Jacques-Philippe Potteau
Mohamed ben Miloud

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Images(2)

Artist Jacques-Philippe Potteau(French, born Belgium, 1807–1876)French, born Belgium, 1807–1876

CultureFrench

Titles

Mohamed ben Miloud

Datec. 1863

MediumAlbumen silver prints from glass negatives

DimensionsImage (.1): 6 3/4 × 4 3/4 in. (17.1 × 12.1 cm)
Sheet (.1): 6 3/4 × 4 3/4 in. (17.1 × 12.1 cm)
Mount (.1): 13 3/8 × 10 5/8 in. (34 × 27 cm)
Image (.2): 6 7/16 × 5 in. (16.4 × 12.7 cm)
Sheet (.2): 6 7/16 × 5 in. (16.4 × 12.7 cm)
Mount (.2): 13 3/8 × 10 9/16 in. (34 × 26.8 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by W. Temple Webber III

Object number2020.10.1,.2

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionThe French photographer and naturalist Jacques-Philippe Potteau is known for his portraits of international dignitaries, soldiers, and visitors to Paris. Unlike other ethnographic photographers, Potteau eschewed decorative backgrounds and props that would place sitters in a world of colonial imagination. Instead, he photographed his subjects against a plain backdrop. The portraits, with names and short descriptions of their sitters’ ethnic origins, are important examples of French colonial ethnography. Despite the rigid formality of the front and profile views, and the coldness of the textual description, the beautifully rendered, richly detailed photographs transcend their scientific purpose.
Provenance[Etude Tajan, Paris, France, November 18, 2000, lot 164]; [purchased by Christopher Wahren Fine Photographs, New Haven, Connecticut]; purchased by MFAH, 2020.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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