"Collecting Classic Nude Images"
Newsletter vol. 1 no. 2
© 2010 ba-ra-ka.com
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ETHNIC SERIES
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ETHNIC SERIES
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Anyone who has looked into the world of early 20th century French postcards certainly has come across some Moorish nudes. They comprise a significant percentage of the whole European nude postcard output. And they are the most popular and accessible ethnic elements in the genre.
The women of North Africa -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt -- were depicted in every possible configuration of exotic dress and undress. In a culture without running water taken for granted in European & American homes, the woman's water carrying jug was an ever-present accoutrement of their daily chore. It figures prominently in many beautiful shots.
Also the typical well-ventilated peek-a-boo robes, so practical in the warm climate of the region, lent themselves well to semi-nude depictions, some very subtle some more blatant. Several other popular themes are found in the Moorish postcards, including the ever popular tribal belly dancers and musicians. The archetypal Dance of the Seven Veils was creatively played out on the postal stage.
Of course, it was the women themselves who provided the main photographic attraction. Being predominantly Caucasian they differed very little physically from the women of southern Europe. Thus they held a natural appeal to European (& American) men, and still do. This appeal enabled the French photographers & publishers to successfully add many Moorish images to their thriving lines in the nude postcard market.
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2 Egyptian Belly Dancers . . . Ouled-Nail Tribal Dancer
Some of the best known photographers are Geiser and the brothers Neurdein in Algeria and Morocco. The team of Lehnert & Landrock worked first in Tunisia and then for a long time in Egypt. Their images, especially well known and attractive, are collected for their quality and variety. Reiser also produced some fabulous images of Egyptian women. The nude postcards are indeed the most sought after, and pricey. However, there are really great images in the non-nude folkloric costuming, household tasks and workers & professions categories, which are relatively accessible for the beginning collector.
The photographs, of course, by and large speak eloquently for themselves. So let us move on the the context of the whole Moorish nude phenomenon.
The story of these ethnic postcard nudes starts with conquest of Northwest Africa by the French army. The European soldiers found most of these 'African' women to be attractive white girls, perhaps more sun-tanned, but not unlike their counterparts in France (except for their tattoos and exotic clothes). The invasion campaign in Algeria and Morocco lasted from 1830-1847.
The camera had been invented in France by Nicephore Niepce in 1825. Louis Daguerre devised a more convenient chemical developing process in the 1830s. Almost immediately artists and painters took to using the camera, and, voila, nude photography had its inception forthwith. The female form has fascinated men (and women) since the Old Stone Age, so it was quite natural that the new magic picture box should be applied to this pleasant task.
The camera came to North Africa in the wake of war, and very soon the beautiful, uninhibited pagan women of the Berber tribes were captivating the photographers (and French soldiers as well). Soon they were conquering the eyes and minds of the Frenchman at home through the postcard stalls of Paris.
Many classic Moorish nude postcards produced from about 1900 to 1925 were in fact printed from photographs shot in the 1870s -1890s. Some of Racinet's famous stone-litho costume plates of Algerian bedouin women [Paris, c. 1880] are based on these photos, better known from their later postcard editions.
The term Moor is a bit confusing. Generally now it is used to designate the Berber and other peoples of north and northwest Africa. Originally it referred to the Muslim-led people of the Maghreb who had invaded Spain in the 8th century under the flag of Islam, some of whom were black, and many who were non-Muslims, including Jews. Moor definitely does not mean Arab, nor specifically Islamic. Only small numbers of the Berbers have embraced Islam, most adhere to their shamanic roots, except when necessary to appease the Islamic ruling powers.
The veil also has been misunderstood by the Europeans. In fact the veil (or hijab, etc) was not used so much by the non-Arab Berber women, except when actually needed for weather protection. Many of the 'Moorish' photos are of Berber types from various tribes. Some were shot in tribal homelands, some in Arabized cities, some in photographers studios. It is probable that the disruptions of war brought more tribal women to town seeking income. An unexpected source was the photo studio where they were paid to dress (and undress) much as they were raised to do in the hills and mountains.
The Berber tribes simply did not have the heavy-handed proscriptions against nudity that the Muslims preached. There are some photos which clearly show tan-lines beginning at the waist, indication that topless attire was common for at least some tribal women.
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Rare Black Berber Woman . . . Great Folkloric Costume
The Berber tribes have long occupied vast regions of North Africa. They were known as the Libyans in Ancient Egypt. From the Middle Kingdom period (c 1800 BC) they inhabited the western desert and at least some of the southern desert on the Egyptian borders. They fought, with their Mycenaean allies, against Ramses the III (end of New Kingdom), but were repulsed. Shortly thereafter cataclysmic events wracked Egypt, and the Libyan dynasty seized control. They were finally ejected by the Nubians about 739 BC.
In some of the photos you will see evidence of tattoos, as most Berber women were tattooed, virtually always on the face, often on the hands, neck and upper chest, as well as the arms & occasionally legs. These marks indicating clan and family of matrilineal descent, were generally done by the grandmothers or aunts on young girls, to be added to at puberty and marriage.
Berber tattoos are typically lighter than modern tattoos and often didn't photograph particularly well. In many Moorish postcards the tattoos, especially facial ones, have been removed by photo re-touching before printing. Sometimes this painting out has been done so poorly that you can still discern the exact design.
[ © 2010 Phoenix & Arabeth]
also by Phoenix & Arabeth: Tattoos of the Middle East (Tribal Bible Vol. 3)]
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PHOTO GALLERY
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PHOTO GALLERY
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 North African Nudes |
 Babes with Big Jugs |
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BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK REVIEW
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Colonial Harem
Malek Alloula
University of Minnesota Press, 1986
Reviewed by Baraka
Alloula's anti-colonial polemic is a text full of erroneous generalizations and extremely biased misinterpretations of fact and intent. His self-proclaimed post-colonial mission is a literary counterattack against the horrible exploitive French. There is no doubt he has succeeded in spreading his often wildly distorted views.
These judgmental theories certainly are supportive of the general current Christian AND Muslim opinions on nudity and morality. But they do NOT reflect either the actual conditions and customs of the Berber peoples in the 1800s, or the actual intent and practices of the photographers working there then.
The text thus becomes a rather pathetic academic attempt to re-frame the beautiful and complex, sometimes fantastic sometimes realistic, visual ode to the beauty of North African women created by French photographers, into a horrible atrocity of war and colonization. Their is no respect for the world renowned French artist sensibility, absolutely no acknowledgment of the art-form of photography. Rather Alloula is determined to deride, denigrate and debase the very photos that comprise the core content, and primary attraction of his book. So he is happy to exploit the work of the French photographers and condemn them at the same time. Rather ironic, considering some of his assertions against the French colonialists.
But the most ironic thing is that the French, of all the colonial powers around the world, have always been the most interested in indigenous cultures. France sent many scholars, photographers and artists to the lands they claimed, to study and record the language, manners and customs of native peoples. And in those places the French controlled usually the best information exists about the pre-colonial cultures. But, of course, no peoples enjoy being taken over, and conquest inevitably changes and often destroys previous cultures and regimes.
All in all, Alloula's Colonial Harem is an odd book for reading, and the selection of photos leaves a bit to be desired. Presumably due to his political agenda Malek Alloula has offered only a smattering of the most beautiful and appealing photos, and a lot of the more pedestrian and even ugly ones to illustrate his points. But still Colonial Harem is the best single collection of the North African photos that I am aware of currently in print. I recommend you look at the pictures, and don't take the captions too seriously.
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NEW RELEASES
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Inspired by the theme of this issue of Vintage Treasures, a number of superb North African 'Moorish' nude photos are being offered here on ba-ra-ka.com. NEW RELEASES
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