Alary & Geiser Algerian carte-de-visite album, circa 1865

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Summary

Creators:
Alary & Geiser
Abstract:
The album containing 33 cartes-de-visite by Alary & Geiser documents the architecture and people of Algeria in the 1860s.
Extent:
1 album(s) (33 photographs)
Language:
Collection material is in French.
Preferred citation:

Alary & Geiser Algerian carte-de-visite album, circa 1865, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 91.R.6.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa91r6

Background

Scope and content:

The album of 33 cartes-de-visite by Alary & Geiser documents the architecture and people of Algeria. Included are architectural interiors and exteriors, nomadic camps with tents and camels, and images of a variety of peoples photographed both in the studio and in more natural outdoor settings. Occupational portraits include laborers, a water porter, Spahis (Algerian cavalry), a wall painter, merchants, and street vendors. The sitters of a few male portraits are identified by title or status. Other portraits emphasize traditional dress while tropes such as "odalisque" or "dancer," common to an objectified European male gaze, are used to identify their female subjects.

The album is bound in dark green leather. Its brass clasps are missing, but the latches remain on the fore edge. Titles are taken from the captions written below the carte-de-visite window opening on most of the mounts.

Biographical / historical:

Alary & Geiser was a photographic firm of long standing in Algiers. Lucien-Jacob Geiser (1810-1852), was an ébéniste by trade, who immigrated to Algeria from Switzerland with his wife Julie and three sons in 1850. The exact nature of the business Geiser père established in Algiers is not known, nor is the nature of his involvement with photography. Yet at some point after her husband's death Madame Geiser, who would have taken over the business, went into partnership with Jean-Baptiste Antoine Alary (1810-approximately 1867), an early daguerreotypist. Eventually the youngest Geiser son, Jean-Théophile (1848-1923), became involved with the photography business, running it into the 1920s.

Sources consulted:

Jacobson, Ken. Odalisques & Arabesques: Orientalist Photography, 1839-1925. London: Quaritch, 2009.

Acquisition information:
Acquired in 1991.
Processing information:

Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn; finding aid encoded by Holly Larson with grant funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in 2009 and updated by Guynn in 2020.

Arrangement:

Arranged in a single series: Series I. Alary & Geiser Algerian carte-de-visite album, circa 1865.

Physical location:
To access physical materials on site, go to the library catalog record for this collection and click "Request an Item." Click here for access policy.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Preferred citation:

Alary & Geiser Algerian carte-de-visite album, circa 1865, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 91.R.6.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa91r6

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
Website