Henri Dufour

Henri Dufour (19 Sept. 1870, Nancy, France — 1932 ?, Nancy) was a French architect, visual artist and explorer who was one of the first Western experts to study the Bayon monument at the turn of the 20^th century alongside Charles Carpeaux, Henri Parmentier and Jean Commaille.

At Nancy (Eastern France) Ecole des Beaux Arts, he studied descriptive geometry, stereotomy and decorative drawing, and received his architecture diploma on 16 Dec. 1898 (with his studies on Une station forestière dans les Vosges). He was a professional architect in Paris until 1900, when he was appointed Inspector of Civil Construction for Cambodia on 6 Oct. 1900. On 24 Sept. 1901, the governor-general of Indochina officially assigned him to Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient for a mission at Bayon Temple. His friend Charles Carpeaux and young archaeologist Henri Parmentier joined in the Mission Dufour (1901−1902), the very first one led in Angkor under EFEO tutelage.

Before that mission, the Bayon had only been sketched six years earlier by Albert Tissandier in his Cambodge et Java: ruines khmeres et javanaises 1893 – 1894. An additional exploration was led by Dufour in 1904, during which Charles Carpeaux, already ill, had to be evacuated to Saigon, where he died. Completed in 1904, the findings of the scientific campaigns completed were published in 1913, with an archaeological record penned by Jean Commaille, who had become the first Angkor Conservator in 1908, an archaeological descriptive by George Coedes and some comments

Henri Dufour, usually known as Monsieur Dufour in Cambodia, had impressive social connections in Phnom Penh. To our knowledge, he was the first visitor (in May 1901) to be granted permission to photograph a ceremony inside the Royal Palace: the sakant chuk, “auspicious cut of the tuft of hair” — Cambodian version of the Keshānta (केशान्त) codified in Brahmanic law — for Prince Chandalekha, a son of King Norodom, at his 13^th birthday. His photographs, illustrating a documented article by Adhémard Leclère, were printed in the first issue of the EFEO Bulletin [BEFEO I‑3, 1901, pp 208 – 230 (text) and 231 – 243 (photographs)], the first ‘photo feature’ to grace the distinguished publication.

1) “Le Bayon à Angkor Thom”, etching by Henri Dufour autographed to Eugène Corbin (1867−1952), [source: Catalogue Lynda Trouvé]. 2) A portrait of Henri Dufour in later years [Agorah/INHA]. 3) “Henri Dufour in Indochina” on a rickshaw and smoking a cigar “in 1908, photo by Leopold Poiré [source Image’Est/Francine Charmont].

According to Marie-Laure Crosnier (INHA website), Henri Dufour exhibited his artworks at the Salon des artistes français (Paris) in 1896 [Le vase de la salle des Deux-Sœurs, Alhambra; La Giralda, Séville], 1898 [Un coin du Mirhab, grande mosquée de Kairouan (Tunisie); Arcades du souk des Etoffes à Tunis] 1899 [Un patio de Sidi-Gahab, près de Kairouan (Tunisie)] 1900 [Carrefour de la rue des Andalous à Tunis ; Intérieur de la “Torre de la Cautiva”, à Grenade, aquarelle] and 1903 [Angkor-Vat, angle sud-ouest de la deuxième enceinte]. He also authored several watercolors and etchings depicting the Bayon towers. Back to Paris, he worked as an architect in Paris (14^th district) at least until 1932.

For the last photograph concluding his **series on Prince Chandaleka’s coming-to-age ceremony**, Henri Dufour noted that the Palace’s women returning to the private quarters were led by the ‘prima ballerina’ of the King’s corps de ballet, **Nou-Nam**, aged 17.
*Caption photo 10, full-text:* “10. — Les femmes de la suite du prince le quittent à l’entrée du Phnom Kailash où il se rend pour recevoir les aspersions et rentrent dans les enceintes privées. La première est Nou-Nam, âgée de dix-sept ans, première danseuse du roi. C’est la *Mayurichatt*. Elle porte le petit parasol (*chatt*) de forme bulbeuse et recouvert complètement de plumes de paon (*mayura*). La porteuse du sabre et celle du grand écran ont la tête ornée d’un magnifique diadème rayonnant, le *kbang-na*.” [The women in the prince’s retinue leave him at the entrance to Phnom Kailash, where he goes to receive the aspersions, and return to the private enclosures. The first among them is Nou-Nam, aged seventeen, the king’s first dancer. She is the *Mayurichatt*: she carries the small bulbous parasol (*chatt*) entirely covered with peacock (*mayura)* feathers. The bearer of the sword and the one holding large screen have their heads adorned with a magnificent radiating diadem, the *kbang-na*.” [*BEFEO* 1 – 2, 1901, p 243]

Publications

“Documents photographiques sur les fêtes ayant accompagné la coupe solennelle des cheveux du prince Chandalekha à Phnom Penh en 1901”, BEFEO I‑3, 1901: 231 – 243.
“Les fouilles exécutées au Bayon d’Angkor par M. Dufour”, Comptes-rendus de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, Paris, 1906. .
Le Bayon d’Angkor Thom: Bas-reliefs publiés par les soins de la Commission archéologique de l’Indochine d’après les documents recueillis par la mission Henri Dufour avec la collaboration de Charles Carpeaux, 6 fasc., 135 plates, Paris, Ernest Leroux/Ministere de l’lnstruction publique et des Beaux-Arts, 1910.
[with C. Carpeaux, J. Commaille, G Coedès, preface by A. Barth] Les ruines d’Angkor Thom; les bas-reliefs du Bayon, publiés par la Commission archéologique de l’Indochine en collaboration avec Charles Carpeaux, Paris, E. Leroux, 1913.