PHOTOGRAPHS
Bellocq, E. J.; Lee Friedlander
U.S. (1873 - 1949)
Storyville Portrait
c. 1912, printed c. 1974
Gold chloride toned gelatin silver print
9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. (24.8 x 19.7 cm) image size;10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm) sheet size
Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen and The Boeing Company
FA 97.214

At the suggestion of alderman Sidney Story, New Orleans legalized prostitution in one city district in 1898. The neighborhood was nicknamed “Storyville”—a dubious tribute. Between 1898 and 1912, local photographer Ernest J. Bellocq made at least 89 photographs of Storyville sex workers, captured in various attitudes and states of undress in their living and working environments. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the physically challenged Bellocq kept company with these women, who like him, were considered socially marginal. Perhaps because of this familiarity, Bellocq’s pictures are not pornographic. Rather, they emphasize individual personality and temperament, while also illustrating many mundane aspects of the prostitutes’ lives.

-- Label copy for The Photographic Impulse: Selections from the Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, July 12 to November 10, 2002.