The Valero Family's Photograph Collection

The Bank of Valero The First Hebrew Bank in Eretz Israel, 1848-1915

Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv

The Valero Family’s Photograph Collection

Lavi Shay and Ruth Kark

This article is devoted to the story of the Valero family, as told by the family’s photographs and albums located at the Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Photo Archives.1 We offer a method of analysis as a test case for the potential benefits that the study of family photographs holds for geographical, historical and cultural research in general, as well as for the study of Jerusalem and Eretz Israel in particular.

the cultural shifts and the changes in family life that

The extensive research extant on the Valero family has made possible the in-depth analysis of the photo collection. The study also benefited by long span of time covered by the collection (some 90 years), its scope (over 800 photographs) and its quality. We will examine below

the changes in the family album that took place during

took place in Jerusalem, as these are reflected by the family photographs. We will also draw several conclusions as to the usefulness of family photographs as a research tool in the context of the aforementioned disciplines. The article will focus primarily on photographs taken during the late Ottoman period, but we will also discuss the British Mandate period. Both the statistical analysis of the collection and the characteristic features of the photographs themselves

Dr. Lavi Shay is Manager of the Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Photo Archives, Jerusalem. He is part of a team that promotes the visual documentation of leading Jerusalemite and Eretz Israeli families, from the beginning of the photography era and up to 1948. As part of this initiative, a large-scale project of documentation of the Valero family photograph collections was undertaken during 2007-2009, with the active support of the Valero family members Professor Ruth Kark from the Department of Geography, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, works on the history of Eretz Israel/Palestine in the Modern era. As part of her research on Sephardic entrepreneurship in Eretz Israel, Professor Kark wrote together with Professor Joseph Glass two books that were published in both Hebrew and English, on the history and accomplishments of the Amzalak and the Valero families

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orientate our study towards viewing photography mainly as an expression of a particular social-cultural context, as well as of the manner in which the family chose to present itself. We are less concerned here with the physical reality that the photographs document. We open with the theoretical and historical background of both amateur photography and family photography, followed by a survey of the visual research already done on the Valero family. The article then proceeds to present its methodology and to discuss various aspects that arise from the analysis of the collection. It ends with our conclusions.

Family Photos Art critics and historians have typically regarded the family photo as of little value. Research on this topic is, consequently, scant. However, changes in scholarly interests in recent decades have kindled interest in personal photographs. Though “private” and “not artistic,” these photographs have now come to be regarded as markers of broader social and cultural meanings: e.g., fashion, ideology, and a host of everyday customs and practices. Starting in the 1970s, scholars have begun studying these photographs’ history and content, to trace the realities that they depict and to develop theories about their place and role in the lives of the individual, the family and the community. In the pre-photography era, the painted family portrait was the exclusive prerogative of the upper classes. Its subjects were portrayed, for the benefit of future generations, in a positive and dignified manner. With the invention of photography in 1839, families almost

immediately became a common subject. In order to compete with the painters, photographers would place families in similar poses and against similar background to those found in portrait paintings. Photographs, moreover, were much cheaper and less time consuming. With the expansion of paper printed photographs in the 1850s and 1860s, the reproduction of family pictures on small business cards (carte de visite) and so-called cabinet portraits became a popular way to put one’s familial relations on display. It also enabled their preservation by sending the pictures to friends and relatives, as well as to other cities and countries.2 The Valero family collection contains several rare early examples (in the Jerusalem area) of such use of photographed carte de visite. During the 19th century, most family photographs were taken in a photographer’s studio. The photographs’ backgrounds, which typically featured classical or natural themes, were meant to endow the photo with the imagined qualities of the earlier portrait paintings. However, because of the reduced costs of photography, the poor and the working classes could, for the first time, also visually document themselves, and thus create a visual history. Wealthy families who lived on the fringes of the Western world, such as the Valeros, used studio photographs as an expression of status, as well as to highlight their affinity to Western culture—implied mainly via their choice of clothing. The invention of synthetic photographic paper and the home camera in the 1880s spurred a revolution in the world of photography. The mass production of cameras, photographic paper and photo-development facilities had brought photography into the home, while also industrializing and commercializing it. Photography was no longer an expensive pursuit restricted solely to

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experts, but an easy, reliable and available pastime. In the course of the first half of the 20th century, taking photographs became a hobby, and the camera was sold as an “essential” part of new leisure activities, such as tourism and vacationing. Family photographs interpret history in domestic terms. The different episodes in a family’s history, which are depicted in the photographs, do not form a straightforward linear pattern. Rather, the family story is constructed from the narratives contained in the photographs of the different family members, and which may offer different, and often competing, perspectives. The family history expressed by the family album is an edited and often-revised product: the family members repeatedly choose to keep certain photographs, while eschewing other, “inappropriate,” ones. This editing process effectively revises memory, and thus affects the personal and collective identities of the family members, as well as influences the visual family history of future generations. Thus, to study the Valero family photographs is, in fact, to study the family’s contemporary visual memory, as shaped by a multi-generational editing process, in which some item are selected while others are eschewed, or lost.

The Research on the Valero Family and its History The fruits of Ruth Kark and Joseph Glass’ extensive research on the history and accomplishments of the Valero family appears in their book, Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Jerusalem: The Valero Family 1800–1948.3 This study is an

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invaluable resource on the family’s (private and public) biography, and a starting point for research into the photographic history of the family. Kark and Glass’ book uses photographs both as illustrations and as historical sources. However, it allots only a few pages to a discussion of the family’s photographed history.4 The present exhibition represents a further step: displaying episodes in the material and visual culture of the family.5 As mentioned above, the photographs kept at Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Photo Archives represent some 90 years of visual documentation (1865–1948). They faithfully—albeit unevenly—record the main branches of the family: those represented by Jacob Valero, the family’s father, and by his sons, Joseph Moshe and Haim Aharon. There are over 2000 photographs all told. However, after the elimination of identical (doubles) and blurred photographs—as well as some photographs that contain little of interest—the list comes down to 803 items. Of these, 132 photographs, dating from the late Ottoman period (until 1918), were used as data for the present project. The study also touches broadly on the remaining 671 photographs, dating from the British Mandate period (and thus fall outside the purview of the present exhibition). The results of this project of collection and documentation naturally led us to new conclusions regarding the photographed history of the family. This study’s perspective is chronological and topical. That is, we attempt to describe changes taking place over time in the environment, way of life and cultural influences, as reflected by the photographs. We aim to discuss, and to qualitatively analyze, only those aspects that seem meaningful and/or relevant to city’s development; to the changes in the visual representation

of the Valero family and in its identity; to the history of Jerusalem family photography; and, finally, to the role that the Valero family played in Jerusalem’s public life.

Photographs of Jews from the Jewish-Sephardic communities in Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria (Ruschok) also survived. These early pictures depict family members or relatives of the Valeros. From Ruschok, for instance, came Simha Papu who would later become Haim Aharon’s first wife. It is possible that some of the photographs show members of her family, or of her parents’ (Gabriel Papu and his wife).

Phases in the Photographed History of the Family Number of Photographs

Period

29

1900–1865

103

1918–1901

671

1948–1919

the family of the convert Peter Melville Bergheim (both already in business by the 1860s) and in the studio of the Armenian Garabed Krikorian, which opened in the 1870s.

Beginnings: 1865-1900 According to Kark and Glass’ study, “the earliest photographs of Valero family members from the 1870s are unique and significant. Unfortunately the originals of these photographs have not survived and we are unable to identify the photographer… There are no photographs of Jacob… or of Joseph Moshe... It would appear that since no photographs have survived of the women of the first and second generations or of the whole family until around 1900, photography was reserved for the onetime portrait of the male family heads.”6 In the course of the present study, original photographs (some earlier than the 1860s) of members of the second generation were uncovered. These photographs include portraits of the women of the family, for instance a picture of Mina together with her husband, Joseph Moshe Valero, taken in 1879 (at the latest) (Figure, p. 101). These photographs were taken at Jerusalem’s first private studios: namely, the Armenian Monastery studio, in the studio owned by

The 19th century’s carte de visite photographs and cabinet portraits typically depict foreign diplomats, businessmen and members of the local government—such as the two brothers, Theodore and George Saroff in, St. Petersburg (both facing Moshe Valero in gratitude and friendship), or Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph. Though never compiled and organized in an album, these photographs testify to a long and extensive relationship between the first and second generations of the Valero family and their relatives abroad, as well as to the scope of the family’s business, political and social ties with public and political figures in Eretz Israel and beyond. According to historian of photography Michael Langford, photographs from the 19th century reflect the period’s technology, its ways of life and its rules of social conduct: “to be photographed was a modern miracle— one in which the majority of people wished to take part... The carte de visite album was a quick way… to create a collection of photographs.” Good taste, Langford goes on to say, was shown by purchasing photographs of the “right people”: namely, politicians, noted intellectuals, members of the royal family and so on. The photo albums would then become a topic of conversation with guests

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and would thus reflect on their owners.7 The cartomania spread throughout Europe, reaching Jerusalem’s first studios in the 1860s. Of the collection’s photographs, 29, which date prior to 1900, are portraits taken by professional photographers. Most are not of the family, but of relatives, friends, colleagues and public figures. Because of the paucity of photo opportunities in Eretz Israel at the time, almost half of the photographs are from Europe. The family photographs from the 1860s and 1870s attest to an awareness of, and openness to, the technological developments and changing fashions in Europe—changes that the family adopted. In this sense, we may describe the Valeros as “cultural agents.” They were exposed to Western culture, both in and outside Jerusalem, and adopted aspects of it. As leaders of the city’s Sephardic community, the Valero family paved the way for their milieu’s embrace of photography. The early photograph of the Valero family contradicts the prevalent view that the religious ban on graven images and likenesses kept Jews from having their pictures taken altogether. Portrait photographs, which (as mentioned) were influenced by earlier portrait paintings, sought to present their subjects—be it an individual or a family—in a respectable manner. Therefore, it is oppropriate to find the family members, men and women alike, dressed in their finest European dress (sometimes combined with Eastern-European influences). We see Joseph Moshe (Figures, p. 103) and Haim Aharon in Western consular uniforms, sporting their medals (Figures, p. 48). This style served as a status symbol: it indicated dignity, a certain social and economic position, and hinted at the kind of social circles in which the family members moved.

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The Late Ottoman Period: 1901-1918 A change in the scope of the family’s visual documentation begins to appear in the beginning of the 20th century. Photography has by now become a familiar, socially accepted and affordable medium in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. Nevertheless, local residents still needed the services of professional photographers. The photographs from this time are therefore still mostly conventionally formal and staged. However, more than a few photographs were found, which had been taken outside the studios, mainly during excursions and vacations (Figure, p. 106, right). Photographs of the younger generation include less formal studio pictures, which communicate a “younger spirit.” The ceremonial photographs of the “close-knit family” or pictures of the older generation remained formal. The Valeros ability to hire the services of a photographer, both in and outside Jerusalem, attests to the family’s financial wherewithal. Whereas, up till World War I, most Jerusalem families would sit for one or two formal studio photographs, the Valero family had 106 family photographs taken, both within and without the studio, by the outbreak of the war. Families at the time used to frequent the popular photography studios of Garabed Krikorian, Shlomo Neriski and Halil Ra’ad and more. It should be noted that 57 percent of the photographs— both studio photographs and amateur ones, taken by members of the family using their private cameras (these account for 59 of the 103 photographs)—dating from the period between 1901 and 1918, were taken in Europe, where photography was far more prevalent. From this period on, photographs of the family itself become the predominant component in the collection (approx. 64 percent).

The many photographs of young Valeros in Europe attests to the family’s absorption of the Western European perspective, which prefers modern European education and culture over Eastern-traditional models. The fact that most of the Valero sons were sent to study in Europe, where they were sponsored by the family and received visits from their spouses, speaks to the family economic strength (Figures, p. 106, left; p. 107). The photographs also served to preserve family ties and to construct personal identities: they were sent (with warm dedications) to family members in Eretz Israel and abroad, or given to the Valeros by fellow students. The photograph of Joseph Moshe Valero’s room in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an example of the way personal identity

In the 1920s, several Valero family members acquired cameras and began to take private and family photographs—as attested to by the numerous amateur pictures taken in the private family sphere (Figure, p. 109). These photographs reveal a range of aspects of everyday family life, which had hitherto been hidden. However, their quality does not match that of the professionally taken photographs. Consequently, alongside its members’ amateur attempts, the family continued to rent the services of professional photographers, at least up till the 1950s. As the British Mandate replaced the Ottoman rule, the Valeros moved their business from the Armenian and Christian-Arab photographers, who resided in the eastern and central parts of Jerusalem, to Jewish ones, located in the western, new parts of the city.

was privately constructed using visual means: on

sister, attest both to his strong and loving bond to this

The combination of amateur and professional photographs expanded the size and the range of topics and places recorded in the family album. These included: family life (everyday occupations, special events and leisure time); the family’s public life; learning and education; and

figure and to the adoption of photography as a means to

“public history” (historical events, figures and places,

preserve memory and a sense of family identity (Figure,

whose pictures were incorporated into the album).

the walls and cupboards are photographs of beloved family members, but also of fellow students, as well as fashionable paintings. Photographs of a woman, who could either be Joseph Moshe’s mother or his deceased

p. 107). Photographs with friends, from the stay in Europe, accompanied by warmhearted dedications also served as a mode of early romantic expression.

Many of the themes that appear in the family’s album from the British Mandate period already found expression during the Ottoman period. Back then, however, most of the photos were taken by professionals photographers,

The British Mandate Period: 1919-1948 The British capture of Eretz Israel in 1917-18 brought about far-ranging cultural changes, among them an increase in the use of photography, as well as in its availability to private individuals. In fact, amateur photography replaced professional photography as the family’s primary medium of visual documentation.

whereas now they were taken by amateurs. The main themes that begin to appear during the Mandate period were:

Leisure Culture: The increased popularity and acceptance of leisure activities also meant that leisure culture was more widely documented. People photographed pastimes, parties, excursions and vacations in Eretz Israel and

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abroad (Figure, p. 110). Sports and domestic leisure activities were also documented.

Public Service: Despite the fact that the Valero family was one of the foremost families in Jerusalem’s Sephardic community during the late Ottoman period, hardly any photographs were found that depict its central social role. Although we have photographs of Haim Aharon in consular uniform, these images refer to his function in the service of foreign powers. The emergence of amateur photography made it possible for family members to record their activities in the service of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine). The latter images represent a “bottom-up” approach to the recording of history, setting them apart from the official accounts recorded by various institutions: such as participation in the Maccabiah Gamess (Figure, p. 111), or in military event.

professional studio photographs, the family members appear in their finest European clothes. In the amateur photographs, however, we see them in their everyday attire. The fact that Haim Aharon used to wear traditional oriental dress in the home (Kumbaz and a sash), testifies to that tradition’s important role in his sense of his complex identity, and contrasts with the more Westernized image that he projects in official studio photographs (Figure, p. 113; cf Figure, p. 81). The relative importance of the Eretz Israeli space in the family photographs increased only during the British Mandate period, as a result of the technological, social and national-ideological changes (23 percent). However, the range of Europe’s influence on the Valeros, as well as the family’s sense of affinity to the West, are made salient by relatively high number of photographs taken in Europe, both during the Ottoman and the British Mandate periods (21 percent).

The domestic sphere in Jerusalem and beyond: Photographs of interior domestic space were almost always taken by amateurs, as professional photographers were rarely invited into the family’s intimate sphere. We do not have a single photograph of the family homes dating from the Ottoman period; whereas, from the subsequent British Mandate period, we have 93 photographs. As a statistical view of the Valero family photographs shows, the home and the city of Jerusalem were both central to family’s self-identity (they are featured in about half of the photographs). Private cameras made it possible to record private and public life for private consumption, as well as in the interests of preserving memory. Amateur photography can sometimes reveal cultural aspects that remain hidden in official/professional photographs. Fashion is one good example: in the

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Conclusion This article combines a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the family collection with aspects of space, society and identity. Its results suggest that it is possible to recognize the topics and issues that were important to the family members and that made up its identity, by statistically parsing out the photographs and by examining their contents. According to Issam Nassar, a scholar of Palestinian photography, the early days of photography in Jerusalem were characterized by several trends, among them the craze for personal and family portraits (a fashion that begins with the Christian-Arab upper middle-class and

which, starting in the 1920s, expands also to their Muslim-Arab counterparts). The style of dress seen in these photographs attests to the Westernization of the local aristocracy. According to Nassar, photography in Palestine was not regarded as an art form but as a means to record social and private life.8 The photographs that the Valero family had taken in studios fit the “studio craze.” The family, it seems, culturally resembled the Westernized Arab-Christian aristocracy, which had began to be photographed prior to World War I. There are other aspects that begin to appear after the war—aspects which Nassar, who deals exclusively with professional photography, does not address. The Valero family was Sephardic-Eastern. However, this ethnic identity is almost completely absent from the photograph that fall with the period that our study examines. In fact, apart from several photographs that show Haim Aharon in typical oriental attire, the photograph all depict that Valero family members dressing and acting in a Western manner. The family’s Arab friends also adopted the modern, Western lifestyle and dress. The phenomenon of marriage to European women likewise points towards the same cultural preference. One might therefore suggest that the photographs carefully conceal the family’s “oriental” character and roots, while exposing its tendency to adopt Western ways. A further expression of this preference is the absence of joint-photographs of the family with members of the Sephardic community, at whose head the Valero family stood.

a single city, members forged international ties, were part of diverse social circles and absorbed different cultural influences. In this respect, the Valero collection represents an excellent illustration of the impact of modernization and globalization. The founding of the Valero Bank encouraged—at least at first—the family’s openness to the broader world, as well as the Valeros’ subsequent modernization. It should be noted here that, unlike the study of professional photography, research into the history of amateur photograph and family albums in Jerusalem is still in its early stages. While a comparative look at photographs from other recently published family collection reveals a similarity in photographic conventions and themes, it also shows diversity of tastes and emphases—as per each photographer’s personal taste. As in the case of the Valero collection, most of the photographs in these other collections are from the British Mandate period, and only a minority date back to the late Ottoman period. As far as we know, the present study is the only systematic examination extant, which is devoted to a single collection of family photographs in Eretz Israel/Palestine. It is, in this respect, the first of its kind. Previous systematic studies have focused mainly on professional photographers’ collections, which were used either as sources or as objects of inquiry. We hope that the launching of private and public Internet sites that contain family collections will enable scholars to probe deeper into the secrets harbored by amateur photographs and family collections.

The range of issues, cultures, places and people encompassed by the Valero collection suggests something of the complexity of the family’s life. Though based in

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Footnotes 1

The present article is based on a chapter of Dr. Lavi Shay’s doctoral dissertation, Historical-Cultural Geography and Photography: Jerusalem’s Development as a Case Study, 1839–1948, (Jerusalem: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2001), pp. 236–66 (supervised by Professor Ruth Kark and Professor Paul Frosh). Full references for the sources cited in this paper can be found in the relevant dissertation chapter. The photographs mentioned below belong to the Valero family collection, housed at the Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Photo Archives.

2

Cabinet portraits, which were larger than carte de visite, were typically placed on cupboards, tables and cabinets—hence their name.

3

J.B. Glass, and R. Kark, Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Jerusalem: The Valero Family, 1800–1948. (Jerusalem and New York: Revised English Edition, Gefen Publishing House, 2007).

4

Ibid. pp. 349–352.

5

See Kark and Glass’ article, which deals with the family’s history, in this volume.

6

Kark and Glass, p. 349.

7

Michael Langford, Toldot ha’tsilum, (The story of Photography, London: Focal, 1980). Trans. Hagar Enosh (Ramat Gan: Focus, 1994), pp. 72–80.

8

Issam Nassar, “Local Photography in Jerusalem: From the Imaginary to the Social Landscape,” History of Photography, 27/4, 2003: pp. 326–330.

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