Photography of Adolphe Sylvain

osreb · #1 05-17-2009, 08:05 PM

Adolphe Sylvain (1920-1991) stopped off in Tahiti in 1946 on his way somewhere else. He never made it to his destination. Enchanted by the beautiful landscape, welcoming people, and a certain island beauty who called herself Tehani, decided to stay. He settled in and eventually married his hypnotic lover, working as a correspondent for magazines such as Paris Match, Life, and National Geographic. Drawn by an irrepressible desire to capture his surroundings and to share this lost, unknown world with those outside of it, he dedicated himself to photographing the island's many delights. Like Rousseau and Gauguin before him, he was captive to the people and places of a land so radically different from his own and chose it as his principal subject matter. Sylvain's rich, skilled black-and-white images are like visions of an earthly paradise, peopled with half-clad women wearing flowers in their hair, the sun reflecting off of their glowing skin. His images, capturing the timeless beauty of Tahiti, are a testament to the island's powerful magnetism.

osreb · #2 05-17-2009, 08:14 PM

If this is what the crew of HMS Bounty found and spent a year in Tahiti; it's no wonder they mutiened.

osreb · #3 05-17-2009, 08:20 PM

Last batch of Sylvain pics. In the 1960s his studio burned down, destroying all of his prints and negatives. What a shame! I wonder how many of his pictures were lost completely? As a point of information, the picture with the sail boat is of Sylvain, his wife and his children.

jr8x · #4 05-18-2009, 02:15 PM

I would've stayed too!

mikidora · #5 01-16-2011, 11:42 AM

I was there 15 or so years ago and the girls looked just like I see here. When they get to 30 plus they change (mammothly so!) It is nonetheless a true idyllic paradise - the entire world could be at war and you wouldn't know or care.

Of course I should add - the photo on my profile was taken there!

Klondike · #6 01-16-2011, 03:46 PM

thanks for the bump - I never saw this thread originally.

Klondike

seasonchuan · #7 01-21-2013, 07:40 AM

i'm looking for this!

frechi · #8 01-21-2013, 07:59 AM

so beautyful...

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