DeFuniak Springs, FL ? The first professional photographs taken in Africa in the 1930?s will be on exhibit at the DeFuniak Springs Community Center on Highway 83 during the 14th annual Florida Chautauqua Assembly, January 29 through February 1, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free.
The exhibit is coming from the Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute, Kansas and is titled ?Married to Adventure: Photographs from the Travels of Martin and Osa Johnson.? This traveling photographic exhibit from Chanute, Kansas, will display nearly 70 two-foot by three-foot historic pictures taken by the Johnsons during their explorations of a continent at a time which so few knew so little about. Other African and international artifacts relating to the late pioneers will also be on display.
In the first half of the 20th century Martin and Osa Johnson of Kansas captured the public's imagination through their films and books of adventure in exotic, far-away lands...Photographers, explorers, naturalists and authors, Martin and Osa studied the wildlife and peoples of East and Central Africa, the South Pacific Islands and British North Borneo...They explored then unknown lands and brought back knowledge of cultures thousands of miles away through their films, writings and lectures.
From 1917-1936, the Johnsons set up camp in some of the most remote areas of the world and provided an unmatched photographic record of the wildernesses of Kenya, the Congo, British North Borneo and the Solomon and New Hebrides Islands...Their equipment was the most advanced motion pictures apparatus of the day, some of it designed by Martin Johnson himself.
When the young adventurers left their home in Kansas to explore and photograph these lands, little did they realize that they would provide the world with a photographic record of the African game of unimagined magnitude and beauty...The Johnsons gave the filmmakers and researchers of today an important source of ethnological and zoological material which would otherwise have been lost. Their photographs represent one of the great contributions to the pictorial history of the world...Their films serve to document a wilderness that has long since vanished, tribal cultures and customs that ceased to exist.
Through popular movies such as SIMBA (1928) and BABOONA (1935) and best-selling books still in print such as I Married Adventure (1940), Martin and Osa popularized camera safaris and an interest in African wildlife conservation for generations of Americans...Their legacy is a record of the animals and cultures of many remote areas of the world which have undergone significant changes. The outstanding accomplishments and legacy of Martin and Osa Johnson - their films, photographs, expedition reports, correspondence and personal memorabilia - are housed here at The Martin and Osa Johnson Museum.
The ?Married to Adventure? exhibit in DeFuniak Srpings for the Florida Chautauqua Assembly is free and open to the public, sponsored by the City of DeFuniak Springs, Home Depot of Panama City Beach, the Little Big Store in DeFuniak Springs and the Boys & Girls Club. For more information about all sessions and exhibits at the Assembly, contact the Florida Chautauqua Center at 850-892-7613 or e-mail susan@florida-chautauqua-center.org or log on to Florida Chautauqua Assembly - Jan 29-Feb 1, 2009 - "A Journey Into Africa".
Note to Media: Attached pic from the Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute, Kansas, one of the many photographs taken by either Martin & Osa Johnson on their pioneer excursions to unexplored regions of the world that will be on exhibit in DeFuniak Springs, January 29 through February 1, free of charge.
The exhibit is coming from the Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute, Kansas and is titled ?Married to Adventure: Photographs from the Travels of Martin and Osa Johnson.? This traveling photographic exhibit from Chanute, Kansas, will display nearly 70 two-foot by three-foot historic pictures taken by the Johnsons during their explorations of a continent at a time which so few knew so little about. Other African and international artifacts relating to the late pioneers will also be on display.
In the first half of the 20th century Martin and Osa Johnson of Kansas captured the public's imagination through their films and books of adventure in exotic, far-away lands...Photographers, explorers, naturalists and authors, Martin and Osa studied the wildlife and peoples of East and Central Africa, the South Pacific Islands and British North Borneo...They explored then unknown lands and brought back knowledge of cultures thousands of miles away through their films, writings and lectures.
From 1917-1936, the Johnsons set up camp in some of the most remote areas of the world and provided an unmatched photographic record of the wildernesses of Kenya, the Congo, British North Borneo and the Solomon and New Hebrides Islands...Their equipment was the most advanced motion pictures apparatus of the day, some of it designed by Martin Johnson himself.
When the young adventurers left their home in Kansas to explore and photograph these lands, little did they realize that they would provide the world with a photographic record of the African game of unimagined magnitude and beauty...The Johnsons gave the filmmakers and researchers of today an important source of ethnological and zoological material which would otherwise have been lost. Their photographs represent one of the great contributions to the pictorial history of the world...Their films serve to document a wilderness that has long since vanished, tribal cultures and customs that ceased to exist.
Through popular movies such as SIMBA (1928) and BABOONA (1935) and best-selling books still in print such as I Married Adventure (1940), Martin and Osa popularized camera safaris and an interest in African wildlife conservation for generations of Americans...Their legacy is a record of the animals and cultures of many remote areas of the world which have undergone significant changes. The outstanding accomplishments and legacy of Martin and Osa Johnson - their films, photographs, expedition reports, correspondence and personal memorabilia - are housed here at The Martin and Osa Johnson Museum.
The ?Married to Adventure? exhibit in DeFuniak Srpings for the Florida Chautauqua Assembly is free and open to the public, sponsored by the City of DeFuniak Springs, Home Depot of Panama City Beach, the Little Big Store in DeFuniak Springs and the Boys & Girls Club. For more information about all sessions and exhibits at the Assembly, contact the Florida Chautauqua Center at 850-892-7613 or e-mail susan@florida-chautauqua-center.org or log on to Florida Chautauqua Assembly - Jan 29-Feb 1, 2009 - "A Journey Into Africa".
Note to Media: Attached pic from the Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute, Kansas, one of the many photographs taken by either Martin & Osa Johnson on their pioneer excursions to unexplored regions of the world that will be on exhibit in DeFuniak Springs, January 29 through February 1, free of charge.
