Orientalist Photography

Early twentieth-century orientalist photographs were extremely popular in the early 20th century, as interest in the Orient grew and demand for images of the Orient increased. Because they were light and relatively cheap to reproduce (in comparison to paintings), photographers of European and Oriental origin set up studio workshops to partake in this new lucrative market, and to produce images for purchase and consumption. Although the medium of photography gave these popular colonial postcards a documentary-like realism, the contrived poses of the models were meant to replicate the fantasies portrayed in earlier Orientalist paintings. In contrast to the way they were understood to be, the models, known only by the labels given to them by the photographer, were frequently prostitutes hired to portray multiple types of women for the photographer’s camera.