E.J. was born in New Orleans on August 19, 1873. His parents were Paul & Marie Bellocq. His grandfathers on both sides migrated from France & that's how he got the last name, Bellocq. He was brought up in Catholic Churches, so much so that his younger brother was Leon grew up to be a Jesuit Priest. He died in the year 1940, leaving behind his most famous work, "Storyville Portraits."
HIS CAREER
E.J. started out his career as a commercial photographer, making his living from 1895 to the 1940's. He also worked as a company photographer in 1918 for a little while, until he grew bored of it. Then he started on a new project. He took pictures of prostitutes in the New Orleans "Red Light District". In some of the pictures the prostitutes faces were scratched out. Nobody knows for sure why the faces are scratched out but they're are some speculations that; 1. He did it because he became inflamed with anger at some of the women he took pictures of & that was he retaliation. 2. He did it to protect the identity of the prostitute because she may have been ashamed or she didn't want her family to find out. Those are just two of many speculations.
His work entitled "Storyville Portraits" was recovered by photographer Lee Friedlander. Lee took E.J.'swork, learned his process & made 89 more prints. A selected group of those prints were put on the Museum of Modern Art in NY. As a result, an expanded addition, "Bellocq: Photographs form Storyville", got published after E.J.'s death in 1996.
WHY I PICKED HIM
I picked him because I liked the simplicity of these photos. I like the old look & "grungyness", for lack of a better word, of them. The scratched out faces are a little scary but they do leave a sense of wonder & imagination.
Photographer E.J. Bellocq
Photographer E.J. Bellocq
Photographer E.J. Bellocq
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