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Abstract
Although many in the field of Indian photography are aware of the photographs John Edward Saché produced in India, little has been written about his career. Almost nothing was known about this practitioner, whose biographical details were confused with various firms – Saché & Westfield, Saché & Murray, Saché & Lawrie and Saché & Co. – and with various other names – J. Saché and A. Saché – appearing on photographs or in trade directories. Saché followed the steps of the well-known English photographer Samuel Bourne, who had set up a paradigm for composing landscape and architectural views, in which the picturesque vocabulary dominated. A master of the Picturesque, Saché excelled in this style, offering astonishing views that have often been attributed to Bourne. This essay will present the photographic career of Saché and compare the work of both practitioners in order to delineate the extents to which Saché reproduced Bourne's formula.
Notes
1 – This biographical information was kindly provided by Peter Grimshaw, great-great-grandson of J. E. Saché.
2 – Journal of the Bengal Photographic Society (September 1865), 21.
3 – British Library, APAC, Mss D661/(68).
4 – Journal of the Bengal Photographic Society (March 1867), 6.
5 – One example taken by Saché & Westfield during this commission is held at the British Library (APAC, photograph 1000/42(4337)) and presents a group of Andamans naked, either seating or standing, accompanied by Homfray, whose clothes, size and attitude contrasts greatly. While the position of the group seated on the floor appears natural, the lady standing recalls the Victorian standards of photographing ethnographic groups, often recorded from a profile position.
6 – Journal of the Bengal Photographic Society (March 1867), 19.
7 – Journal of the Bengal Photographic Society (September 1869), 9.
8 – Journal of the Bengal Photographic Society (June 1870): ‘Westfield & Co. (Late Saché & Westfield), photographers. By appointment to H.E. the Viceroy & H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, 3 Waterloo Street.’
9 – The Pioneer (11 March 1868), 8.
10 – The Pioneer (16 April 1869), 9.
11 – Times of India Calendar and Directory for the year 1869.
12 – The Pioneer (24 December 1870), 8.
13 – The Pioneer (11 November 1874), 9: ‘Alfred Sache, Photographer, 45 Cantonments, Benares. Studio now open for ensuing cold weather’.
14 – For information on Samuel Bourne, see Gary Sampson, ‘The Success of Samuel Bourne in India’, History of Photography, 16:4 (winter 1992), 336–47; and Gary Sampson, ‘Photographer of the Picturesque: Samuel Bourne’, in India through the Lens: Photography 1840–1911, Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt and Munich, London and New York: Prestel Verlag 2000, 163–97.
15 – The Pioneer (31 January 1870), 8.
16 – The print is held at the Getty Center, Los Angeles (Ref: 84.XO.869.1/1). According to Saché's advertisements published in The Pioneer, views from Kashmir were for sale in September 1873, dating the series of prints to this year. See The Pioneer (19 September 1873), 8.
17 – The Pioneer (16 March 1874), 13; (10 August 1874), 11; and (11 April 1876), 15.
18 – The Pioneer (16 April 1880), 15.
19 – John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye, The People of India: A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with Descriptive Letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan, 8 volumes, London: The India Museum 1868–75.
20 – The Pioneer (2 March 1875), 8.
21 – The Pioneer (11 April 1876), 15.
22 – John Northam, Guide to Masuri, Landaur, Dehra Dun etc., etc., Calcutta: Thackers, Spink and Co. 1884, 15 (advertisments section).
23 – ACP 2003.01.0015.
24 – See Thacker's Bengal Directory 1882–1899 for dates and locations of Fry & Rahn's studios.
25 – The Pioneer (16 April 1869), 9.
26 – The Alkazi Collection of Photography holds a photograph of her grave, probably taken by Saché (ACP 96.20.0016). The inscription on the grave reads: ‘To the memory of Annie, the beloved wife of John Edward Sache, who died of cholera at Lucknow Nov. 28 1871, aged 27 years, leaving a sorrowing husband and two little sons to lament her irreparable loss’ (transcribed from the photograph).
27 – British Library, APAC, photograph 884/5(39).
28 – ‘J. Sache & G.W. Lawrie – Photographers – Naini Tal and Lucknow’, The Pioneer (3 May 1880), 8; and ‘Mr. G.W. Lawrie (Late Partner with the Late Mr. J. Sache)’, The Pioneer (20 March 1882), 21.