The story of the Marubi studio started in about 1850, when the Italian Pietro Marubi emigrated to Shkodër, Albania, for political reasons. In 1856, just two decades after photography was invented, he established a photographic studio with the camera he brought with him from Italy. The studio’s camera shutters were not to stop for more than a century.
'Dynasty Marubi – a hundred years of Albanian studio photography', an exhibition of that legacy, is currently being staged by Foam (Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam), where a stream of black and white images provides a record of important aspects of Albania’s history and its people, captured by three generations of studio photographers from 1856–1959. In this country – the visual culture of which is little known – the collection provides a rich photographic history that stretches from Ottoman times to the communist period and includes social rituals, traditional costumes and group portraits of sociological significance.
Pietro Marubi started his practice using the wet-plate collodion process, the standard method of photography across Europe at that time. There is no record of where the studio was first located, although many studies suggest that it was actually al fresco, which could be true looking at the portraits of a wide variety of the locals. On the master’s death, his assistant Kei took over the business and changed his name to Marubi, bringing in techniques such as special effects and the retouching of negatives – together with more sophisticated cameras. The third generation of the studio, Kei’s son Gegë, was trained at the Lumière brothers' school in France in the 1920s. He pioneered the use of celluloid instead of glass plates in what was regarded as the studio’s most successful period.
In the 1970s, Gegë donated the studio's collection – some 150,000 glass negatives – to the Directorate of General Archives. He dedicated the rest of his life to working on their conservation and died in 1984. The archive is now housed at the Marubi National Museum Of Photography, which opened earlier this year in Shkodër, in a building designed by Dutch studio Casanova+Hernandez Architects.
The story of the Marubi studio started in about 1850, when the Italian Pietro Marubi emigrated to Shkodër, Albania, for political reasons.
In 1856, just two decades after photography was invented, he established a photographic studio with a camera he brought with him from Italy. The studio’s camera shutters were not to stop for more than a century. Pictured left: Kei Marubi with his wife in the studio, no date.
The archive is now housed at the Marubi National Museum Of Photography, which opened earlier this year in Shkodër. Pictured: Untitled, by Pietro Marubi, before 1881
INFORMATION
’Dynasty Marubi – a hundred years of Albanian studio photography’ is on view until 27 November. For more information, visit the Foam website
Photography: Marubi National Museum of Photography, Shkodër
ADDRESS
Foam Fotografiemuseum
Keizersgracht 609, Amsterdam
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 showsThe Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to knowDesigning the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spotHeritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Meet the duo using hair and photography as a medium to consider Africa and the African diaspora‘Strands & Structures’ makes its European debut at the Open Space Contemporary Art Museum in Amsterdam, exploring social and environmental issues in Accra, Ghana
-
‘The danger of AI’, photography and the future at FoamNew project ‘Photography Through the Lens of AI’ asks the big questions at Foam, Amsterdam
-
Artist Peggy Kuiper’s impactful figurative works explore her memories and emotional landscape with striking visual intensityPeggy Kuiper presents ‘The Conversation That Never Took Place’ at Reflex in Amsterdam, featuring over 25 new works (until 13 July)
-
Meredith Monk’s interdisciplinary art sets all the senses singing in Amsterdam show‘Meredith Monk: Calling’ at Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, is both a series of concerts and a deep-dive into Monk’s eclectic oeuvre
-
Heads up: art exhibitions to see in January 2024Start the year right with the Wallpaper* pick of art exhibitions to see in January 2024
-
Carlijn Jacobs and Sabine Marcelis create a surreal fantasy at Foam, AmsterdamPhotographer Carlijn Jacobs has united with Sabine Marcelis on the design of her first solo exhibition, at Foam, Amsterdam
-
Caroline Walker curates as Grimm Amsterdam explores domesticity in artCurating ‘The Painted Room’ at Grimm Amsterdam, Caroline Walker explores the intimacy of interiors
-
Drift Museum, a blockbusting experiential space, is set to open in Amsterdam in 2025Drift Museum is a collaboration between art duo Drift – aka Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta – and entrepreneur Eduard Zanen
