Patricia Hickling
Independent Scholar
Hickling Design
Abstract
Francois Edmond Fortier was the most prolific photographer in West Africa in the first decade of the 20th century. He produced well over 3000 photographs of Senegal , the Sudan , Guinea , the Cote d'Ivoire and Dahomey , almost all in postcard form. His subject matter ranges from formal studio portrait to village and street scenes, but he is best known for his many photographs of semi-nude women. In recent years scholars have elevated the lowly postcard to the status of historic document but the work of Fortier has been dismissed as appealing to the baser instincts of the postcard buying public and unable to escape its colonial context. This paper examines Fortier's nudes, semi-nudes and examples of his rarely seen studio produced erotica with an eye to identifying the photographers working methods and determining the provenance of the photograph. It is important to note that Fortier and other postcard producers were in business. They sold their cards to soldiers, sailors, government officials and the rare tourist. Risqué semi-nudes and nudes were big sellers and Fortier responded to his market by producing more and reprinting the most popular examples. Despite extensive reproduction the photograph behind each postcard can be dated, localized and contextualized. Not all nudes are the same. Fortier's series of studio photographs of a Toucouleur woman and girl culminates in a fully nude pornographic pose of the sort sold only behind the counter. This differs from his field photograph of the young Cerere None woman wearing traditional beads, a flimsy cache-sexe, displaying her scarification.