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Photorientalist
A website dedicated to exhibiting 19th and 20th century photographs of the Middle East and North Africa
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Recommended Websites
- Abdul Hamid II Collection, Library of Congress
- Afghan Box Camera Project
- Arab Image Foundation
- Art of the Photogravure
- Cairo’s recollections, Samir Raafat
- Egyptian Mirage
- E.W. Blatchford Collection, American University of Beirut
- K&J Jacobson, 19th Century Photography
- l’Egypte d’Antan
- Luminous-Lint
- Matson (G. Eric and Edith) Photograph Collection, Library of Congress
- Middle East Centre Archive, St. Anthony’s College
- Rare books and Special Collection Digital Library, The American University in Cairo
- Orientalist Photography
- The Oriental Institute, The University of Chicago
- Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA)
This website and the way your photos are displayed is marvelous. I much hope you will display many more of your photos that give such a good image of the Arab world in past days.
Absolutely fascinating photo collection, beautifully presented. Great work.
Thanks for your comment, this is only the beginning. In future I hope to include other privately owned collections as well.
Hello Mr Schiller,
Myself a third generation Egyptian born in Heliopolis to a Greek mother (born in Istanbul ) and a Cairo-born father (of Syrian descent), I migrated to France in the early seventies.
I am presently a retired journalist after a career of forty odd years working in a wide array of fields, mainly sci-tech, economy and some politics.
For many years now — since the late 1980’s, actually —I’ve been a free lance translator between English, French and Arabic.
Do I understand you are planning to write a book about the Zottos family saga? If so, I’d love to purchase and read it when published… And maybe also translate it?!
Regards,
Elias
Hi Mr. Award,
I haven’t thought about writing a book about the Zottos family. I am surprised by all the attention I have gotten from the piece I wrote and I would ;ike to get more information particularly about Nino Zottos and his relationship with Andreas Zottos. Is Nino the grandson of Andreas?? I also would be very interested in during a followup story about the Zottos family if I could find additional family photos and learn a little more on what exactly happened to the family when they left Egypt. If anyone can help please contact m,e
Regards
Norbert
SUCH a good site. Thanks
Hi, this is Maria Golia, long-time resident of Egypt. I loved the Zottos exhibition – it reminded me of the 1980s when imported alcohol was hard to come by, and Zottos rum was an essential ingredient in many parties. My friend Curtis Jones invented a cocktail called ‘camel’s milk’ – Zotto’s rich dark rum, condensed milk and a dusting of nutmeg on top (over as much ice as you could lay your hands on – another rare commodity). It had quite a kick to it!
This is wonderful. Please post more.
Love this site. Thank you for sharing.
Mr Schiller, This is an absolutely wonderful collection pictures and information on the Zottos Family. My family and I are trying to trace our roots to find the connection. Our Great Grandfather migrated to the US from Greece and his brother migrated to Egypt.
Love it.
Love the site and your meticulous documenting of this fascinating area of the world.
Lovely! Need someone to do such portraits now!
Lovely, Norbert. Just lovely.
RE: Your exhibition : Color Postcards of Lebanon from the 1960s
Let me start by congratulating you on your site.
While browsing the exhibition above mentioned in the heading, I noticed that there were a few captions on the postcards from Beirut center, martyr square or the souks that mention them as “between Christian east and Moslem west Beirut”
Up until after the civil war, there was no such thing as “Christian east” and “moslem west” , these words were coined around 1976 and are not relevant to your postcards of the 60’s. There was no such divide the…
Please correct and remove the erroneous captions (there are a few)
Thank you
Lina
absolutly facinating pictures!
thank you
Hi Norbert, having travelled extensively and spent a great deal of time in Lebanon in 1995, it is heartwarming to see reflections of this beautiful land. I have shared with my dear old Dad (92) who spent time in Palestine in WWII and of course is always asking about you and your work. A fabulous and extremely interesting site!
life with my husband, now deceased, was woven with many stories of life in Beruit and surrounding areas for the 15 years he lived there with his parents after WWll until 1960.
The photographs of his have no labels and seeing your glorious encompassing photographs I can place many of them with names. I am in search of name of a particularly lovely restaruant with a creek or stream that ran through it in the mountains outside of Beruit that was subject of glorious memories.
I have many photos that I had digitalize from slides. They are almost as glorious as yours. Wish I could have experienced the time and place.
Dear Mr Schiller, I’ve sent you the attached mail yesterday with a copy of the portrait I am talking about…perhaps it ended up in your spam box?.
Dear Mr Schiller,
I am an otolaryngologist practicing in Istanbul. Married to an art historian, and born to a family of academicians with a keen interest in history,i take immense joy in historical research.
It was during one of such endeavours when i came across your website. I was trying to find out the history of a photograph I found in my parents house after my father died in 2014. My father was also an otolaryngologist and had an office in Pera after 1955 , close to where Weinberg would have had and Pfeschry still kept his studio until 1968.
I have no idea how it came into my father’s posession and where he has kept it all those years but the portrait of Atatürk was sure a pleasent surprise.
I also write short stories etc and presently trying to finish one on the story of this frame.
I am attaching a fairly low quality copy and will try to send a much better one soon.
Enjoyed your site very much and hope to meet you one day if our paths cross.
Sincerely,
Doğan Şenocak
Sent from my iPhone
Absolutely unique photo collection. Stunning, simply stunning.
Absolutely fascinating collection. Great work, and a good resource for those interested in this history.
Great Website! It’s a lot of fun discovering things here! Best wishes
1966 I lived on California street with a view out over the point where the NEW lighthouse is today. I attended ACS and walked throughout Beirut everyday. I know it’s changed, as I have changed, but how I miss Beirut! We had a beach cabana at Acapulco Club south of town and spend many times in the mountains too.
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Am looking for a portrait of my grandfather done by Jean Weinberg. Studios in Cairo he took both picture of
Jacques Telio and his wife Sarah Celine Lisbona
What are chances to see those lost photos
Dear Jacques,
The mystery surrounding Jean Weinberg and his whereabouts after the 1956 Suez war with France, England and Israel and the fate of his archives is something I have been unable to solve. Unless copies of your grandparents photos turn up at a flea market or on ebay, delcampe etc… the chances are what happened to them will also be lost to history. All of Weinberg’s photos that I own are on my website. If you do ever come across them I would love to have copies and add them to the online exhibition.
Cheers
This website is a true online museum and an incredible source of information for anyone who is interested in the Middle East and its rich culture. Wealth of ideas for exploration and travelling, shukran!
Photorientalist stands out clearly from similarly themed websites for not just reblogging beautiful pictures, but for creating their own new content, adding new information hard to find anywhere else and promoting fresh knowledge about the Middle East and North Africa.
Thanky you very much for your stories and may you be able to keep up this work!
Hello Norbert,
Great website!
I have the original Yankee and plan to sail her throughout southern New England.
Curious about the other photographs you have of her.
Her website (under construction) is http://www.aconnecticutyankee.com
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Al
Congratulations and thank you!
Photorientalist is a term that appears to blend photography and orientalism, possibly referring to a style or approach in photography that captures elements of the oriental or Eastern cultures. It may involve incorporating Eastern aesthetics, themes, or subjects into photographic art, offering a unique perspective on cultural representation through photography.