Kel Marubi Explained

Kel Marubi
Birth Date: 1870
Birth Place:Shkodër, Ottoman Empire
Death Date:March 13,
Death Place:Shkodër, Albania
Field:Photography

Kel Kodheli (better known as Kel Marubi) (1870 – 13 March 1940) was an Albanian photographer. He was the father of Geg Marubi.

Life

Kel Kodheli began his study of photography at the age of 15. During the 1920s, he studied in Lyon at the first school of photography and cinema founded by the Lumière brothers, and worked as a professional photographer in Shkodra from the late 1920s to 1952. He pioneered working with celluloid instead of glass plate. Kel Kodheli was an assistant to Italian photographer Pietro Marubi. After Pietro's death, Kodheli changed his name to Kel Marubi and became the owner of Marubi's photography studio. He photographed the Albanian political leaders of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, as well as common people and landscapes. Kel was an ardent patriot and was active in the Albanian National Awakening, taking part in the foundation of many associations related to Albanian language, as well as publishing Voice of Shkodra newspaper in 1908.

Kel Marubi became well known abroad as well. He was invited to photograph the Royal Family of the King of Montenegro. In 1970, his entire estate of 150,000 negatives was purchased by the Government of Albania, to be conserved in the national archive.

Published photo albums of Marubi's work, include: "Gjurmë të Historisë Kombëtare në Shkodër" - Photograph Library ("Traces of National History in Shkodra"), 1982, and "By the Lumière", published in France.[1] The first Albanian film school was named "Academy of Film and Multimedia Marubi", in honor of Marubi family and its work, as film and photography pioneers in western Balkans.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Historical Dictionary of Albania. 2013-09-25. Robert Elsie. 295. March 19, 2010. 978-0810861886. 2. Scarecrow Press. Marubi was assisted by the young Rrok Kodheli(1862-1881) and his brother, Kel Kodheli (1870-1940), the later of whom took over the business after Pietro's death and changed his name to Kel Marubi.
    Only a few of photos have been published, in particular in Albanie-Visage des Balkans, Ecrits de Lumiere: Photographies de Pjeter, Kel et Gege Marubi...Paris, 1995, and Marubi: Shqiperia-Albania 1858-1950, Rome, 2004..