Cleveland Museum of Art

Algerian Woman

Gustave de Beaucorps

Date

late 1850s

Medium

albumen print from wet collodion negative

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Photography

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In some Muslim cultures, portrait photographs were commissioned of women who were completely veiled. However, given that De Beaucorps was a wealthy amateur photographer and art collector, he probably initiated the sitting to document the local costume. After studying photography with Gustave Le Gray in Paris, De Beaucorps photographed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 1857 and 1861. How much of a person's face do you need to see to make a photograph a portrait?

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