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Al Djazair and Tunis
2001.R.20
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Title: Al Djazair and Tunis album
Date (inclusive): 1881
Number: 2001.R.20
Creator/Collector:
Al-Wahhāb, Abdu Rabbih
Physical Description:
1 album
(107 photographs)
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 album compiled by one Abdu Rabbih
al-Wahhāb contains photographs of the Maghreb region of North Africa. The first half
features views of Algeria and Tunisia, while the second half is devoted to portraits of a
variety of North African peoples. These are mainly studio portraits of prostitutes and
dancers from various ethnic groups, although some male types and dignitaries such as the
Agha and Califa of Ouargla, are included.
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Language: Collection material is in Arabic and Judeo-Arabic.
The title page lists a person known as Abdu Rabbih al-Wahhāb as the "author" of the album.
This may be a pseudonym or fictitious name.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Al Djazair and Tunis album, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no.
2001.R.20.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2001r20
Acquired in 2001.
Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn in 2001. Finding aid encoded by Linda Kleiger and
Beth Ann Guynn.
The collection was digitized in 2015 and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2001r20
Scope and Content of Collection
The album contains photographs of the Maghreb region of North Africa. The first half
features views of Algeria and Tunisia. There are images of mosques, tombs, and palaces, as
well as local neighborhoods and streets. Natural sites, such as gorges, oases and desert
areas are also depicted, as are views of Roman ruins. The second half is devoted to
portraits of a variety of North African peoples. These are mainly studio portraits of
prostitutes and dancers from various ethnic groups, although some male types, and
dignitaries such as the Agha and Califa of Ouargla, are included. Many of the sitters are
identified by name. A few scenes of daily life showing coffee houses, shops, markets, and
street life are interspersed among the portraits.
The album was compiled from an Arab perspective. Only a few images containing portions of
French buildings allude to a western presence. This fact, along with the album's elaborate
box and covers, suggests that it may have been compiled for a high ranking official or
wealthy Arab. The photographs are unsigned.
The covers of the album are made of carved wood and tooled and painted leather set into
brass backings and closed with brass hinges; decorations are in a North African artisanal
style comprising calligraphic and geometric elements. On the front cover a tugra (i.e. in
the style of an Ottoman ruler's signature) written in a combination of colloquial and
classical Arabic reads: Algiers/Tunis. Do not look at the beauty of appearances, look at
your deeds. Appearance is not as important as the inner self.
The inscription on the brass inner cover reads in the center: I start with the name of God;
and in the border: In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful [first sura of the
Qur'an].
The title page reads: Author: Abdu Rabbih al-Wahhāb - Fernand tunisi baldati min Kusa [?]
(called Gabriel the Christian, in the year 1881).
The album is housed in a carved wooden box. Carved on the box cover, as a tugra, are the
names of two brothers, Kheireddine and Arrouj, famous 16th-century corsairs.
Titles are translations of the captions written on the mounts in either Arabic or Judeo
Arabic (noted); a few images are uncaptioned and titles were devised. The Arabic captions
were translated by Karim Boughida. The Judeo-Arabaic captions were translated by Jona Sabir.
Cataloger's notes are in brackets.
Arranged in a single series:
Series I. Al Djazair and Tunis Album.
Clothing and dress -- Algeria
Clothing and dress -- Tunisia
Architecture, Islamic -- Algeria
Architecture, Islamic -- Tunisia
Women -- Tunisia
Women -- Algeria
Streets -- Algeria
Tombs -- Algeria
Occupations -- Algeria -- History -- 19th century
Occupations -- Tunisia -- History -- 19th century
Indigeneous peoples -- Tunisia -- Portraits
Mosques -- Algeria
Gorges -- Algeria
Indigenous peoples -- Algeria -- Portraits
Tunisia -- Antiquities -- Roman
Tunisia -- Description and travel
Tunisia -- Social life and customs
France -- Colonies -- Africa
Algeria -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Algeria -- Antiquities, Roman
Algeria -- Description and travel
Photographs, Original
Albumen prints -- Algeria -- 19th century
Studio portraits -- Tunisia -- 19th century
Studio portraits -- Algeria -- 19th century
Albumen prints -- Tunisia -- 19th century
Al-Wahhāb, Abdu Rabbih