Jean (Théophile) Geiser
* April 7th 1848, La-Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland)
† September 7th 1923, Algier (Algeria)
Jean Geiser, born in Sitzwerland, was a photographer in Algier, now known mostly for his oriental and erotic photographs, shown on a plenty of contemporary postcards.
His parents had moved to Algeria in the 1850s. After the death of his father Lucien Jacob (†1852) and his two brothers (Louis Frédéric,†1868; Lucien James, †1872), both working in the atelier of his mother Julie Geiser and her partner Jean-Baptiste Antoine Alary, his mother Julie returned to Switzerland. Jean Geiser founded his own photographic atelier in Algier in the late 1860s at Rue Bab-Azoun 7, and took over the company of Alary & Geiser in 1874. Geiser's studio evolved to one of the most known and successful photo-studios in Algeria, with a subsidiary in Blida. Next to his studio photography, he covered all aspects of colonial photography on travels throughout the country. His business flourished especially by the success of printed photo postcards, which got more and more popular at the end of the 19th century. In France he gained high reputation as a photographer of orientalist and colonial photography and won several prices and gold medals at photographic competitions, i.e. gold medal at Amsterdam 1892 and at the Exposition Internationale in Nice in 1901.
Jean Geiser
(taken from: J-C. Humbert: Jean Geiser)
Bibliography / References:
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Leyla Belkaid
Belles Algériennes de Geiser
Marval, Paris 2001
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Jean-Charles Humbert
Jean Geiser:
Photographe - Editeur d'art, Alger, 1843-1923
Ibis Press, 2009
Web-Links
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Jean-Charles Humbert
Jean Geiser:
Photographe - Éditeur d'art
Leyla Belkaid
Belles Algériennes de Geiser
backside of a Cabinet Card by Atelier Jean Geiser
advertisement of atelier Jean Geiser
(taken from: J-C. Humbert: Jean Geiser)
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