Rudolf Franz Lehnert (13 July 1878 – 16 January 1948) was an Austrian
photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographers
As in other ...
. He was noted for producing
Orientalist
Orientalist may refer to:
*A scholar of Oriental studies
*A person or thing relating to the Western intellectual or artistic paradigm known as Orientalism
*''The Orientalist'', a biography of author Lev Nussimbaum by Tom Reiss
{{disambiguation ...
images.
Life
Lehnert was born in Gross Aupa in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now Velká Úpa, part of
Pec pod Sněžkou
Pec pod Sněžkou (; german: Petzer, pl, Pec pod Śnieżką) is a town in Trutnov District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. The village lies at the base of the highest Czech mountain, Sněžka, in ...
in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...
).
He first travelled to Tunis in 1904, and in 1904 he again visited with his friend, and subsequent business partner,
Ernst Heinrich Landrock
Ernst Heinrich Landrock (4 August 1878 in Reinsdorf, Saxony – 30 April 1966 in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland) was a photographer who was based in Tunis, Leipzig and Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Eg ...
and worked closely for more than 20 years. They later established studios in successively,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
and
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...
, publishing the works as by "
Lehnert & Landrock
Lehnert & Landrock was a photographic studio run by Rudolf Franz Lehnert and Ernst Heinrich Landrock active in Tunisia and Egypt in the early 20th century, noted for producing Orientalist images. Rudolf Franz Lehnert and Ernst Heinrich Landrock pr ...
".
From the 1860s onwards, photographs of people with different cultural values and sexual morality became popular for artistic and erotic reasons. According to Pascal Baetens, they border on
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
and
ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead of ...
.Baetens, Pascal (2007) ''Nude Photography, the art and the craft'' London: Doring Kindersley Limited, pp. 14-15 ()
Lehnert spent the last part of his life at
Redeyef
Redeyef ( ar, الرّدَيِّف ') is a town and commune in the Gafsa Governorate, Tunisia. As of 2004 it had a population of 26,143.Gafza Oasis, Tunisia, where he died.
See also
*
List of Orientalist artists
This is an incomplete list of artists who have produced works on Orientalist subjects, drawn from the Islamic world or other parts of Asia. Many artists listed on this page worked in many genres, and Orientalist subjects may not have formed a m ...
*
Orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist ...