From Sitters to Photographers: Women in Photography from the Qajar Era to the 1930s

Abstract

Royal patronage enabled photography to enter Iran, but it spread through the country without much difficulty, cost being the main impediment. Women faced a particular obstacle, however, for religious prescriptions prevented their sitting for photographers other than close kin. A newspaper advertisement of 1877 indicates that women were not allowed in photography studios. King Nāser-ed-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848–98) ignored such restrictions and photographed his wives. Not only did he himself photograph, but he also trained his servants and harem eunuchs to do so. The elite followed him in embracing the new invention, but they were reluctant to allow their wives to be photographed in public studios. Some set up household darkrooms, and thus women were photographed in a number of these families. This article examines how women were portrayed in photographs during the Qajar era by European male and female photographers and by Iranian female and male photographers; it also examines dossiers relating to the photography of women from the mid-1850s through the 1930s.