no less then twenty for Gallery Ezakwantu to assemble.
Alfred Duggan-Cronin
developed a quest to record vanishing tribal dress in the region of
Southern Africa. To create these, he selected photographs from his
records of what became over 7000 glass plates and negatives. He
co-authored with heavyweight ethnologist scholars such as Schapera,
Warmelo, Hammond-Tooke and Henri Junod, who provided introductory
essays. Three hundred and seventy-six large format collotype prints are
individually divided by annotated tissue sheets that provide tribal
information, names, titles and location points.
Details of the
four volume set of eleven books and co-authors follow.
Vol. I, Section I
THE BAVENDA - Plates I-XX
G. P. Lestrade, M.A.
1928
Vol. II, Section I SUTO-CHUANA TRIBES / THE
BECHUANA - Plates I-XXVI
G. P. Lestrade, M.A.
1929
Vol. II, Section II
SUTO-CHUANA TRIBES / THE BAPEDI - Plates XXVII-LII
WERNER EISELEN, M.A., Ph.D.
1931
Vol. II, Section III
SUTO-CHUANA TRIBES / THE SOUTHERN BASOTHO - Plates LIII-LXXVIII
G. P. Lestrade, M.A. / I. SCHAPERA,
M.A., Ph.D. 1933
Vol. III, Section I
THE NGUNI / THE CISKEI AND SOUTHERN TRANSKEI TRIBES (XHOSA AND THEMBU)
- Plates I-XL I. SCHAPERA and W.G. BENNIE
1939
Vol. III, Section II THE
NGUNI / THE MPONDO AND MPONDOMISE - Plates XLI-LXXX
MONICA WILSON, M.A., Ph.D.
1949
Vol. III, Section III THE NGUNI /
THE ZULU - Plates LXXXI-CXX
D. McK. MALCOM, BA.
1938
Vol. III, Section IV THE NGUNI /
THE SWAZI - Plates CXXI-CLII
HILDA BEEMER 1941
Vol. III, Section V BACA,
HLUBI, XESIBE - Plates CLIII-CXCVIII
W. D. HAMMOND-TOOKE, M.A., Ph.D.
1954
Vol. IV, Section I
THE VATHONGA THONGA-SHANGAAN (The Thonga-Shangaan People) - Plates
I-XL
HENRI-PHILIPPE JUNOD, B.A., B.D.
1935
Vol. IV, Section Il THE
VACHOPI OF PORTUGESE EAST AFRICA - Plates XLI-LXXX
HENRI-PHILIPPE JUNOD, B.A., B.D.
1936
Condition: Above is the
set offered. These are in remarkable fine condition for what they represent,
as perfect examples are unknown. Varying discoloration appears to each cover,
preserved in acid
free jackets. Three of the eleven are missing small pieces to their lower
right cover boards, something which is not at all atypical to these rare volumes.
Spines are cracked as per the first image above, but
amazingly remain intact.
About A. M. Duggan-Cronin
Thandabantu
-The one who loves
people.
Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin was
born in 1874 in Ireland . He immigrated to South Africa in 1897 to begin what
became a thirty-five year career with De Beers Consolidated Mines in
Kimberly, concluding with retirement in 1932.
Miss Maria Wilman - first
curator of the McGregor Memorial Museum - Alfred Duggan-Cronin
Duggan-Cronin purchased his
first box camera in 1904 for 10 shillings. With it and encouragement from
Miss Maria Wilman, he emerged as one of the most important Southern African
ethnographic photographers of all time.
Duggan-Cronin / Mochudi Botswana - 1919
During World War I,
Duggan-Cronin participated in the South West African and East African
campaigns, accompanied with his camera. After the war, he undertook his first
expedition to photograph the San people. This was the beginning. He was
rewarded with funding from the Union Research Grant Board to photograph the people of Botswana.
The Bantu Tribes of South Africa - Venda Girls - Zulu Chief
The realization that the
traditional way of life practiced by indigenous South African people was
quickly eroding, led to more trips. There would be times Duggan-Cronin
travelled on foot with his cumbersome equipment. Included were heavy glass
plates, taken so that he might develop photographs in the field to show
people their pictures. He would record the place and date of each photograph
taken, and sometimes a portion of a person's family tree.
Duggan-Cronin and Richard Madela in their bush
camp.
Eighteen expeditions
covering 128,000 kilometers were travelled, photographing vanishing tribal dress.
Simultaneously he collected an amazing assortment of artefacts. A young
Mfengu friend by the name of Richard Madela (below centre), was employed in
1930. Madela travelled with him on field trips, drove, interpreted and took
some photographs. The two had met in 1924 at a hall where Madela was found
helping hang photographs for an exhibition that his school was invited to.
As mentioned, Duggan-Cronin
retired from De Beers in 1932. This resulted with more time to spend on what
long before had become his life passion. He had become internationally
famous. In 1924 he exhibited in that British Empire Exhibition in London.
The first three volumes of 'The Bantu Tribes of South Africa' had been
published (Vol. I, Section I - Vol. II, Section I and Vol. II, Section II)
Exhibitions were held countrywide. In 1931, he exhibited at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in London.
In 1937, Duggan-Cronin's studies were exhibited in Paris.
Subsequent trips were financed
by Kimberley's McGregor Museum, the Carnegie Foundation and the national
government. De Beers purchased a building known as the 'The Lodge', and then
allowed Duggan-Cronin to live and store his artefacts and photographs there
(above-below). In 1937, the ‘Duggan-Cronin Bantu Gallery’ was opened by Sir
Ernest Oppenheimer. In 1938 the building itself was renamed DUGGAN-CRONIN -
BANTU GALLERY.
Over time, Duggan-Cronin was
visited by the Free State President Reitz, Lord Milner, General
Jan Smuts and members of the British Royal Family. In 1948, fellow
enthusiasts and kindred spirits Barbara Tyrrell and Killie Campbell paid him
a visit - which was reported in the local news as below.
Alfred Martin
Duggan-Cronin and Barbara Tyrrell 1948
The DIAMOND FIELDS
ADVERTISER reported 4 March 1948: Three Natal women arrived in
Kimberly yesterday for the express purpose of visiting the Duggan-Cronin
Bantu Gallery. They were Miss Barbara Tyrrell, of Richmond, and Miss
Killie Campbell and her sister, Mrs. John Hepburn, both of Durban.
All were keenly
interested in Native life and customs, and they said their interest had
been awaken originally by Mr. Duggan-Cronin's books. These were added
sparks to the fire of enthusiasm he had already created, and they have
since spent much time collecting information and studying Native
customs.
Miss Tyrrell,
who is a talented artist, has brought with her a large collection of her
own Native studies done in flat water colors, outlined.
Miss Tyrrell
arrived by caravan and is camping in the grounds of the gallery. She
travels alone through the Native territories and makes sketches of the
various types, with a special interest in their costumes, poses,
expressions and musical instruments.
She said she
soon discovered that each tribe has its own typical poses and facial
expressions, as well as its own mode of dress, and she has tried in her
pictures to capture the distinctive pose and expression of the tribe, as
well as to give a detailed picture of the costume.
As a linguist
she is able to talk to her models, and she has learned much of the
significance of the bead work and dress, so that each picture is
accompanied by a short article describing the significance of the
costume.
Miss Tyrrell's
travels have extended over the past three years. She has toured
Zululand, Basutoland, Pondoland, Swaziland and the Transvaal, making
pencil sketches which she completes when she returns to Durban.
When she first
started the work she found it difficult to persuade the Natives to pose
for her, but she soon discovered that an outright request for a
"sitting" was a breach of etiquette.
Now, when she
sees a Native whom she thinks would make a good model she approaches the
subject cautiously, talking about the weather, the crops or any topic
the may come to mind until she is asked the direct question: "Where are
you going and what do you do?'
Then she
explains that she would like to draw the model, and they usually agree
readily. When they appear shy or self-conscious, she suggests that she
would like to draw their beadwork, of which they are always inordinately
proud. They will pose for hours while she makes her sketch, and the fact
that the human element creeps in does not worry them at all.
Thandabantu
Treks
Map showing the approximate
routes Duggan-Cronin between 1919 and 1939.
1919 - Bushman - Tswana
1920 - Zulu
1922 - Bushmen
1923 - Ndebele - Shangaan -
Venda
1925 - Bhaca - Mpondo
1926 - Sotho
1927 - Bushmen - Swazi - Tsonga
1928 - Mfengu - Xhosa
1929 - Pedi
1930 - Bomvana - Gcaleka -
Ngqika - Sotho - Thembu
1932 - Bhaca - Hlubi - Mpondo -
Mpondomise - Xesibe
1933 - Bushmen - Chopi -
Ndebele - Swazi - Tsonga/Shangaan
1934 - Ndebele (Matabele) -
Tswana - Sarwa
1935 - Tsonga - Zulu
1936 - Herero - Ila -Wambo
1937 - Bhaca - Ila - Nguni
1938 - Ila - Lozi - Lunda -
Mbunda
1939 - Ndau - Shona
The Bantu Tribes of South Africa - Venda Girls
Duggan-Cronin's kindness shown to others inspired his instant interest
towards native peoples and allowed him to gain their confidence. He was
given the name Thandabantu by the Matabele, meaning one who loves
people. He himself said; of all the African names I was given
in the course of my travels, Thandabantu was the one that appealed to me
most.
In 1952, the Sunday Times quoted
Duggan-Cronin saying: It was a great trek. It took me 20 years and
I enjoyed every minute of it.
A handful of the many objects collected by tribal
enthusiast Alfred Duggan-Cornin
Alfred
Duggan-Cronin died in 1954 and was buried in Kimberley - the place he called
home. The name: DUGGAN-CRONIN - BANTU GALLERY was removed from the gallery
building in the early 1990's
(politically incorrect),
but his work - together with the life work of celebrated Aubrey Elliot,
Alice Mertens and Jean Morris remain at the DUGGAN-CRONIN GALLERY!
Complete Set - The Bantu
Tribes of South Africa - Eleven Books of Four Volumes
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