A German in Iraq: photo documents of sweeping infrastructure changes
[Photograph album - Iraq].
Oblong folio (327 x 232 mm). 13 ff. containing 52 mounted silver gelatin photographs, with one press photo laid in (photograph sizes range from 60 x 60 mm to 90 x 140 mm and 170 x 235 mm). Contemporary saddle-stitched red cloth decorated in blind. Loosely inserted is a 1952-62 German passport with a 1957 residence permit/visa for Iraq and many stamps from Iraq in the 1950s.
€ 1,500.00
The photo album of German Friedrich Hemmeter (1928-2019), featuring construction, building projects, and interesting scenes of 1950s Iraq. Hemmeter was likely in Iraq employed as a construction manager or similar; certainly, he had an interest in the architecture, engineering, and modernization of the country's infrastructure.
Hemmeter's photographs capture both traditional buildings and ways of life and the sweeping changes of the construction yard, often with an artistic eye for the camera. Alongside striking photographs of workers shoveling concrete under a bright desert sky, or taking a break in the shade of a small shed, are photographs of the elegant architecture of mosques and ancient sites in Iraq and Egypt. Mounted next to a photograph of a modern European-style building is a snapshot of the Taq Kasra; this contrast provides an illuminating picture of Iraqi architecture in the twentieth century.
Laid in is a 1964 press photo of Vice President of Egypt Mohamed Abdel Hakim Amer and Iraqi president Abdul Salam Arif during Amer's visit to Iraq.
With just a few minor creases, quite well preserved.
