E.J. Bellocq

Ernest J. Bellocq (1873, 1949) was a New Orleans-based commercial and fine art photographer best known for his intimate and haunting photographs of sex workers in the Storyville red-light district, taken around 1912. Working largely in obscurity during his lifetime, his glass plate negatives were discovered after his death by photographer Lee Friedlander, who printed them and brought Bellocq's work to widespread attention. His Storyville portraits are celebrated for their empathetic, non-exploitative gaze and their documentary significance, occupying a unique place in the history of American photography.