Rudolf Lehnert reached Tunisia in 1903 and was at once overpowered by the charm of the Orient. With Landrock he opened a shop in Tunis, first in the casbah and from 1908 on the Avenue de France. He photographed in his own residence, which served as oriental décor, and roamed the Maghreb in search of new sights.
Thanks to his friend the painter Étienne Dinet, living in Biskra, Lehnert joined a caravan to the oases of Nefta and Laghouat. The dromedaries he rented carried his equipment. He dressed like the locals and shared the hardships and joys of desert life.
Three themes
The body of his work falls into three intertwined themes: the pristine desert, whose forms are drawn by light and shadow; the fertile oasis, source of life; and the people of the south. He returned to Tunis a master of the gum bichromate process, the printing technique that gives the early prints their painterly depth.