Descriptive Summary
Biographical/Historical Note
Administrative Information
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Félix Moulin views of Algeria
Date (inclusive): 1856-1857
Number: 93.R.24
Creator/Collector:
Moulin, Félix Jacques
Physical Description:
14 photographic prints
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The collection comprises 14 photographs
by Félix Jacques Moulin of the three nineteenth-century northern Algerian provinces of
Algiers, Constantine, and Oran which he toured in 1856 and 1857.
Language: Collection material is in
French.
Biographical/Historical Note
The French photographer, Félix-Jacques-Antoine Moulin was born in 1802. Little is known
regarding his training as a photographer, but by 1849 Moulin was selling daguerreotypes of
nudes from his Paris studio at 31 bis rue du Faubourg Montmartre. Purportedly created as
academy or nude studies for use by artists, Moulin's images seemed to have had a wider
audience and his sitters were often teenage girls. In 1851, his premises along with those of
Jules Malacrida, an optician and dealer, and Mme. veuve René, another daguerreotypist, were
raided. The three were tried together for the possession and sale of "obscene objects" in a
closed-door session of the Cour d'assises de la Seine. Moulin was sentenced to a month in
prison and fined 100 francs. After his release Moulin reopened his studio using another
entrance that went through 23, rue Richer. Throughout his career Moulin continued to produce
and exhibit female nudes, protercting himself by placing copies of them on legal deposit at
the Bibliothèque Impériale, Paris.
Moulin's photographic output also included portraits, genre subjects, scenic views, and
views of monuments. He also printed the work of other photographers, and in 1856 acquired
the rights to Roger Fenton's photographs of the Crimean War.
In March 1856, Moulin made an eighteen-month trip to Algeria where he traveled across the
provinces of Oran, Algiers, and Constantine. Carrying a letter of introduction from the
French Minister of War to help facilitate travel in the country, and accompanied by
Alexandre Quinet, a distant relative, Moulin used modestly-sized collodion glass negatives
to produce the first extensive body of photographs of Algeria. He recorded the Algerian
landscape, urban views, ancient sites, and the recent transformations to the country
undertaken by the French, as well as Algeria's diverse indigenous population.
Moulin returned to Paris with more than 450 negatives, 300 of which he published in three
volumes entitled
L'Algérie photographiée (1858). A further
edition comprising 448 photographs and eight panoramas and for which no extant copies have
been located was apparently published in 1859. Additionally, extensive excerpts from his
letters from Algeria were published in
La Lumière and some of
his photographs were reproduced as engravings in
L'Illustration in 1858.
Having found favor with Napoléon III, as Moulin noted in his prospectus for the 1858
publication ("Cette publication destinée à populariser l'Algérie, a été accueillie avec
faveur par S. M. Napoléon III, qui a bien voulu en accepter la dédicace") Moulin's
photographs helped to consolidate the territory in the French colonial imagination. The
newly created Ministry of Algeria under the emperor's cousin, Prince Napoléon-Jérôme,
fostered further interest in Moulin's suite of photographs.
After 1858, Moulin continued to exhibit his photographs, but produced little new work. In
1862, he announced his retirement and put his studio up for sale. He died around 1875.
Sources consulted:
______. "Félix-Jacques-Antoine Moulin (1802 - après 1875)."
http://expositions.bnf.fr/napol/grand/057.htm
Donald Rosenthal, "Moulin, Félix-Jacques-Antoine," In: John Hannavay, editor.
Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-century Photography. United Kingdom:
Taylor & Francis Group, 2008, vol. II, p.945-946.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Félix Moulin views of Algeria, 1856-1857, Getty Research Institute, Research Library,
Accession no. 93.R.24
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa93r24
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 1993.
Processing History
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). Finding aid revised by
Guynn in 2021.
Digitized Material
The collection was digitized by the repository and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/93r24
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection includes mounted albumen photographs from the three northern Algerian
provinces of Algiers, Constantine, and Oran which Moulin toured in 1856-1857. The
photographs in this collection were most likely printed in the 1860s.
The lone image from the province of Algiers is a view of Kbur er Roumia (Kbor er Roumia;
also known as the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania or Tomb of the Christian Woman), the
mausoleum built near Tipasa in 3 BC by Juba II, the last King of Numidia, and his wife,
Cleopatra Selene II. It was one of the first sites Moulin visited. Images from the province
of Constantine include: four photographs of the oasis of Biskra, including one of the
remains of the twelfth-century mosque of Sidi ben Fedhal and one of the ruins of the ancient
casbah; a view of the oasis of El Kantara; a view of the city of Miliana; and three
photographs of the city of Constantine, two of which show the city as it is situated on the
dramatic gorges of the Rummel river, and one depicting the lower gallery of the palace of
Ahmed Bey (Ahmed Bey ben Mohamed Chérif), the last bey of Constantine. There are two
photographs of medieval ruins in Tlemcen, Oran: one of the Aghadir Gate, and one of the
Djemma El-Afra. There are also two photographs of unidentified locales, one showing an
encampment of a desert tribe, and one of a village showing signs of recent construction and
a large palm grove on its outskirts.
Printed labels in French with identification and numbers are affixed to the lower right
corner of most mounts. Unless otherwise noted these have been used as image titles.
Arrangement
Arranged in a single series:
Series I. Félix Moulin views of Algeria, 1856-1857.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Places
Oran (Algeria) -- Description and travel
Algeria -- Description and travel
Constantine (Algeria) -- Description and travel
Algiers (Algeria) -- Description and travel
Genres and Forms of Material
Albumen prints -- Algeria -- 19th century
Contributors
Moulin, Félix Jacques