Jean Agélou was a photographer of erotic images. His photos were published in erotic magazines, as postcards, and stereoviews. Little is known about his life; virtually everything we know comes from commercial records and the study of his photographs.
Paul Isidore Agélou worked for the French postal service in Alexandria, Egypt, where he married the Greek Maria Zaccaria. Their second child and first son, Jean Bernard Agélou, was born on 16 October 1878. Shortly after his birth, his sister Cléanthe died. A second son, Georges, was born on 28 April 18821.
It is unclear when Jean moved to Paris to begin his career as a photographer. The first photos that can attributed to him with certainty appeared in 1905 in the erotic publication L’Étude Académique, and were signed with the initials AJ2. Jean’s first stereoviews might appeared in 1906 in the publication Le Stéréo-Nu3.
In June 1908, he settled at 1 Rue Armand Gauthier in Paris. On 10 May 1911, Jean Agélou et Compagnie was established, in collaboration with Émile Billotte and Baptiste Minard4. However, the partnership was short-lived as the company dissolved on 24 November 19115. A month later, Jean Agélou et Compagnie was re-founded, now with Raymond Besson as his business partner6.
The company became a prominent publisher of erotic postcards and stereoviews. The business expanded to 6 Rue Armand Gauthier7. In 1912, the company advertised with 12 series of ten postcards en six series of five postcards8. Two years later, the range had expanded to 85 series of ten postcards and 36 sets of five9. The series of postcards and stereoviews were numbered and marked with the initials JA.
It is likely that Jean’s younger brother Georges also worked in the publishing house. In December 1913, an advertisement featured 10 series of postcards with the initials GA10, a trademark that can be linked to Georges Agélou. Postcards with the initials GP are probably also linked to Georges.
Jean Agélou et Compagnie was dissolved on 30 December 191311. The publishing continued under Besson, who became the owner of the JA trademark12. Jean continued as an independent photographer and moved to 228 Rue Marcadet13. He likely collaborated with Georges, who had started his own publishing house of erotic images with the GA trademark at 116 Rue Damrémont. Georges took over Besson’s publishing house in 1921, and now owning the brands JA, GA, as well as Léo and Lydia14.
Jean and Georges both died in a car accident in Autry-le-Châtel on 2 August 192115. After their deaths, the contents of their companies were sold, and the negatives and trademarks changed hands16.
Company history
| Jean Agélou | |
| 1908–1914 | Rue Armand-Gauthier 1, Paris |
| 1914(?)–1921 | Rue Marcadet 228, Paris |
| Jean Agélou et Cie | |
| 1911–1913 | Rue Armand-Gauthier 1, Paris |
| 1913–1914 | Rue Armand-Gauthier 1 and 6, Paris |
| Raymond Besson, succesor Jean Agélou et Cie | |
| 1914–1919 | Rue Armand-Gauthier 1 and 6, Paris |
| 1919–1920/1921 | Galerie Vivienne 5 and 7, Paris |
| Georges Agélou | |
| 1914(?)–1920/1921 | Rue Damrémont 116, Paris |
| 1921 | Galerie Vivienne 5 and 7, Paris |
References
- Bourdon, Christian (2006). Jean Agélou: De l’académisme à La Photographie de Charme, pp. 11, 12, 46. ↩︎
- Ibid, p. 15. ↩︎
- Ibid, p. 20. ↩︎
- Ibid, p. 41. ↩︎
- La Gazette Des Sociétés : Organe Des Sociétés Commerciales, Industrielles et Financières (15-12-1912), p. 21 ↩︎
- L’Information photographique (1912), p. 37. ↩︎
- Annuaire Du Commerce Didot-Bottin (1913), p. 1399. ↩︎
- L’Étude académique (01-04-1912) ↩︎
- Bourdon, Christian (2006). Jean Agélou: De l’académisme à La Photographie de Charme, p. 41. ↩︎
- L’Étude académique (15-12-1913) ↩︎
- Archives Commerciales de La France (1914), p. 140. ↩︎
- Annuaire Du Commerce Didot-Bottin (1918), p. 438. ↩︎
- Ibid, p. 1746. ↩︎
- Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin (1921), p. 730. ↩︎
- Bourdon, Christian (2006). Jean Agélou: De l’académisme à La Photographie de Charme, pp. 11, 12, 46. ↩︎
- Le Courrier (9-12-1921), p. 4. ↩︎