E J Bellocq: Storyville Portraits

E J Bellocq: Storyville Portraits
The Photographers' Gallery
London

They are on display in the caf? area of 5 Great Newport Street. A clean
room, completely deserted on the Sunday afternoon I popped in for a
quick glance followed by coffee and cake. Unless they were hanging at
the back of a church, it is as far removed from their origins in the
Storyville area of New Orleans as it's possible to imagine.

In the Storyville of 1912, prostitution was legal. This didn't have
anything to do with forward thinking or Dutch-style notions of set
aside areas, it was all to do with the cold hard fact that it was going
on anyway and far better to know about it. In this area, E J Bellocq -
about whom we, as the short guide notes - know nothing, worked.

In 1966, a collection of glass negatives were found in the draw of the
studio of the now deceased Bellocq. No original prints have yet been
unearthed. The very reasons for their existence are obscure. A series
of images of women showing their wares, are these calling cards or an
old man's fantasy?

The majority are naked, placid. They do not gaze with the blank come on
of modern covergirls. They appear at ease. A few are partially or fully
clothed. All are larger than the modern ideal. Shockingly, a small
number have had their faces deliberately obscured. Their breasts are on
display but their eyes cannot be seen.

This act, and the absolute anonymity of the sitters means the
collection appears to us as unknowable and intriguing as a newly found
cave painting. The only reasonably certain thing appears to be that
these people really were the working girls of Storyville and not a
collection of studio models pretending to be so.

The repeated quote around the exhibition comes from Susan Sontag who
says that whatever else can be said about the Storyville portraits,
they are memorable and there is no higher praise available for
photography. There's not really anything that can be added to that.