The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18561

The birth of photography coincided with the expansion of European imperialism in the Middle East, and some of the medium's earliest images are Orientalist pictures taken by Europeans in such places as Cairo and Jerusalem—photographs that have long shaped and distorted the Western visual imagination of the region. But the Middle East had many of its own photographers, collectors, and patrons. In this book, Stephen Sheehi presents a groundbreaking new account of early photography in the Arab world.

The Arab Imago concentrates primarily on studio portraits by Arab and Armenian photographers in the late Ottoman Empire. Examining previously known studios such as Abdullah Frères, Pascal Sébah, Garabed Krikorian, and Khalil Raad, the book also provides the first account of other pioneers such as Georges and Louis Saboungi, the Kova Brothers, Muhammad Sadiq Bey, and Ibrahim Rif'at Pasha—as well as the first detailed look at early photographs of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. In addition, the book explores indigenous photography manuals and albums, newspapers, scientific journals, and fiction.

Featuring extensive previously unpublished images, The Arab Imago shows how native photography played an essential role in the creation of modern Arab societies in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon before the First World War. At the same time, the book overturns Eurocentric and Orientalist understandings of indigenous photography and challenges previous histories of the medium.

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Print publication date January 2016 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780691151328

EISBN 9780300249774

Illustrations 76

Print Status in print

Publisher (in print)

WorldCat

Google Books

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List of illustrations

Photographic panorama of Medina
Faridah Habib
Israel family portrait, Tripoli, Lebanon
Garabed Krikorian and family, Jerusalem
Raʾuf ʿAbd al-Hadi, "With fond memory to my dear friend [illegible name], Sincerely, Raʾuf ʿAbd al-Hadi
Anonymous portrait
Sultan Abdülaziz, Istanbul
Sultan Abdülaziz, London
Abdülhamid II, London
View of Tophane from the sea
Arif Pasha, Istanbul
Abdülhamid
Abdülhamid II, Istanbul
Garabed Effendi Yassayian, Istanbul
High school students, Baghdad
High school students, Damascus
Ziya Pasha, Zuhru Bey, and Misal Bey, Beirut
Shaykh Effendi al-Khuri (right) and anonymous sitter
Jurji Zaidan
Anonymous portrait, Beirut
Ibrahim al-Yaziji
Ibrahim al-Yaziji
Anonymous portrait
Mariyana Marrash
Anonymous portrait, Beirut
Louis Saboungi
Self-portrait
Louis Saboungi
Louis Saboungi
Her Royal Highness Princess Eminé Hanim (a.k.a. Umm al-Mushinin), Istanbul
Anonymous portrait, Alexandria
Anonymous portrait, Beirut
Anonymous portrait
Unidentified European with medals
Unidentified European with medals, verso
Faculty of al-Madrasah al-wataniyah
Yusuf al-Jalkh
Pouring collodion
Bishop Germanious
Hussein Salim al-Husseini
ʿAli Akram Bey, Jerusalem
Ahmad ʿArif al-Husseini, Jerusalem
Amir Faisal bin Hussein
Jawad al-Husseini, Jerusalem
My brother Hamid Bey Wahbi Raghib in Circassian dress
ʿAsim Effendi Mudir al-Tahrirah
ʿAsim Effendi Mudir al-Tahrirah
Jacob Sarabian Murad
Jurji Zaidan
Jeune fille du Liban coiffée du tentour. Joung [sic] girl from Libanon [sic] with head-dress
Anonymous portrait, Beirut
Masis Bedrossian
Jurji Zaidan with wife, Maryam; daughter Asma; son Emile; and youngest son Shukri, Cairo
Anonymous bridal portrait
Ahmad Lababidi and his two children, Yahya and Salah
George Sadiq
Portrait of a young man named Kassab, Alexandria
Kassab and unidentified woman, Port Said
Fadi Effendi al-ʿAlami, Mariam (daughter), and Musa (son)
Midhat Pasha
Midhat Pasha
Midhat Pasha
Muhammad Sadiq Bey, Cairo
The shaykh and the aghas of the Prophet's Mosque
The riding camel of Sharif Yahya
al-Liwaʾ Ibrahim Rifʾat Pasha Amir al-mahmal al'misri, amir of the Egyptian mahmal
Self portrait, from "Mirʾat al-haramayn
al-Sayyid al-Mahdi bin al-ʿArabi al-Munabihi posing Rabi al-awal 17, 1322
Sharif ʿAwn al-Rafiq Pasha, former amir of Mecca
Abdullah pasha and Mushin Pasha
Ibrahim Beh Mustafa al-Mʾamam, Ibrahim Rifʾat Pasha, Ahmad Bek Zaki Amin al-Surrah
Self portrait
Suleiman Girby, Arab boatman
King Farouk
Anonymous portrait, Port Said
Gergess Bou Zeid

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Contents

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

Contents

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.001

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18562

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Acknowledgments

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

Acknowledgments

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18563

Note on Translations and Transliterations

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The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

Note on Translations and Transliterations

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PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18564

Introduction: Proem to Indigenista Photography

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

In February 1861, Muhammad Sadiq Bey (1832-1902) set off to survey the geography and pilgrimage route to Medina in the Hijaz (Hejaz)...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.xvii-xxxix

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.004

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18565

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsHejaz (Saudi Arabia)Art, ArabCivilization, ModernIndigenous art

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Part I: Histories and Practice

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The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

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PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.005

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18566

Chapter 1: An Empire of Photographs

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

The invention of the daguerreotype was announced in the Ottoman press as soon as François Arago presented it to the Académie des Sciences in Paris in 1839...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.1-26

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.006

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18567

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsArt, OttomanArt and societyRepetition (Aesthetics)Civilization, Modern

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Chapter 2: The Arab Imago

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

In a stained, highly faded carte de visite, two men flank a young child (fig. 17). The informality of the image might be surprising considering the status of, at least, one of these men...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.27-52

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.007

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18568

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsArt, OttomanArt, LebaneseFashion in artArt and society

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Chapter 3: The Carte de Visite

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

In describing the courtship of her “Aunt Nimet,” Emine Foat Tugay, tells us that “the bride had the advantage of being shown a photograph of her intended husband, whereas, for a description of the girl...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.53-74

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.008

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18569

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsArt, OttomanArt, LebaneseArt and society

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Chapter 4: Writing Photography

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

While the “fever for reality was running high” in Europe with the invention of photography, a Comptean compulsion for rationality and objectivity also undergirded...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.75-100

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.009

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18570

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsArt and scienceArt, OttomanPositivism

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Part II: Case Studies and Theory

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The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

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PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.010

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18571

Chapter 5: Portrait Paths

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

In his personal chronicle, The Storyteller of Jerusalem, Wasif Jawhariyyeh (1897-1972) opens his account by calling attention to a cherished portrait that was presented as a gift...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.103-120

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.011

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18572

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsArt, Palestinian ArabArt, OttomanFashion in artArt and society

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Chapter 6: Stabilizing Portraits, Stabilizing Modernity

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

By the turn of the century, Iskandar Shahin Makarius had taken the place of his father, Shahin Makarius, as resident photography expert...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.121-140

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.012

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18573

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsCivilization, ModernArt, OttomanArt and society

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Chapter 7: The Latent and the Afterimage

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

~In Tawfiq Yusuf ͑Awwad’s short story “Qamis al-suf” (The wool chemise), a nameless peasant woman spends the morning frenetically cleaning and organizing her rustic cottage in anxious anticipation...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.141-162

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.013

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18574

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsDocumentary photographyArt, ArabArt--PhilosophySemiotics

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Chapter 8: The Mirror of Two Sanctuaries and Three Photographers

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

After his inaugural cartographic mission to Medina in 1861, Muhammad Sadiq Bey made two more journeys to the Hijaz in 1880 and 1884 as a high-ranking official...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.163-192

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.014

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18575

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsHejaz (Saudi Arabia)Art, ArabMuslim pilgrims and pilgrimages--Saudi Arabia--MeccaSemiotics

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Epilogue: On the Cusp of Arab Ottoman Photography

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

~Suleiman Girby, “a magnificent oarsman,” lived in a small but bustling seaport of Palestine around the turn of the century (fig. 73). Girby was head boatman for Thomas Cook and Son, the tourist company that virtually created commercial Holy Land...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.193-201

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.015

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18576

Chapter subject tags:Portrait photographsCivilization, ModernArt, Ottoman

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Index

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

Index

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.016

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18577

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Illustration Credits

The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910

Illustration Credits

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00119.017

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18578

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