Hausa mason and apprentice building a mud-brick wall, Katsina, Nigeria
Object Details
- Local Numbers
- T 1 NIG 19 EE 59
- General
- Title is provided by EEPA staff based on photographer's notes.
- Local Note
- 58482 41
- Frame value is 4.
- Slide No. T 1 NIG 19 EE 59
- Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Collection Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Place
- Africa
- Nigeria
- Occupation
- Artists
- Topic
- Vernacular architecture
- Cultural landscapes
- Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Culture
- Hausa (African people)
- See more items in
- Eliot Elisofon Field collection
- Eliot Elisofon Field collection / Nigeria
- Extent
- 1 Slides (photographs) (col.)
- Date
- 1959
- Archival Repository
- Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
- Identifier
- EEPA.1973-001, Item EEPA EECL 16461
- Type
- Archival materials
- Slides (photographs)
- Color slides
- Collection Citation
- Eliot Elisofon Field Collection, EEPA 1973-001, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
- Collection Rights
- Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
- Genre/Form
- Color slides
- Scope and Contents
- "Building is a dry-season activity. The mason and one apprentice set to work. A double handful of clay is grasped, weighed, rolled into a cylinder, set and squashed a little. Within a day, the building site is filled with rows of bricks. Then, the foundation is formed with a double row of bricks set in a ditch. The spaces between the bricks and the top of the row are packed with mud so that no spaces show, and the top presents a level surface for the next layer of bricks. An apprentice will usually work first, putting the bricks in place, while the mason follows with a big basin of mud, filling in and smoothing over the wall. If it is a wall that surrounds the compound, it will be thicker and higher, so a man on horseback cannot see into the compound. When the wall has dried for a day or two, it is covered with an outer, decorative layer." [Dihoff G., 1970:katsina. praeger Publishers]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Life magazine and traveled to Africa from August 18, 1959 to December 20, 1959.
- Collection Restrictions
- Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
- Record ID
- ebl-1536870822481-1536871015919-0
- Metadata Usage
- CC0
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