Arnoux, Hippolyte, Portrait of a Middle Eastern Woman

Arnoux, Hippolyte, Albumen print, c.1870, singed in the print 'ARNOUX 1115', showing a Woman in traditional dress with a ceramic amphora and rug, taped to rear of modern card frame, image with good tonal range 27cm x 22cm

Arnoux, Hippolyte (active ca. 1860–1890) was a pioneering French photographer and publisher, known for his documentation of Egypt and the Suez Canal project. Little is known about his personal life, including his birth and death, yet his professional contributions remain significant in the history of photography.

Arnoux was part of a wave of European photographers who traveled to Egypt in response to the burgeoning demand for photographic souvenirs from tourists exploring the Nile Valley. His work, alongside that of contemporaries like Félix Bonfils, Gustave Le Gray, and the Zangaki Brothers, helped shape early visual representations of Egypt. Arnoux is believed to have established a photographic studio in Port Said in the 1860s, with notable locations at Place de Consuls and later Place Ferdinand de Lesseps. He also utilized a floating darkroom, a practical innovation given the demands of his work on the Suez Canal.

Arnoux is best known for his extensive photographic documentation of the Suez Canal construction, likely commissioned by the Universal Company of the Suez Canal. His album, *Album du Canal de Suez*, captured the monumental engineering feat and the surrounding landscapes. In addition to this, Arnoux produced portraits of Egyptian people, which contributed to the Orientalist aesthetic popular in 19th-century Europe.

Arnoux's career was not without conflict; in 1874, he successfully sued the Zangaki Brothers for intellectual property theft.