Félix Adrien Bonfils (8 March 1831 – 1885) was a French photographer and writer who was active in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. He was one of the first commercial photographers to produce images of the Middle East on a large scale and amongst the first to employ a new method of colour photography, developed in 1880.

Life and career

Bonfils was born in Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort and died in

Alès Alès (; oc, Alès) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is one of the sub-prefectures of the department. It was formerly known as ''Alais''. Geography Alès lies north-northwest of Nîmes, o ...

. As a young man he worked as a bookbinder. In 1860, he joined General d'Hautpoul's expedition to the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

, organised by France following the massacre of Christians in the

civil conflict A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

between Christians and Druze in Mount Lebanon and Damascus. On his return to France, it is thought that Bonfils was taught the

heliogravure Photogravure (in French ''héliogravure'') is a process for printing photographs, also sometimes used for reproductive intaglio printmaking. It is a photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is grained (adding a pattern to the plate) an ...

printing process by

Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor Claude Félix Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor (26 July 1805, Saint-Cyr, Saône-et-Loire – 7 April 1870, Paris) was a French photographic inventor. An army lieutenant and cousin of Nicéphore Niépce, he first experimented in 1847 with negatives ma ...

and opened a printing office in Alès in 1864. Soon after returning from Lebanon, he became a photographer. In 1857, he married Marie-Lydie Cabanis. When his son, Adrien, fell ill, Bonfils remembered the green hills around

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

and sent him there to recover, accompanied by his mother. The family moved to Beirut in 1867 where they opened a

photographic studio A photographic studio is often a business owned and represented by one or more photographers, possibly accompanied by assistants and pupils, who create and sell their own and sometimes others’ photographs. Since the early years of the 20th ce ...

called "Maison Bonfils". Maison Bonfils produced thousands of photographs of the Middle East. Bonfils worked with both his wife and his son. Their studio became "F. Bonfils et Cie" in 1878. They photographed landscapes, portraits, posed scenes with subjects dressed up in Middle Eastern regalia, and also stories from the Bible. Bonfils took photographs in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, Palestine, Syria,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

(now

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

). While Bonfils produced the vast majority of his work, his wife, Lydie, and son Adrien were also involved in photography produced by the studio. As few are signed, it is difficult to identify who is responsible for individual photographs. Lydie is thought to have taken some of the studio portraits, especially those of Middle Eastern women, who were more inclined to pose for a female photographer. Adrien became more involved in the landscape photography at age 17, when Félix returned to Alès to have compiled collections of their photographs published and then to open a

collotype Collotype is a gelatin-based photographic printing process invented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855 to print images in a wide variety of tones without the need for halftone screens. The majority of collotypes were produced between the 1870s and 1 ...

printing factory. Félix died in Alès on the 9th of April 1855. Bonfils was amongst the first photographers to employ the new technique of

Photochrom Photochrom, Fotochrom, Photochrome or the Aäc process is a process for producing colorized images from a single black-and-white photographic negative via the direct photographic transfer of the negative onto lithographic printing plates. The pr ...

, a photographic colour printing technique, developed in 1880. Maison Bonfils was one of the most prolific studios in the Middle East in the late 19th-century. After Félix's death, the studio continued to produce photographs by the Bonfils family, first under Adrien's management, then Lydie's, until her death in 1918.

Work

Souvenirs d'Orient, 1878 by Félix Bonfils 0000

After settling in the Near East, Bonfils took some panoramic photographs of Constantinople and Damascus. His work became well known among tourists that travelled to those countries because they bought photographs as souvenirs. In 1872 he published the album ''Architecture Antique'' (by Ducher press) after presenting some of his pictures to the

Société française de photographie The Société française de photographie (SFP) is an association, founded on 15 November 1854, devoted to the history of photography. It has a large collection of photographs and old cameras. Among the founding members were Olympe Aguado, Hippoly ...

. He later re-opened a studio in Alès (France) from which he would publish ''Souvenirs d'Orient''; his best-known work.

Select list of publications

* Bonfils, F., ''Architecture antique : Égypte, Grèce, Asie Mineure,'' 1872 * Bonfils, F., ''Catalogue de vues photographiques de l'Orient,'' 1876 * Bonfils, F., ''Souvenirs d'Orient,'' 1878 * Bonfils, F. (with Adrien & Lydie Bonfils), ''Photographs of the Middle East, circa 1860s-1900s''

''L’Orient des Bonfils (1867-1918)''

On 11 May, 2017, the heirs of the Bonfils-Saalmüller family donated a number of archives with historical photographs by Félix, Marie-Lydie and Adrien Bonfils to the library of

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...

at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

in Paris. These photographs and accompanying art historical text were published in 2022 as ''L’Orient des Bonfils (1867-1918). Les archives Bonfils de la bibliothèque d’égyptologie du Collège de France''. In addition to the commercial print version of 865 pages with 461 black-and-white or colorized photographs, this book was also made available for free download as a contribution to

Digital Humanities Digital humanities (DH) is an area of scholarly activity at the intersection of computing or Information technology, digital technologies and the disciplines of the humanities. It includes the systematic use of digital resources in the humanitie ...

and for wide consultation on the Internet.

Selected photographs

File:Bonfils, Félix (1831-1885) - 613 - Joueurs de violon bedouins.jpg, Bedouin Violin Players, c. 1880 File:Bonfils, Félix (1831-1885) - 766 Gardien du tombeau des rois et sa famille.jpg, Guardian of the Tomb and his family, c.1880 File:Félix Bonfils (French) - Femmes de Siloé, Palestine - Google Art Project.jpg, Women of Siloé, Palestine, c. 1880 File:Felix Bonfils-Road to Bethlehem.jpg, Road to Bethlehem, c. 1880 File:Arabpipe.jpg, Arab man with a pipe, 1880s File:Well of St. Mary, Nazareth, by Felix Bonfils.jpg, Well of St. Mary, Nazareth, 1880s File:Bedouin Chief of Palmyra.jpg, Bedouin Chief of Palmyra,

photochrom Photochrom, Fotochrom, Photochrome or the Aäc process is a process for producing colorized images from a single black-and-white photographic negative via the direct photographic transfer of the negative onto lithographic printing plates. The pr ...

, 1880s File:Beduin mothers carrying their children on their shoulders.jpg, Bedouin mothers carrying their children, photochrom, 1880s File:Bonfils, Félix (1831-1885) - 682. Chef de bedouins pasteurs.jpg, Chief of the Bedouin shepherds, 1880s File:Félix Bonfils Jeune femme de Naplouse.jpg, Woman from Nablus, between 1867 and 1885 File:MMoCA195MA.jpg, ''Temple of Jupiter, Baalec, Syria'', Mougins Museum of Classical Art

Select list of institutions holding his work

* Brooklyn Museum *

, Library of Egyptology *

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is an art museum on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma. Overview The University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art holds over 20,000 objects in its permanent collection. The museum c ...

, University of Oklahoma * Harvard University Fine Arts Library *

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

Minneapolis Institute of Arts The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United Stat ...

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

Sursock Museum The Sursock Museum ( ar, قصر سرسق), which is officially known as the Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock Museum, is a modern art and contemporary art museum in Beirut, Lebanon. History In 1912, the wealthy and prominent Lebanese aristocrat Nicolas I ...

, with digital copies of this collection held in the Jafet Library of the American University of Beirut and the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Endangered Archives Programme The Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) is a funding programme and digital archive run by the British Library in London. It has the purpose of preserving cultural heritage where resources may be limited. Each year EAP awards grants to researchers ...

. *

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

University of Tennessee, Knoxville The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the s ...

References

External links

*
Photographs by Félix Bonfils at the Canadian Centre for Architecture

Union List of Artists Names, s.v. "Bonfils, Félix", cited 6 February 2006Bonfils Felix - Photography
on the Digital collections of

Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library is a central academic library of the University of Haifa, and one of the largest in Israel. It is also one of the most progressive Israeli libraries in terms of service, collection, physical space, and libr ...

, University of Haifa
Presentation of Félix Bonfils and his work
on the French National Library (BnF) site (in English)