Retired KSEB staffer spending life savings to immortalise French photography pioneer
ALAPPUZHA: Joseph Nicephore Niepce is one of the earliest pioneers of photography and is credited with capturing the first successful photograph of a real-world scene in the 1800s.
However, Saji Ennakkad, an artist from Mavelikkara, feels the French inventor never got the credit he deserved. This is why the retired KSEB senior superintendent hailing from Vathikulam has made it his mission to construct a memorial for Niepce using his savings from the past 30 years.
A few years ago, Saji, along with some others, formed the Joseph Nicephore Niepce Foundation in Mavelikkara. The Foundation is now helming the construction of the memorial, the first in India. Former chief secretary K Jayakumar laid the foundation stone for the memorial.
Saji says the memorial is more than a tribute to photography’s origins, it is a personal mission. “Niepce never received the recognition he truly deserved in his lifetime. This memorial is our way of honouring his legacy and telling the world about the man who captured light for the first time,” he says.
The project, having an estimated cost of `50 lakh, will recreate the French scientist’s historic residence where he conducted his groundbreaking photographic experiments. The most iconic feature, the window through which Niepce captured the world’s first successful photograph, will be replicated, Saji says.
A 34kg bronze bust of Niepce, crafted three years ago, will be installed next to the memorial. The structure, set on a five-and-a-half cent plot, is designed as a modern cultural complex, housing a photography museum, art gallery, workshop space for photo and painting enthusiasts, and an open stage for cultural programmes.
In 1827, Niepce used a camera obscura to capture the view outside his window -- a grain storage building -- with an eight-hour exposure time. The image, titled Le Point de Vue du Gras (View from the Window at Le Gras), became the first successful photograph in history.
The original photograph surfaced decades later, in March 1952, at the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratory in London. Its authenticity was scientifically confirmed in 2002 by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and since 2003, it has been preserved in an oxygen-free chamber at the Harry Ransom Research Centre, University of Texas.
After retirement, Saji has been active in painting and has started work based at the Gaya Art Gallery, Kochi. He has also wrote his first book on the history of photography, ‘Nischalam, Nishabdham’, in 2017. It was published by the National Book Trust. His wife Subi is the headmistress of St John’s LPS Vathikulam. The couple has two daughters – Anjali an accountant in the AG’s office in Thiruvananthapuram, and Aleena, a PG student of Madras Christian College.
Joseph Nicephore Niepce
Born: March 7, 1765
Birthplace:
Chalon-sur-Saone, France
Died: July 5, 1833
Name of first photograph: Le Point de Vue du Gras (View from the Window at Le Gras) taken between 1826 and 1827
After decades, photograph resurfaced in March 1952 at Eastman Kodak Research Laboratory, London