Martin Rikli Photographs

Photographs by documentary cinematographer Martin Rikli taken in Ethiopia in the 1930s. The collection includes three albums, each entitled "Abessinien 1935-1936," containing a total of approximately 800 original photographs and photographic post cards, as well as a fourth album with Rikli's notes describing the images. The photographs thoroughly document Rikli's Ethiopian (Abessinien) expedition, which coincided with the second Italo-Abyssinian War. The collection is particularly useful for research in the history of Ethiopia and North Africa, the rise of the fascist states leading up to World War II, as well as documentary photography and visual history.

The first album begins with images of Marseilles, the European point of departure for the expedition, as well as numerous photos taken on the Suez Canal and Port Said, Egypt. There are numerous photos and postcards of Aden (Yemen), the next stop of the expedition, as well as images taken while traveling by train to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The majority of the photos in this album depict Emperor Haile Selassie, his palace and family, ceremonies and dinners, foreign dignitaries, the urban landscape, and government and religious assemblies. Two photographs are missing from the first volume: page 22 (showing Haile Selassie) and plate 45.

The second album primarily contains views of the people and places in and around Addis Ababa. Although there are some landscape and nature photographs, the bulk of the photos portray the men, women, and children of Ethiopia. Other subjects include schools, marketplaces, agriculture and rural activities, weaving looms, sheep, court hearings, and government officials. In addition, there are a handful of images of Haile Selassie meeting with various Europeans including the German envoy Kirchholtes, who appears in several images in the first two albums.

The third album begins with photos similar to those found in the second album, but the focus turns to military matters as the Italian army begins to make progress with its invasion of the country. The images show Ethiopian military units, training areas, airports, barracks, soldiers, and the general mobilization of Ethiopian defenders. The capture of Addis Ababa by Italian forces is the dramatic high point of the album with photos showing burned buildings, corpses in the streets, and subsequent military parades. The last few pages of the album portray Rikli's departure from Africa.

The fourth album, entitled "Anmerkungen Zur Lichtbildsammlung," contains Rikli's handwritten notes, in German, describing the photos in each album. Many of these descriptions are quite lengthy and include names of individuals, activities, and places shown. Also included is a letter written by Rikli from "Adis Adeba" on April 4, 1936, detailing the situation in Ethiopia to a Minister of State, and a loose photograph showing military personnel camped in large open field. There are also photocopies of a newspaper article and a publication about the Ethiopian trip written by Rikli. The first, written for the Berliner Illustrierte Nachtausgabe in 1935, is entitled "Abschiedsaudienz bei Kaiser Haile Selassie" ("Audience with Emperor Haile Salassie") and features photos of Rikli meeting with Selassie. The second is entitled "Athiopien im Mittelpunkt des Weltinteresses" ("Ethiopia at the Center of the World's Interest") and consists primarily of photographs with descriptive captions.