E. J. Bellocq (American, 1873–1949)
printed by Lee Friedlander (American, born 1934)
Storyville Portrait
INV-2052
E. J. Bellocq (American, 1873–1949)
printed by Lee Friedlander (American, born 1934)c. 1912, printed 1950-70
Storyville Portrait
E. J. Bellocq (American, 1873–1949) printed by Lee Friedlander (American, born 1934) →photographphotography
Date
c. 1912, printed 1950-70
Medium
Gelatin silver printed-out print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 25.2 × 20.3 cm (9 15/16 × 8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by Gilda Buchbinder
In the early years of the 20th century, the commercial photographer E. J. Bellocq made a series of strangely personal images in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans; many years later, the glass-plate negatives were discovered and printed by photographer Lee Friedlander. According to the accounts of jazz musicians and photographers who knew him, Bellocq was a difficult person. But he must have appealed to the inhabitants of the brothels, who collaborated with him on a series of intimate, revealing portraits that are anything but pornographic in effect. In many of Bellocq’s images, the identity is hidden, either by a mask or by purposeful damage to the negative; it is unknown whether the defacement was done by the photographer or by the women he photographed.
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Storyville Portrait
E. J. Bellocq (American, 1873–1949) printed by Lee Friedlander (American, born 1934)
Storyville Portrait
E. J. Bellocq (American, 1873–1949) printed by Lee Friedlander (American, born 1934)
Storyville Portrait
E. J. Bellocq (American, 1873–1949) printed by Lee Friedlander (American, born 1934)