Roger Fenton: Pasha and Bayadère

Gordon Baldwin

Roger Fenton's photograph Pasha and Bayadère is a fascinating image in its own right and is an expression of a more general Orientalist craze that grew steadily stronger during the nineteenth century in Europe.

In his rich and detailed study, the author explains how this image of a seated man and a dancing woman embodies themes and motifs that can be found in the work of nineteenth-century artists from Eugène Delacroix to John Frederick Lewis to Alfred Lord Tennyson. He has also brought to light significant new information about the life and career of Roger Fenton, the important Victorian photographer best known for his photographs of the Crimean War.

Gordon Baldwin is the former associate curator in the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum. He is the coauthor of Looking at Photographs: A Guide to Technical Terms (Getty Publications, 2009).