"Souvenirs of the Nile: Nineteenth-Century Photographs of Egypt"
2000-07-01 until 2000-09-24
Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University
Atlanta, GA, USA United States of America

Beginning with its rediscovery in the age of Napoleon, Egypt held a great fascination for the West. Images of Egypt - disseminated first in drawings and engravings, and later in the newly invented photograph - spurred curiosity and inspired more and more travelers to visit the exotic sites themselves. As the techniques of photography became less cumbersome over time and pictures more easily mass-produced, photographic firms were established in places like Cairo and Luxor that specifically catered to the growing number of tourists.

These firms provided picturesque views of the ancient monuments which could be carried back as mementos of a journey. The photographs in this exhibit were collected by Maria Tamsin Hersey while on tour in the 1890s. The subjects range from the pyramids of Giza to the temple of Isis at Philae. With the advent of the hand-held camera, images like these were soon to be replaced by do-it-yourself snapshots.

IMAGE:
Courtyard with Statues,
Temple of Ramesses II, Luxor.
Anonymous Italian photographer,
19th century Ca. 1880-1889,
Gelatin silver print from collodion negative.
1984.11.7

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