Studio History
Léon & Lévy was a French photographic studio founded in 1864 by Moyse Léon and Isaac Lévy (who also went by the alias of Jules Georges Lévy). The studio included a collection of 7,000 stereoscopic photographs featuring images of Egypt, Syria, and Constantinople. Léon & Lévy gained notoriety in France when their images were displayed at the Paris International Exposition of 1855 and 1867. Their growth continued following their sponsorship of the effort to document the 1869 inauguration of the Suez Canal through images.
Through the years, the studio went through a series of name changes to reflect the changes of ownership. It was renamed to J. Lévy & Cie after Léon left in 1872. By 1889, the collection grew to a vast collection of 30,000 photographs with images from Spain to Morocco, Europe, Asia, Africa and America.
The studio was again renamed to Lévy Fils et Cie in 1895 when Lévy’s two sons (Abraham and Gaspard Lévy) inherited the business. Under the two Lévy brothers, the studio transformed into a postcard publisher and they incorporated the studio under the trademark of LL in 1901. By this time, the studio was the second largest French postcard publisher.
In 1913, Lévy Fils et Cie and its competitor Neurdein Frères were both acquired by Émile Crété who combined the top two publishing companies to make Lévy et Neurdein Réunis. The studio continued to distribute lithographic postcards, some of which were hand-colored real photographs. According to some, the LL collection amounts to a selective colonial representation of Egypt through the lens of Paris intellectualism. LL was finally dissolved in 1932 when Lévy et Neurdein Réunis was acquired by another studio.
The Aesthetics of Léon & Lévy
Léon & Lévy’s photographic postcards include landscapes and pyramid views with Egyptians in traditional dress and camels in the foreground for scale. Many photo images are hand-colored with a combination of blues, pinks, yellows, and greens and diffuse lighting that creates a dreamy exotic appeal.
Warm cream and brown sepia tones produced by the albumen print style (egg white process).
Photos with a distinct vanishing point along the horizon creating an illusion of depth.
References:
Mégnin, M. “Dictionnaire Des Orientalistes.” Dictionnaire Des Orientalistes, n.d., dictionnairedesorientalistes.ehess.fr/document.php?id=173.
Schor, N. “‘Cartes Postales’: Representing Paris 1900.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 18, no. 2, The University of Chicago Press, Jan. 1992, pp. 188–244. journals.uchicago.edu (Atypon), doi:10.1086/448630.
Westover, A. “Léon & Lévy / J. Lévy Et Cie.” Dumbarton Oaks, 24 Dec. 2016, www.doaks.org/research/library-archives/dumbarton-oaks-archives/collections/ephemera/names/leon-levy.