Henri de Monfried (1879-1974) - Adventurer at Large...

Henry de Monfried (1879-1974)
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De Monfreid’s boat Al-Tair

One who was fascinated by de Monfreid's life was

Sir Wilfred Thesiger who visited Al-Tair in Djibouti 1935.

Henri de Monfried - An extraordinary life - He new how to live - We are talking about pure passion for life - a risk taker who managed to live to the golden age of 95.

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A Philosopher, Sailor, Writer, Gun runner -he ran guns into Abyssinia through Tajura, Hashish Smuggler - of the coasts of East Africa and Southern Arabia, and Pearl Diver - He arrived in Djibouti (then a French colony) in 1910/11 and - it was there it all started from 1912 to 1940.

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"Mosquée de Mamoudi...Djibouti "- 1923"

Henri son of an artist was artistic as well and had grown up surrounded by art and artists - His father Daniel was a good friend of Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin. Daniel - a painter,art dealer, and Gauguin’s agent in Europe during the years he resided in Tahiti and the Marquesas...

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Kikuyu Village 1942
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After he returned to his home country (France) from East Africa in 1947 he changed his life around to painting and writing

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His books are anthropological, colorful and poetical. He managed to write 60 to 70 books during 30 years.

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1918 - de Monfried in the center...

"Of all the creatures on the face of the earth, humans are those who adapt most easily, not only to the most extreme temperatures and climates but also to the most arduous conditions that life imposes on them." - Henri de Monfried

Before he passed away at 95 he stated: "I have lived a rich, restless, magnificent life"

Gerald Benney (1930-2008)- Silversmith of Contemporary Designs - a master of creating objets d’ arts...

presented at Oxford and Cambridge Colleges, the Victoria and Albert Museum.....Distinguished silversmith to the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen mother and the Prince of Wales. Not to forget that many pieces of his art were private commissions. Benney studied at Brighton College of Art and the Royal College of Art .
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Benney was influenced by the simple purity and minimalism of Scandinavian design which is reflected in his work.

Surface texture - His earliest textured surfaces are from 1956 - this come to signify as his trademark - it had all happened by accident when he one day used a hammer with a damaged head.

He made his own hammers and brought the surface texture to the world of silversmiths....

He worked with Burch-Korrodi, in Zurich, Switzerland in the 1960s - to learn enamelling techniques. These skills had been obtained from Fabergé's craftsmen. Enamel and silver is much harder to process than actually using gold and enamel....due to the different temperatures when they expand.....

...He was a master at work...

The Throphy Room - Carved Tusks.........

Warthog

Here are a few more tusks brought back to "Under Canvas" ...which is

rather filled with travel memorabilia and full of everything you do not need.

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Warthog

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Warthog
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Warthog

. Hippo front

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Hippo back

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Warthog Tusks
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Hippo front

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Hippo back

Nature & Man - Experience - Fascination - Beauty & Danger - Sounds of the African Safari...

(All Photos in This Post by Tavarua)

an era long gone........

We still find a fascination with the "African Adventure" until this day....

Here - I am...where I belong ...on a voyage in the wilderness

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a few pictures through my camera lens...B&W/Color/B&W/Color...the result;

.Springbok

Savannah Buffalo

“Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more.” - Vincent van Gogh

Greater Kudu

the wonder of nature - a spiritual experience....

“Man masters nature not by force but by understanding.”

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"Hunger"

the game...moving in gently -15 yards from these two....rhinos....
...you have to fall in with the wind ...
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"Anger"

. “In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences.”- Robert Green Ingersoll

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Simplicity in Dakar .........

( All Photos in This Post by Tavarua)

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