19th C. Photos of Egypt by Arnoux & Bonfils
**Originally Listed At $250**
Three French albumen prints. (1) Hippolyte Arnoux (French, active 1860-1890). Pyramids of Giza. (2) Felix Bonfils and family (French, 1831-1885) "Deese Isis. Egypte" and (3) "Musee de Gizeh. Sphinx Hycsos." (Two Sculptures of Sphinx in the Museum of Giza) All signed in lower left with title in lower right. A wonderful trio of French photographs of ancient Egyptian monuments as seen in the late 19th century. Felix Bonfils was a French photographer who was captivated by the Middle East. Bonfils took thousands of photographs of the Middle East and in 1872 published "Architecture Antique" by Ducher press. His work was appreciated by tourists of the Romantic Orient. Similarly, Arnoux was one of the first photographers to produce images of Egypt and document the Suez Canal project. Though little is known of Arnoux, he appears to have been in Egypt around the same time of Bonfils and established 2 studios in Port Said. Size (Bonfis' Isis Relief): 10.9" L x 8.5" W (27.7 cm x 21.6 cm) Size (matte): 15" L x 12.75" W (38.1 cm x 32.4 cm)
From the exhibition catalogue entitled, "Remembrances of the Near East: The Photographs of Bonfils, 1867-1907" (1980-1981), "Bonfils's photographs of the Near East - its landscapes, its cities, its architecture and its peoples - are some of the most telling and evocative traces of the Romantic Orient made in the last century. They are picaresque since they are images of travel and souvenirs of distant locales meant to instruct and entertain. They are picturesque in that they depict the exotic as well as the natural in order to pictorially delight. Formal rules of composition are consciously adhered to but just as intentionally abandoned for the spectacular and exceptional visual insights that are remarkably modern. . . Bonfils shared in and helped create the prolixity of the Oriental dream. No other firm produced such a consistent quantity of good photographic imagery of the Near East. It published literally tens of thousands of prints and lantern slides forming one of the most extensive visual anthologies of Near Eastern material culture. Bonfils's work is a veritable photographic chrestomathy, like those selected Arabic texts compiled earlier in the century and designed to teach the language, except here it is the visual language of the look of the Orient." (Remembrances of the Near East: The Photographs of Bonfils, 1867-1907 - and exhibition catalogue from the Collections of the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House and the Harvard Semitic Museum- exhibition dates: May 23- September 1, 1980, International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House; The Jewish Museum, NY, September 24, 1980 - January 4, 1981; The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL and the Harvard Semitic Museum, Cambridge, MA)
Provenance: ex-Royal Athena Galleries, New York City, New York, USA
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
#175636
Condition Report: All signed in lower left with title in lower right. All mounted on paper/cardstock and hinged within white mattes. Bonfils' photo of the Relief of Isis has Jerome M. Eisenberg (referred to with initials J.M.E.) collection labels on the margins of the paper to which it is attached. Normal toning to that paper backing. It is also accompanied by a COA signed by Jerome M. Eisenberg. Arnoux's photo of the Pyramids of Giza also has Eisenberg (referred to with initials J.M.E.) collection labels on the margins of the paper to which it is attached as well as a COA signed by Jerome M. Eisenberg on the verso of the matte. Bonfils' photo of 2 sphinx sculptures in the Museum of Giza has Jerome M. Eisenberg (referred to with initials J.M.E.) collection labels on the margins of the cardstock to which it is attached. The cardstock has normal toning, tape on peripheries, and handwritten notes on the back with some abrasions on the verso that do not impact the photograph.
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**Originally Listed At $250**
Three French albumen prints. (1) Hippolyte Arnoux (French, active 1860-1890). Pyramids of Giza. (2) Felix Bonfils and family (French, 1831-1885) "Deese Isis. Egypte" and (3) "Musee de Gizeh. Sphinx Hycsos." (Two Sculptures of Sphinx in the Museum of Giza) All signed in lower left with title in lower right. A wonderful trio of French photographs of ancient Egyptian monuments as seen in the late 19th century. Felix Bonfils was a French photographer who was captivated by the Middle East. Bonfils took thousands of photographs of the Middle East and in 1872 published "Architecture Antique" by Ducher press. His work was appreciated by tourists of the Romantic Orient. Similarly, Arnoux was one of the first photographers to produce images of Egypt and document the Suez Canal project. Though little is known of Arnoux, he appears to have been in Egypt around the same time of Bonfils and established 2 studios in Port Said. Size (Bonfis' Isis Relief): 10.9" L x 8.5" W (27.7 cm x 21.6 cm) Size (matte): 15" L x 12.75" W (38.1 cm x 32.4 cm)
From the exhibition catalogue entitled, "Remembrances of the Near East: The Photographs of Bonfils, 1867-1907" (1980-1981), "Bonfils's photographs of the Near East - its landscapes, its cities, its architecture and its peoples - are some of the most telling and evocative traces of the Romantic Orient made in the last century. They are picaresque since they are images of travel and souvenirs of distant locales meant to instruct and entertain. They are picturesque in that they depict the exotic as well as the natural in order to pictorially delight. Formal rules of composition are consciously adhered to but just as intentionally abandoned for the spectacular and exceptional visual insights that are remarkably modern. . . Bonfils shared in and helped create the prolixity of the Oriental dream. No other firm produced such a consistent quantity of good photographic imagery of the Near East. It published literally tens of thousands of prints and lantern slides forming one of the most extensive visual anthologies of Near Eastern material culture. Bonfils's work is a veritable photographic chrestomathy, like those selected Arabic texts compiled earlier in the century and designed to teach the language, except here it is the visual language of the look of the Orient." (Remembrances of the Near East: The Photographs of Bonfils, 1867-1907 - and exhibition catalogue from the Collections of the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House and the Harvard Semitic Museum- exhibition dates: May 23- September 1, 1980, International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House; The Jewish Museum, NY, September 24, 1980 - January 4, 1981; The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL and the Harvard Semitic Museum, Cambridge, MA)
Provenance: ex-Royal Athena Galleries, New York City, New York, USA
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
#175636
Condition Report: All signed in lower left with title in lower right. All mounted on paper/cardstock and hinged within white mattes. Bonfils' photo of the Relief of Isis has Jerome M. Eisenberg (referred to with initials J.M.E.) collection labels on the margins of the paper to which it is attached. Normal toning to that paper backing. It is also accompanied by a COA signed by Jerome M. Eisenberg. Arnoux's photo of the Pyramids of Giza also has Eisenberg (referred to with initials J.M.E.) collection labels on the margins of the paper to which it is attached as well as a COA signed by Jerome M. Eisenberg on the verso of the matte. Bonfils' photo of 2 sphinx sculptures in the Museum of Giza has Jerome M. Eisenberg (referred to with initials J.M.E.) collection labels on the margins of the cardstock to which it is attached. The cardstock has normal toning, tape on peripheries, and handwritten notes on the back with some abrasions on the verso that do not impact the photograph.
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