#kassian cephas

Kassian Cephas (Indonesian, 1845-1912)

Kassian Céphas, b. 1845, d. 1912 Borobudur Indonesia (c. 1890) Albumen silver photograph National Gallery Australia [Source]

Kassian Céphas was the first Indonesian photographer of note. He served the sultanates of Jogjakarta and was court photographer and painter from the early 1870s. He also operated his own studio in the city, providing portraits and views for local clients and tourists. Céphas had a long and successful career assisted from the 1890s by his son Sem. He had major commissions in the 1880s and 90s from the sultan’s Dutch physician Isaac Groneman, an amateur archaeologist-ethnologist, to photograph the ancient Hindu temple at Prambanan in central Java, as well as a complete performance of central Javanese dance drama at the Jogjakarta palace in 1884. 

He photographed Borobudur for the Archaeological Union of Jogjakarta in 1890–91. Céphas was honoured in his lifetime by the Dutch colonial authorities for his work in recording Javanese civilisation. His studio work is elegant and dignified, even in the range of native beauties sold as prints and later as postcards from around 1900.

Kassian Cephas. Javanese woman, c. 1900