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Potteau (Jacques-Philippe) Portraits of Algerian
Soldiers
2018.R.27
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Title: Jacques-Philippe Potteau Portraits of Algerian Soldiers for the Collection
anthropologique du Muséum de Paris
Date (inclusive): 1863
Number: 2018.R.27
Creator/Collector:
Potteau, Jacques-Philippe, 1807-1876
Physical Description:
1.33 Linear Feet
(20 photographs in 1 box)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The 20 frontal and profile portraits of
ten Algerian soldiers who visited Paris in 1863 were taken by Philippe-Jacques Potteau as
part of his larger anthropological project for the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle,
known as the Collection anthropologique du Muséum de Paris (1855-1869). Seven pairs of
photographs are of soldiers from the 3rd Regiment of Algerian Tirailleurs, an infantry
corps, and three pairs depict soldiers from the 2nd and 3rd Regiments of Algerian Spahis, or
light cavalry units.
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Language: Collection material is in French.
Jacques-Philippe Potteau was a member of the anthropology department of the Muséum
d'histoire naturelle, Paris. Between 1860 and 1869 he made a series of ethnographic
portraits for the museum under the collective title Collection anthropologique du Muséum de
Paris. In 1862 Potteau succeeded Louis Rousseau as the departmental photographer. Potteau
never accompanied scientific expeditions, but rather organized sittings for members of
official groups visiting Paris and other persons in his own studio. His subjects were
largely diplomatic delegates or soldiers, and, less frequently, musicians, domestic servants
and members of the lower social ranks. Potteau showed his work at the London Photography
Exhibit in 1862 and 1863, and at the 1863 Paris International Photography Exhibit.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Jacques-Philippe Potteau Portraits of Algerian Soldiers for the Collection anthropologique
du Muséum de Paris, 1863, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no.
2018.R.27.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2018r27
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2018.
In 2018 Beth Ann Guynn processed the collection and wrote the finding aid.
The collection was digitized in 2019 and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2018r27
The repository holds another group of Potteau's ethnographic portraits that includes
Algerian soldiers, Vietnamese ambassadors and European types among the sitters. See:
Portraits from Jacques-Philippe Potteau's Collection anthropologique du Muséum de Paris,
Special Collections accession no. 2017.R.20.
Scope and Content of Collection
The 20 frontal and profile photographic portraits of ten Algerian soldiers who visited
Paris in 1863 were taken by Philippe-Jacques Potteau as part of his larger anthropological
project for the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, known as the Collection
anthropologique du Muséum de Paris (1855-1869). Seven pairs of photographs are of soldiers
from the 3rd Regiment of Algerian Tirailleurs, an infantry corps, and three pairs depict
soldiers from the 2nd and 3rd Regiments of Algerian Spahis, or light cavalry units.
Handwritten on the mounts below the albumen photographs is data related to the specific
sitter including, variously, name (used in this finding aid as the photograph's title), age
(or birth date), rank or occupation, place of birth and ethnic background. The information
is not uniformly present, suggesting a less than exacting documentation process, and the
data for the Algerian soldiers is, for the most part, less complete than that found on the
portraits of Potteau's more illustrious sitters. Nevertheless, these portraits with their
annotated mounts are important examples of early French colonial ethnography.
The photographs are dated on their mounts: Phot. en 1863. The photographs were almost
certainly printed before 1872 (when Potteau gave his negatives to the Muséum de Paris for
safekeeping), as they present his printing style, derived from Gustave Le Gray, of cutting
the corners of the prints on the diagonal.
Arranged in a single series:
Series I: Jacques-Philippe Potteau
Portraits of Algerian Soldiers for the Collection anthropologique du Muséum de Paris,
1863.
France. Armée. Armée d'Afrique
-- Portraits
France. Armée de terre.
Régiment de spahis, 3e
France. Armée. Tirailleurs
algériens -- Portraits
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
(France)
Photography in ethnology
Algerians -- Portraits
Albumen prints--France--19th century.
Studio portraits -- France -- 19th century
Photographs, Original.
Potteau, Jacques-Philippe, 1807-1876