Figure 1.-- Here is one of Béchard's Cairo merchant photos. I am not sure what he is selling, but it looks like food. Notice the woomna at the bottom, she seems tobe selling some kind of brerad. Based on her face covering, she must be his wife. Th boys is presumably his son. Notice he is not in school.

Émile Béchard was born in Les Salles-du-Gardon (1844- ). He was a French orientalist photographer, working in the Cairo (1869-1880). His father was a baker. He and his associates creating some of the earliest photographic images of Egypt. The images were mostly from the Cairo era. He then returned to France (1881) where he worked as a photographer in Hyères and Marseilles. But it is his work in Egypt that is of interest. He worked for several years with his older brother Hippolyte. He worked extensively with Hippolyte Délié. Other European orientalist photographers in Cairo included (Antonio Beato, Ermé Désiré, and Hippolyte Arnoux). They worked in Cairo, but their clientele was mostly European. This was at a time before the TV and movies, it was yet possible to even print a photographic image in newspapers and magazines. Europeans were curious about the wider world both in their colonies and elsewhere, Egypt was of specuial interest not only because of backward Islamic culture, but the glories of ancient Egypt. As a result there was a strong market for images. These photographers like Délié and Béchard began taking photographs in the streets and in their studios. They photographed the people, the monuments, and the antiquities of Egypt as well as producing portraits in the their studios. Béchard called his workshop the Au jardin de l'Esbékieh. He sold cabinet cards to tourists and people back home in France. The back stamps on Béchard's cards varied. It is the photographs of people that are greatest interest to us. While some are posed, we see a range of cultural trends, such as the absence of modern technology, poverty, the suppression of women, continued slavery, and children working rather than going to school.

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Created: 2:41 AM 5/19/2024
Last updated: 10:37 PM 6/17/2024