Descriptive Summary
Biographical / Historical
Administrative Information
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Carte-de-visite album of Algeria
Date (inclusive): 1870s-1880s
Number: 2019.R.1
Physical Description:
1 Linear Foot
(Album of 52 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 carte-de-visite album contains 50
cartes-de-visite of Algeria and Algerians by various photographers including Jean Geiser and
Alexandre Leroux; a two-part panorama of Algiers by Jean Geiser made from two joined
horizontal cabinet cards; and a panoramic view of Oran by A. Decugis showing the port and
military hospital, also on a horizontal cabinet card.
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Language: Collection material is in
English
Biographical / Historical
Lucien-Jacob Geiser (1810-1852), an ébéniste by trade, immigrated to Algeria from
Switzerland with his wife Julie and three sons in 1850, but died shortly thereafter in 1852.
It is unclear whether Geiser père opened the photography business or his widow Julie opened
it after her husband's death, but the family eventually partnered with Jean-Baptiste-Antoine
Alary (1810-c. 1867), an early daguerreotypist, renaming the firm Alary & Geiser. After
Alary's death the youngest Geiser son, Jean-Théophile (1848-1923), took over the business,
running it into the 1920s under the name Jean Geiser.
Alexandre Leroux owned and operated a photography studio in Algiers from the 1870s until
his death in 1912. After his death, his sons continued selling his prints using his
stamp.
Little is known about the photographers L. Cairol; A. Decugis; Elie Karsenty; and A.
Rigod.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Preferred Citation
Carte-de-visite album of Algeria, 1870s-1880s, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no. 2019.R.1.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2019r1
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2019.
Processing Information
The finding aid was written by Beth Ann Guynn in 2019.
Existence and Location of Copies
The collection was digitized by the repository in 2019 and the images are available
online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2019r1
Scope and Content of Collection
The album contains 50 cartes-de-visite of Algeria and Algerians by various photographers; a
two-part panorama of Algiers by Jean Geiser made from two joined horizontal cabinet cards;
and a panoramic view of Oran by A. Decugis showing the port and military hospital, also on a
horizontal cabinet card.
The Geiser panorama of Algiers is the first image in the album, adhered to the verso of the
blank page preceding the carte-de-visite mounts. The first part of the album is devoted to
views of Algiers, Blida, and Oran, while the remaining images are studio portraits of
Algerian "types." The larger view of Oran is the final image in the album.
Rather than being inserted in their slots back-to-back, the cartes-de-visite are arranged
in the album so that their versos are showing. The makers of the bulk of the photographs are
not identified by imprints on their versos, and any imprints on their rectos are covered by
the album mounts. In addition to Geiser and Decugis, photographers known to be represented
in the album include Alexandre Leroux; L. Cairol; Elie Karsenty; and A. Rigod.
The album has bossed brown calf covers with floral and geometric designs.
Ink annotations are written in French on the versos of 33 of the cartes-de-visite, and on
the rectos of the panoramas of Algiers and Oran.
Arrangement
The album is arranged in a single series:
Series I.Carte-de-visite album of Algeria,
1870s-1880s.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Cairol, L.
Jean, Geiser,
1848-1923
Decugis, A.
Karsenty, Elie
Leroux, A. (Alexandre),
1832-1912
Rigod, A.
Subjects - Topics
Algerians -- Portraits
Subjects - Places
Algiers (Algeria) -- Description and travel
Blida (Algeria) -- Description and travel
Oran (Algeria) -- Description and travel
Genres and Forms of Material
Albumen prints -- Algeria -- 19th century
Cabinet cards -- Algeria -- 19th century
Cartes-de-visite -- Algeria -- 19th century
Photograph albums -- Algeria -- 19th century
Photographs, Original