4001 - Algeria

Algeria Photographers: Charles Leinack (active 1850s-1860s), Alary & Geiser (active 1852-ca. 1864), A. Astorc (active 1860s), Eug. Jacquet (active ca. 1860s-1870s), L. Fragney (active ca. 1860s-1870s), Vve Plasse et Oberty (active 1860s), M. & Mme Prod’hom (active ca. 1865-1870), and others. People of Algeria. Late 1860s-1870s. 80 albumen prints, several hand-colored, mounted to carte-de-visite cards. Each ca. 10 x 6 cm. Several with photographers’ imprints on the recto or verso; most annotated in French in an unidentified hand on the verso. This lot comprises a compelling group of 19th-century studio portraits depicting men, women and children from Algiers, Constantine, Bône, Biskra and surrounding regions, many shown in traditional dress within staged interiors. Period annotations identify the sitters as Kabyle, Ouled Naïl, Jewish, Arab and sub-Saharan, alongside military, social and occupational types. Produced for a European market, the photographs reflect the visual culture of colonial Algeria, combining ethnographic classification with the conventions of Orientalist studio photography. – Some cards slightly time-stained, with scuff marks and minor surface irregularities; otherwise all in good to very good condition.