Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case X, Shelf 437, Box A

Photograph

19th century (made)

19thC; Croix Mesnil, Portrait of 2 Mahometan women


Object details

Object type
Photograph
Brief description
19thC; Croix Mesnil, Portrait of 2 Mahometan women
Gallery label
  • In the introduction to her album, Women of the Orient, Croix-Mesnil wrote that she had studied Islamic women for five years. It was her intention to let the women express their own identity and personality in the photographs. However, she probably paid the models and she used the same props, clothes and painted backdrops in many of the photographs, reinforcing an exotic western view of the Middle East. (10/2012)
  • Gallery 100, ‘History of photography’, 2012-2013, label texts : Comtesse de Croix-Mesnil (dates unknown, active 1890s) ‘Portraits of Mahometan Women’ from the album ‘Women of the Orient’ 1893 In the introduction to Women of the Orient, Croix- Mesnil wrote that she had studied Islamic women for five years. It was her intention to let the women express their own identity in the photographs. However, she probably paid the models and she used the same props in many of the photographs, reinforcing an exotic western view of the Middle East. Albumen prints Museum nos. Ph.3772, 3778, 3783, 3784-1904 (11 03 2014)
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
PH.3783-1904

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1056258/photograph/
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