Accession Number
1994/2.34.1

Title
Vue générale de Naïn – General view of Nain

Artist(s)
Felix Bonfils

Artist Nationality
French (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
circa 1867-1885

Medium & Support
albumen print on paper

Dimensions
10 15/16 in x 14 in (27.78 cm x 35.56 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Margaret and Howard Bond

Subject matter
In this photograph, five women stand or sit in the lower-left corner facing the camera. Though the only human figures in the image, they seem almost like afterthoughts in this semi-panoramic view of the fields and hills surrounding the town of Nein (translated as Nain on the original print). The main indications of human occupation are the low, stone fences pierced by gates which crisscross the foreground of the picture. A white-stone building with a curved roof, evidently new construction, peeks up from behind a hill in the middle ground. This image is one of hundreds of photographs made throughout Bonfils' career which purport to document various landscapes, cityscapes, and people of the eastern Mediterranean. 

Physical Description
Five women of various ages pose for the camera amid stone fences and scattered rubble; fields and hills in the distance take up much of the composition.  

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Primary Object Type
landscape

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Holy Land
Ruins
Workers
albums
cultural landscapes
fences
fields (land)
groups
hills
modern and contemporary art
photographs
ruins
stair
travel photography
villages
women (female humans)