Photographer: Lamote, Carlo (1928 – 2017).
Title: untitled ( Danse guerrière d'un notable Bakuba).
Date: 1952.
Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Medium: unmounted gelatin silver print.
Size: 24,0 x 18,2 cm.
Condition: very good.
Reference: CLIV1114/1.
Provenance: French collection.
Extra: typed note with identification in French and Dutch and stamp on verso. Congopresse 31.406/8.
War dance performed by a Bakuba notable in ceremonial attire. The Bakuba tribe is one of the main ethnic groups of the Kasai and has a highly developed social and political organization that enabled them to dominate neighboring tribes for many years.
Photographer and cameraman Carlo Lamote (1928-2017)) left for Congo in 1950 to work for the colonial information service. For ten years, he travelled to every corner of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi to highlight the colonial achievements. Propaganda is the name of the game, but he turned out to be an excellent photographer. Together with his colleague Henri Goldstein, Lamote has shaped our image of the Belgian Congo. Open any book about the 1950s in the colony and you will find their names under the photos.
After independence, he set up his own film production company and news agency, with Visnew, ABC and CBS as regular customers. He was also the founder of Congovox, the news service of the Congolese state broadcaster.