Interior view of the exhibition of painting, sculpture . . . of Algier - Alexandre LEROUX

Photomechanical printing on a rigid cardboard support. Inscription in the lower right corner: "Leroux".

This view, unpublished[1] and of a large format, represents the inauguration of the second "Exhibition of painting, sculpture and arts applied to industry" of Algiers. Held in 1880, this event was of notable importance as it brought together more than 819 objects[2]. While the history and iconography of exhibitions in the metropolis is well documented, particularly with regard to the Parisian Salons, the history of similar events in the French colonial empire has yet to be studied[3]. This view, showing the interior of the 1880 exhibition in Algeria, is an exceptional testimony and an important object of study. It provides a great deal of information on the works presented, as well as valuable information on the scenography. Alexandre Leroux also immortalized the main protagonists of this event, including the artist Charles Labbé. A central figure in Algerian cultural life, he is shown shortly before he took up his post as director of the new National School of Fine Arts in Algiers in 1881. Alexandre Leroux shows him as being benevolent towards Lechartier and Godard, to whom he gives advice and counsel. This photograph thus makes it possible to reconstitute the sociabilities and networks inherent in this type of event and more broadly in the artistic milieu of colonial Algeria. This photograph also perfectly completes the catalog of the event. In addition to a directory of the founding members of the exhibition and an exhaustive list of the objects presented, the book also contains a view of the building hosting this event[4] (Illus. 01).

Originally from Béziers, Alexandre Leroux was an active photographer in Algiers from 1875, where he successively occupied three studios. He bought one of them from Claude Portier, another photographer known for his picturesque Algerian images. The link between the two men can also be seen in their production. Leroux photographed the interior of the 1880 exhibition, while Portier produced an exterior view of the building's façade (Illus. 01). Alexandre Leroux, who mainly took orientalist views, also produced a report on anti-Jewish Algeria. Taken during the turmoil of the Dreyfus Affair, this series documents the unrest that occurred in February and March 1898. A founding member of the Algiers Art Exhibitions, Alexandre Leroux also participated in the 1880 edition by presenting "two frames of various photographs" [5]. In his commemorative photograph of this event, the artist also shows the most eminent members of Algerian high society who contributed to the success of this event. From left to right are represented: Marquette; Quirot; Paul Lefort, inspector of Fine Arts; Alphandéry; Mongellas; Samary; Georges Guiauchain; Levasseur; Chevalier; Charles Labbé; Godard; Lechartier; Leroux and Sintès. According to Adrien Eudeline and Laurent Houssais, "the organization of this exhibition, which had a national impact, earned Hippolyte Mongelas (...) the title of Knight of the Legion of Honor, while several members of the Society involved in the event, including Alphandéry, were made officers of the Academy.

Illustration: Claude Portier, Vue extérieure de l'exposition de peinture, sculpture et des arts appliqués à l'industrie d'Alger, 1880, photograph printed on paper, published in Exposition de peinture, sculpture et des arts appliqués à l'industrie - catalog des œuvres exposées, Algiers, imprimerie administrative Gojo et cie, 1880, unpaginated folio, Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Institut nationale d'Histoire de l'art.

Bibliography: Société des Beaux-Arts, des Sciences et des Lettres d'Alger (dir.), Exposition de peinture, sculpture et des arts appliqués à l'industrie - catalog des œuvres exposées, Alger, imprimerie administrative Gojo et cie, 1880, 105 p.
Adrien Eudeline and Laurent Houssais, "Sociétés et premières expositions artistiques algéroises: une histoire revisitée (1851-1880," in Nos artistes aux colonies: sociétés, expositions et revues dans l'Empire français, 1851-1940, deeds of the study day, Bordeaux, Musée d'Aquitaine, November 3-4, 2011, organized by the François-Georges Pariset Center, Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3 University, Laurent Houssais (dirs. ) and Dominique Jarrassé (dirs.), Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, Éditions Esthétiques du divers, 2015, p. 37-57.

[1] Until then, it was only known by a late reproduction in 1935 in the magazine Algéria (October 1935, p. 26).
[2] See Société des Beaux-Arts, des Sciences et des Lettres d'Alger (dir.), Exposition de peinture, sculpture et des arts appliqués à l'industrie - catalog des œuvres exposées, Alger, imprimerie administrative Gojo et cie, 1880, 105 p.
[3] See Adrien Eudeline and Laurent Houssais, "Sociétés et premières expositions artistiques algéroises : une histoire revisitée (1851-1880," in Nos artistes aux colonies : sociétés, expositions et revues dans l'Empire français, 1851-1940, deeds of the study day, Bordeaux, Musée d'Aquitaine, November 3-4, 2011, organized by the François-Georges Pariset Center, Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3 University, Laurent Houssais (dirs. ) and Dominique Jarrassé (dirs.), Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, Éditions Esthétiques du divers, 2015, p. 37-57.
[4] The architect Georges Guiauchain built a wooden building for the occasion, "decorated in the Moorish style, with a double portico and an open-air atrium in the middle.
[5] Op. cit. p. 100, cat. no. 756-757.
[6] Adrien Eudeline and Laurent Houssais, "Sociétés et premières expositions artistiques algéroises : une histoire revisitée (1851-1880," in Nos artistes aux colonies : sociétés, expositions et revues dans l'Empire français, 1851-1940, deeds of the study day, Bordeaux, Musée d'Aquitaine, November 3-4, 2011, organized by the François-Georges Pariset Center, Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3 University, Laurent Houssais (dirs. ) and Dominique Jarrassé (dirs.), Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, Éditions Esthétiques du divers, 2015, p. 49.