- Shop
- [Photo Album of Trinidadian Carnival Costume Gowns]
[Photo Album of Trinidadian Carnival Costume Gowns]
[Photo Album of Trinidadian Carnival Costume Gowns]
An album of more than 70 original photographs documenting scenes, chiefly portraits of women in ornate costume gowns related to the Trinidadian Carnival celebrations dated 1956 and 1963 (with included clippings suggesting the undated prints document the years between).
Credited photographers include "Chan's Photo" and "Pereira's Photo Lab." Many prints are notated to their versos with descriptions like "Brad O'Brian's Band as Chess Men" ; "Cherrie Evelyn in her Carnival Costume - Oyster in Shell" ; "Queens in Evening Dress" ; "Wedgewood Plate which got 1st Prize" ; "2nd best evening dress" ; etc...
The years spanned here are significant ones for Trinidad in general and its Carnival celebrations and costuming in particular, as he country achieved limited home rule in 1956 and total independence from Great Britain in 1962. And, in 1956, the newly elected government of Premier Eric Williams took administrative control of Carnival from myriad local groups with creation of the Carnival Development Commission. From the introduction to Green and Scher's collection TRINIDAD CARNIVAL: The Cultural Politics of a Transnational Festival (Indiana University Press, 2007):
"This period came to be known as the Golden Age of Masquerade, and masmen [or costume designers] George Bailey, Harold Saldenha and Caryle Change became synonymous with a new Carnival aestetic that serves as the standard of excellence for future generations of designers." (pp. 5)
Primary material on this era of Carnival seems scarce to encounter off the island with these photographs providing a vivid glimpse at an important era in its ornate costuming traditions with generous notation and attribution to at least two local photographers.
[Photo Albums] : [Carnival] : [Costumes]. [Photo Album of Trinidadian Carnival Costume Gowns]. Trinidad: (ca. 1956-1963). Commercial album. Approximately 12 1/4" x 8 1/2." Red cloth over board panels with black cloth over spine with a string binding through two posts. 18 thick black paper leaves with 68 black and white photographs loosely fit into corner mounts to rectos and versos. 5 additional black and white photographs with three folded newspaper clipping laid-in additional. Prints range in size from 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" to 4 1/2" x 6 1/2." Cloth separating from upper board, otherwise all uncommonly well preserved: prints about fine, album about very good.
An album of more than 70 original photographs documenting scenes, chiefly portraits of women in ornate costume gowns related to the Trinidadian Carnival celebrations dated 1956 and 1963 (with included clippings suggesting the undated prints document the years between).
Credited photographers include "Chan's Photo" and "Pereira's Photo Lab." Many prints are notated to their versos with descriptions like "Brad O'Brian's Band as Chess Men" ; "Cherrie Evelyn in her Carnival Costume - Oyster in Shell" ; "Queens in Evening Dress" ; "Wedgewood Plate which got 1st Prize" ; "2nd best evening dress" ; etc...
The years spanned here are significant ones for Trinidad in general and its Carnival celebrations and costuming in particular, as he country achieved limited home rule in 1956 and total independence from Great Britain in 1962. And, in 1956, the newly elected government of Premier Eric Williams took administrative control of Carnival from myriad local groups with creation of the Carnival Development Commission. From the introduction to Green and Scher's collection TRINIDAD CARNIVAL: The Cultural Politics of a Transnational Festival (Indiana University Press, 2007):
"This period came to be known as the Golden Age of Masquerade, and masmen [or costume designers] George Bailey, Harold Saldenha and Caryle Change became synonymous with a new Carnival aestetic that serves as the standard of excellence for future generations of designers." (pp. 5)
Primary material on this era of Carnival seems scarce to encounter off the island with these photographs providing a vivid glimpse at an important era in its ornate costuming traditions with generous notation and attribution to at least two local photographers.
[Photo Albums] : [Carnival] : [Costumes]. [Photo Album of Trinidadian Carnival Costume Gowns]. Trinidad: (ca. 1956-1963). Commercial album. Approximately 12 1/4" x 8 1/2." Red cloth over board panels with black cloth over spine with a string binding through two posts. 18 thick black paper leaves with 68 black and white photographs loosely fit into corner mounts to rectos and versos. 5 additional black and white photographs with three folded newspaper clipping laid-in additional. Prints range in size from 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" to 4 1/2" x 6 1/2." Cloth separating from upper board, otherwise all uncommonly well preserved: prints about fine, album about very good.