Classic photographer Cephas presents beautiful past
By Nuraini Juliastuti
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Kassian Cephas, the first professional Javanese photographer, was little known until his works went on display at the Yogyakarta palace on June 11.
His name is not mentioned in history books. However, Dutch historian Gerrit Knaap, the author of Cephas, Yogyakarta: Photography in the Service of the Sultan calls Cephas "one of the pioneers of modernity".
Cephas was born in 1845 and died in 1912. He photographed a wide variety of subjects: the sultan and his family, buildings around the Yogyakarta palace, Javanese rituals in the palace square, court dances, the main street of Malioboro, the fort of Vredenberg and a lot more.
Among the works on display are houses and shops in the Ngabean area, now known as Jl. Achmad Dahlan. They show Dutch men and women relaxing on the terraces of their homes, while indigenous people stand in positions of obscurity in the corners of the pictures.
The roads and front yards of the houses and shops appear empty; probably passers-by stepped aside to give way to the photographer, who would attract a curious crowd wherever he went, because photography was still an oddity among locals.
Cephas was regarded with awe wherever he was, because he was the only native Javanese seen in the streets at the end of the 19th century with such modern equipment.
All of the objects are beautiful in the pictures. Court dances, ceremonies, pretty women, buildings with classic architecture are all pleasing to the eye. These are images that are hard to believe existed at a time when the region was being colonized.
Cephas was born on Jan. 15, 1845. His father was Kartodrono and his mother Minah. One version has it that Cephas was adopted by a Dutchman named Frederik Bernard Fransiscus Schalk. He spent his childhood with Christina Petronella Steven, a Dutch Christian missionary who introduced Christianity to the Javanese.
He started to learn photography in the 1860s. He learned from Isidore van Kinsbergen, a Dutch photographer who worked in Central Java from 1863 to 1875. Another version has it that Cephas learned photography from a man named Simon Willem Camerik.
His photographs were first published in 1888 when he assisted with the publication of a book by Isaac Groneman, a Dutch doctor who wrote books on Javanese culture.
Using his sophisticated camera, which had a shutter speed of up to 1/400 per second, Cephas took pictures and sold his works. His photographs were sold as souvenirs for Dutch colonial masters when they went back to Holland or visited families elsewhere.
For example, when landlord J.M. Pijnaker Hordijk prepared to leave Yogyakarta, he received a photograph album prepared by Cephas with an inscription that read Souvenir von Jogjakarta.
Photographs of the sultan and his family were also given as souvenirs to government officials such as regents. This practice made Cephas widely known among indigenous and high-ranking Dutch officials and he was accepted into the elite circle.
Cephas began working as a court photographer with Sultan Hamengkubuwono VII. The sultan gave him the privilege of portraying special events such as sacred dances, which were closed to the public.
Cephas was also hired as the photographer on a research project on the ancient Javanese Hindu temple complex of Loro Jonggrang in Prambanan, about 20 kilometers east of Yogyakarta. The research project, undertaken by Archeologische Vereeniging, or Archeological Union, took place from 1889 to 1890. Cephas was assisted by his son, Sem, who inherited his father's talent for photography.
Cephas was also hired to photograph the excavation of Borobudur temple. He took some 30 pictures of the 9,000 gilder project. He obtained 10 gilders for each photograph -- a substantial sum of money at that time, as a kilogram of rice cost 1 gilder.
In recognition of his professionalism, Cephas was made a member of the prestigious Batavian Society. In 1896 he was nominated for membership of the Dutch Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology for his dedication in the archeological projects of the Archeological Union. Cephas was accorded the membership on June 15, 1896.
When King Chulalongkorn of Thailand visited Yogyakarta in 1896, he was awarded with three diamond buttons. Princess Wilhelmina of Holland accorded him a gold medal in 1901 for his dedication in the scientific projects.
Cephas' world was beautiful indeed. At that time the Dutch colonial administration had been in Java for almost 300 years. The Dutch were part of Cephas's world. As a result of his professionalism, he was accepted by the high class Dutch and Javanese royal communities.