BONFILS, Felix

Albumen print

9 x 11/2 in.

An added bonus of travel to the Orient, as the East was collectively known, was exposure to exotic lifestyles. Fueled by the notion of western superiority, travelers approached these lands with preconceived ideas about the foreign, even erotic, nature of the East. Photographers took an almost anthropological approach in choosing subjects to meet the demands of tourists and armchair travelers who wanted to study and be titillated by the supposed sensual character of these individuals. Fix Bonfils, a French photographer based in Beirut, published a catalog in 1876 of his photos grouping his images of people according to the following categories: Costumes, (genre) Scenes and (Ethnographic) Types of the Orient. Muslim dictates against the production of representative images, added to the preponderance of misconceptions about contemporary life. In fact photographers created their own authentic types in their studios using costumes, backdrops, props and locals as paid models. Bedouins Carrying Their Infants was clearly taken in the studio and presents an image of Oriental motherhood for western consumption. In A Syrian Lady, Beyrout [Beirut], Syria, the photographer capitalizes on the erotic myths, prevalent among western tourists and writers, surrounding veiled women. Their partially covered faces fascinated viewers and conjured images of hidden beauties, intrigue, and harems filled with scores of women protected by a powerful, lustful ruler

1831 - 1885

Bonfils, Felix

French, 1831 - 1885

Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Jay Keystone

1989.19