Ohannes Kurkdjian

Ohannes (Onnes) Kurkdjian
Ohannes (Onnes) Kurkdjian
	Kurkdjian on the edge of the Sand Sea (Lautan Pasir) in the Tengger Mountains (c. 1910)
Born	1851; Yerevan, Russian Empire
Died	1903; Surabaya, Dutch East Indies
Known for	Photography

Ohannes Kurkdjian (first name sometimes spelled Onnes, Armenian spelling Hovhannes, 1851–1903) was a photographer based in

Tiflis, Singapore and then Surabaya during the Dutch East Indies

era.

His namesake business (located at Bultzingslowenplein) was the studio Kurkdjian Atelier and later O. Kurkdjian & Co.

Life and work

Kurkdjian was born in Kyurin, (Gürun), Ottoman Empire

He produced

stereoscopic images of Ani.^[1] He worked for another photographer in Singapore for two months and moved to Surabaya, where he eventually established his own studio.^[1]^[2]

His namesake business (located at Bultzingslowenplein) was Kurkdjian Atelier and later O. Kurkdjian & Co. It grew to employ at least 30 people,

Pakoe Boewono X Susuhunan

van Solo as well as landscapes, business, building and trade photographs.

In 1897, Kurkdjian was joined by Englishman G. P. Lewis.[2] Lewis took over the business after Kurkdjian's death in 1903 (in Surabaya, Indonesia).^[2] The studio was acquired by Mieling & Co., a pharmaceutical company, in 1915.^[2]

A famous photograph of Kurkdjian shows him standing behind his tripod-mounted camera photographing a volcano.^[2]

Gallery

Kurkdjian studio in Surabaya in a building with other businesses
Sugarcane being transported by oxcart
Wayang wong performers
Studio portrait of a woman
Pakoe Boewono X Susuhunan van Solo
Borobudur
Bales being shipped from the sugarcane factory
Mount Kelud
crater circa 1901
Mount Bromo circa 1920
Hillside with people photograph
Women doing batik
Boats anchored at Tjilatjap (
Cilacap
)
Outside the Kurkdjian photo studio
Semeroe
volcano in 1897
A sixteen meter deep mudslide at Redjosari after the eruption of the Kelud volcano
Personnel of Atelier Kurkdjian, Surabaya, 1916