The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 20, 2026

A side-by-side photochrom print depicts two vertical scenes. On our left, a man with a white beard and striped turban sits on a donkey, facing right. He wears a dark cloak over striped robes before an olive tree. On our right, two figures stand entirely draped in patterned fabrics. One wears a dark textile with red embroidery; the other is wrapped in a pale, multicolored striped cloth with floral patterns.

Femmes musulmanes Syriennes à Beyrouth, Costume de Ville

c. 1880s

Félix Bonfils

(French, 1831–1885)
France
Double sided Photochrom
Overall: 26.6 x 18.1 cm (10 1/2 x 7 1/8 in.)
Gift of William and Margaret Lipscomb 2021.208
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

In the early 1880s,FélixBonfils was among the first photographers to use the Photocrom process, which producedcolor images from a single black-and-white negative.

Description

To make a photochrom, a photographic negative was transferred onto a lithographic stone, then printers created a minimum of six and up to fifteen different stones, each with a single color of ink, which were printed atop the black-and-white image. The printers creating the colors had never seen the original locale. Photochroms were popular from the 1890s into the 1910s and were most often collected in albums or framed and hung on the wall.
  • ?-2021
    William S. and Margaret Lipscomb, Shaker Heights, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 6, 2021
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Femmes musulmanes Syriennes à Beyrouth, Costume de Ville|url=false|author=Félix Bonfils|year=c. 1880s|access-date=20 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.208