Alfred William Amandus Plate
Alfred William Amandus Plâté (also known as Alfred William Plâté) (circa 1859 – October 19, 1931) was the founder of the photography studio A.W.A. Plâté & Co., known today as Plate Limited. He was possibly born of French origin in Hanover, Germany.[1][2]
Career
In January 1886, Plâté married Clara Heinemann in London, and in 1887 they left for Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon).[2] As commercial photographers, they established a studio as commercial photographers in the Bristol Hotel in Colombo in 1890 and were first employed by the Colombo Apothecaries Company. In 1892 they moved to a larger studio in Colpetty.[3] In 1893, they also opened a studio at Nuwera Eliya and a bookstall in the Queen's Hotel, Kandy.[4] By 1907, they were producing half a million postcards each year.[3]
From 1910 until 1923, Clara Plate and her brother Herbert Heinemann ran the company,[2] along with E. J. Hayward and C. W. Thompson.[5]
In 1924, the studio published the book Ceylon: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries and Resources.[6] In either 1950 or 1961, ownership of Plâté passed to Arthur P. Fonseka, a long-time employee of the company[1][3]
According to Extract from Seaports of India and Ceylon, "Specially noteworthy are the firm's beautiful enlargements and hand-coloured photographs, showing Nature's wealth of chromatic loveliness on land and sea."[5] Popular subjects of their photographs included "modes of transport, the developing urban scene, the rural landscape and the local flora and fauna. Elephants were a favorite, as were the tropical species in the Peradeniya Royal Botanic Gardens."[7]
Little information survives about the identities of the photographers employed by Plâté & Co.,[7] but their work can be seen at places such as the New York Public Library, the British Library, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. [which?]
Today, Plâté & Co. still exists as Plate Limited, a portrait studio in Sri Lanka, and is run by Fonseka's descendants.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Plate Limited | About Plate". www.platelimited.com. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Luminous-Lint - Photographer - A.W.A. Plate". www.luminous-lint.com. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 laneb. "Plâté (Plate) & Cie". Dumbarton Oaks. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ↑ "Royal Commonwealth Society : Views in Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka], 1890s". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Macmillan, Allister (2005). Extract from Seaports of India and Ceylon. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-1995-1. Search this book on
- ↑ Limited, Plâté (1924). Ceylon: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries and Resources. Plâté limited. Search this book on
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Stambler, Benita (Fall 2013). "Maintaining the Photographic Legacy of Ceylon". The Trans-Asia Photography Review. 4 (1). hdl:2027/spo.7977573.0004.105. ISSN 2158-2025.
External links
- Works owned by University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Works owned by the New York Public Library
- Work owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Works owned by the British Library
- Work owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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