Lehnert & Landrock. Revisiting A Colonial Archive

In 1985, the museum added the archives of the Lehnert & Landrock photography studio to its collection. Founded by Rudolf Franz Lehnert (1878-1948) and Ernst Heinrich Landrock (1878-1966), the studio was active in Tunis from 1904 to 1914, then in Cairo from 1924 onwards. It specialized in producing iconography of the Orient, which was widely distributed in Europe through photographs and postcards. The duo parted ways in 1930, and Landrock, then his heirs, continued to commercially exploit the images throughout the 20th century.Today, Photo Elysée is questioning its role as a mediator of images by taking a critical and introspective look at the objects it preserves. To this end, it is presenting the original objects from the Lehnert & Landrock collection to the public for the first time. In collaboration with a research committee, the museum proposes to study the aesthetic and political dimensions of this corpus in the context of colonial enterprises.To open up the discussion to other perspectives, Photo Elysée has invited artist Gloria Oyarzabal to explore these archives. Her contemporary perspective questions the way museums today approach collections related to colonial history. Her work enters into dialogue with that of Saudi artist Nouf Aljowaysir, who is interested in how artificial intelligence prolongs and reinforces stereotypes associated with the representation of the Orient.