Ernest J. BellocqAmerican, 1873–1949Storyville Portrait
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Storyville Portrait” now? Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Chicago, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
In the early years of the 20th century, the commercial photographer E. J. Bellocq made a series of strangely personal images in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans; many years later, the glass-plate negatives were discovered and printed by photographer Lee Friedlander. According to the accounts of jazz musicians and photographers who knew him, Bellocq was a difficult person. But he must have appealed to the inhabitants of the brothels, who collaborated with him on a series of intimate, revealing portraits that are anything but pornographic in effect. In many of Bellocq’s images, the identity is hidden, either by a mask or by purposeful damage to the negative; it is unknown whether the defacement was done by the photographer or by the women he photographed.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Details
- Accession number
- 2010.511
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — © the artist or rights holder
