Fragile Legacies: The Photographs of Solomon Osagie Alonge

Fragile Legacies showcases the extraordinary photographs of Chief Solomon Osagie Alonge (1911 94), one of Nigeria's premier photographers and the first official photographer to the royal court of the Benin kingdom. Alonge's photographs document a half century of the palace rituals, pageantry, and regalia of the obas (kings), and provide rare insight into the early histories and practices of studio photography in West Africa. S.O. Alonge's photographs also offer a unique perspective on the transformation of Benin City during the early to mid-twentieth century, and its relationship to the visual arts and cultures of the Benin-Edo peoples. AUTHORS: Amy Staples is senior archivist at the National Museum of African Art. Flora S. Kaplan is the Faculty Emerita of Museum Studies at the Graduate School of Arts and Center, NYU. 110 colour illustrations

Tam Fiofori is one of Nigeria s most renowned filmmakers and photographers. Jide Adenyi-Jones is a Kenyan-based, Lagos-born documentary photographerDaniel Inneh is a former minister of Edo State and secretary to Oba Erediauwa, Johnnetta Betsch Cole is Director of the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA).Amy Staples is Senior Archivist of the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA).Flora S. Kaplan is the Faculty Emerita of Museum Studies at the Graduate School of Arts and Center, NYU.Kokunre Agbontaen-Eghafona is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Benin, Nigeria.George Osodi is a leading Nigerian photographer and filmmaker"