An excellent group of material documenting West Africa in the first years of the twentieth century.
James Plé (1854-1913), a commander in the colonial infantry, travelled in particular to Benin, Mali and Niger. He developed a passion for documentary photography in the 1890s and held a number of exhibitions and conferences in France based on his photographs taken in West Africa. In his capacity as a colonel, he signed a treaty with J.C. Fuller in 1898. The text is largely an account of his time in West Africa, and follows his journey through the double loop made by the Senegal and Niger rivers. It takes in Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso.
Accompanying Plé’s account are 51 original photographs from his personal collections with many, but not all, appearing in the pamphlet. They mostly depict domestic architecture and festivals but there are other images of troops, cavalry and fellow Frenchmen travelling with Plé.
Of real interest are the images of thee legendary Princess Guimbi Ouattara (c. 1836-1919), who is at the heart of the author’s story. She was the military leader of Bobo Dioulasso, the economic capital of the region. A supporter of the French, she was active in diplomacy with European explorers. Bobo Dioulasso still has a maternity hospital and a school named after her, and her mausoleum, a modern structure, can also be visited.
In addition to his political and ethnographical observations, Plé also offers a fascinating reflection on photography in situ in a chapter entitled “In pursuit of the cliché.” He distinguishes the differences in photographic technique between dry and wet seasons. It should be noted that since 1897 the Mossi kingdom of Ouagadougou has been under French protectorate, and the Bobo Dioulasso region was subsequently under French protectorate: both became the protectorate of Upper Volta, the forerunner of present-day Burkina Faso.
The group is rounded out by a single page from Plé’s manuscript draft of the article and a photo postcard, with a cheerful portrait of James Plé, sent to Léon Bollaert from Bobo-Dioulasso on 5 September 1903. Plé writes: “Quel chic pays tout de même, que ce Bobo!”
