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Nubian Woman Carrying Water

1858
Roger Fenton

While some photographers travelled, others recreated the so-called East in their studios, as in the case of Roger Fenton (1819−1869). This pupil of the French painter Delaroche, who thus inherited a formidable repertoire of imagination and technical skills, including a taste for detail and descriptive precision, is known to have covered the Crimean War as a photographer. The Middle East remained, however, unknown to him. He staged his first tableaux vivants, in which he also played a leading role, in London in 1858. Far from seeking to disguise their inherent ambiguity, midway between theatre and painting, these highly posed photographs present an ordinary event as a faux Eastern snapshot, as in this example.

Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi/ Photo: APF

Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi/ Photo: APF

Artist: Roger Fenton
Title: Nubian Woman Carrying Water
Geography: London, United Kingdom
Date: 1858
Medium: albumen print from a collodion glass plate negative
Classification: photography
Dimensions: 18.3 x 28.1 cm
Inventory number: LAD 2011.156
Contact for images: [email protected]
Permalink: https://www.louvreabudhabi.ae/en/Explore/online-collection/nubian-woman-carrying-water
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