Casimir Zagourski

Casimir Zagourski
Ostoja coat of arms that Zagourski was entitled to bear
Born Kazimierz Zagórski
9 August 1880
Zhytomyr, Russian Empire
(now Ukraine)
Died 10 January 1941
Léopoldville, Belgian Congo
(now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo)
Education Imperial Russian Air Force (aerial intelligence)
Known for Photography
Notable work postcards; portraits; L'Afrique qui disparaît!

Casimir Zagourski (in Polish Kazimierz Zagórski) (1883–1944) was a pioneering photographer of Central African peoples and customs.

Zagourski was born in Zhytomyr in 1883. He was of Polish ethnicity, from the noble Clan of Ostoja. He served in the Imperial Russian Air Force until 1917, rising to the rank of colonel, and in the Polish military during 1920.

He emigrated from Europe in 1924 and settled in Léopoldville (Belgian Congo), gallicizing his name and opening a photographic studio. Between 1924 and his death he travelled widely in Central Africa, undertaking expeditions to photograph "disappearing" African folkways in 1929, 1932, 1935 and 1937.

His albums and a postcard series collectively titled L'Afrique qui disparaît! gained him considerable renown.

Sources

  • Krzysztof Pluskota. "Atelier Photo Cinématographique—C. Zagourski." In Christraud M. Geary, In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960. London: Philip Wilson, 2002. ISBN 0-8566-7551-2. pp. 59–68.
  • Christraud M. Geary. "The Image World of Casimir Zagourski." In In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960. London: Philip Wilson, 2002. ISBN 0-8566-7551-2. pp. 69–79.
  • Zagourski: Lost Africa. Skira, 2001. ISBN 88-8491-008-0.
    • Zagourski: Africa perduta. Skira, 2001. ISBN 88-8491-006-4.
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