Jacques-Philippe Potteau Portraits of Algerian Soldiers for the Collection anthropologique du Muséum de Paris, 1863

Biographical / Historical

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.

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.

Arrangement

Arranged in a single series:
Series I: Jacques-Philippe Potteau Portraits of Algerian Soldiers for the Collection anthropologique du Muséum de Paris, 1863.

Restrictions

Conditions Governing Access

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Publication Rights

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Indexing Terms

Subjects - Corporate Bodies

Subjects - Topics

Genres and Forms of Material

Contributors

Related Material

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.

Digitized Material

The collection was digitized in 2019 and the images are available online: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2018r27

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

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.

Processing Information

In 2018 Beth Ann Guynn processed the collection and wrote the finding aid.

Container List