Pioneers of women's travel photography in the Caucasus: Jane Dieulafoy, Carla Serena and Bellonie Chantre

Abstract

Foreign women photographers in the nineteenth-century Caucasus, such as Jane Dieulafoy (1851-1916), Carla Serena (1824-1884), and Bellonie Chantre (1866-1952), have remained largely unrecognized and underappreciated despite their significant contributions to the visual documentation of the region.

Jane Dieulafoy, an archaeologist and journalist, documented her 1881 trip to the South Caucasus with photographs that have only recently been rediscovered. Her hasty snapshots of passersby, landscapes, and monuments, taken en route to Persia, contrast with the more deliberate compositions of Carla Serena and Bellonie Chantre. Serena, a solo traveler, extensively documented Georgian architecture and local life during her journey in 1881. Despite the loss of her original photographs, engravings made from her images illustrate her detailed approach. Chantre, who collaborated with her husband on a scientific mission to Armenia and Georgia in 1890, focused on anthropological and ethnographic photography and contributed significantly to their research, though she was often overshadowed by her husband's reputation.

The challenges these women faced illustrate the difficulties of 19th-century fieldwork. Local populations often viewed photography with suspicion, complicating efforts to capture images. Both Serena and Chantre encountered resistance from locals that reflected broader social attitudes toward photography at the time.

While their photographs have largely been preserved through engravings published in the journal Le Tour du Monde, these reproductions can be distorted by artistic interpretations. Nevertheless, these engravings have played a crucial role in preserving the visual legacy of these pioneering women photographers.

A comparison of the work of Dieulafoy, Serena, and Chantre reveals distinct styles and approaches, shaped by their different goals and circumstances. Despite the growing interest in women photographers, the work of these three photographers remains understudied. Their photographs, though neglected, are crucial to understanding the cultural heritage of the Caucasus, especially in the context of twentieth-century Sovietization. The rediscovery and study of their work promises to enrich our understanding of the region's history and the pioneering role these women played in documenting it. Their legacy, captured in both photographs and engravings, deserves recognition and further research in order to fully appreciate their contributions to the field of photography and the cultural history of the Caucasus.