Studio Portraits of Turkish Women From the 1920s

The 1920s were a pivotal time for photo studios in Turkey, coinciding with the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The new government’s requirement for photographs on all personal identification led to a boom in photography and the opening of many new studios.

Many of the prominent studios were located in cosmopolitan areas of Istanbul, such as Beyoğlu and Galata, which carried on the strong photographic tradition of the late Ottoman Empire.

Taken in Turkish studios in the 1920s, these photographs were produced in half postcard size. Originally there were probably two on each postcard which was then cut in half. They show women at the time of the secular revolution. Most are likely to be Armenian or Greek.