Algerian Woman (late 1850s): Art, History and Details

Algerian Woman (late 1850s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Gustave de Beaucorps (French, 1825–1906).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Algerian Woman
• Date: late 1850s
• Creator attribution: Gustave de Beaucorps (French, 1825–1906)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative
• Dimensions: Image: 21.3 x 15.4 cm (8 3/8 x 6 1/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
• Collection: Photography
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1997.45

A detail from the museum

How much of a person's face do you need to see to make a photograph a portrait?

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.