In 1931-1932 as Georges-Marie Haardt’s Trans-Asiatic Expedition made its way from Beirut to Beijing on, tagging along was as an ‘Artistic Advisor’ was a brilliant Russian artist named Alexandre Yevgenievich Jacovleff (1887-1938). Jacovleff kept a log of the journey, etching his experiences and impressions in a diary and later painting over them to create one of the most fascinating ethnographic collection based on the lives of people living in the remotest of Central Asian Regions.
Some of the paintings were published by National Geographic (Vol. 50, 1931) which had sponsored the Expedition. Some more were published by Jacovleff in 1934 in a work titled ‘Dessins et Peintures d’Asie exécutés au cours de l’expédition Citroën Centre-Asie. Troisième mission G.-M. Haardt, L. Audouin-Dubreuil. Éditée sous la direction de Lucien Vogel’ And some works made it to private collections.
Kashmir was an important pitstop in the journey that took them through Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia and China.
Collected from various sources here are Kashmiris by Alexandre Jacovleff, to which I am adding some notes.
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Painting: Danseaurs cachemiri, Schrinagar
Kashmiri Dancers, Srinagar
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| Original Etching in ‘Dessins et Peintures d’Asie exécutés au cours de l’expédition Citroën Centre-Asie’ |
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Chanteur cachemire. Schrinagar
Kashmiri Singer, Srinagar
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Caption in book reads: Danseaur cachemiri, Schrinagar
Kashmiri Dancer, Srinagar.
But the note on the painting reads Kashmiri Dancer, Astor.
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| A page from a government of India publication on Kashmir, 1955 |
The dance for is known as ‘Bach’e Nagma’ or ‘Kid Dance’ in Kashmir. And still remains popular.
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| Portrait of Kashmiri dancer/Bacha Gulzar Ahmed from Budgam. In Noida, Delhi. 2011. |
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| Top Right: Kashmiri at Bandipore Below it: Baba …Das…(Udhasi). Pandit at Sopore |
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| Portrait D’Homme Du Cashmere Portrait of a man of Kashmir Pandit Shreedhar Raina Officer in charge Government Telegraph Office Misagar Gilgit Kashmir |
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Aside note
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| Notice the headgear on the Khirgiz woman drawn by Jacovleff |
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| A Kashmiri woman drawn by drawn by H.R. Pirie in around 1908 |
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| Screenshot from the first Kashmiri feature length film ‘Mainz Raat’, 1964. Set on life in rural Kashmir. |
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