Jean Xavier Raoult (fr. J. X. Raoult) came to Odessa in the 1870s. He founded a photo studio in Odessa (on Deribasovskaya in Kirk's house), then it was all at the level of such high technologies that it was generally impossible for an ordinary person of that time to comprehend with the mind. All this was named “Photographie Française. Rue de Ribas. Maison Cirico. J. X. Raoult. Odessa".

He was engaged in ethnographic photography in the Southern regions of Russia. Known for a selection of his works that were included in the "Album of folk types of Russia." The album was released in 1878. In the same year he became a member of the French Photographic Society.

For a series of photos "Album of folk types of Russia.", Jean Raoul was awarded at the Paris Geographical Exposition of 1875 and at the World Exposition in Paris in 1878.

He also photographed the war between Russia and Turkey in 1877-1878, as a war correspondent. Then (in 1884), he made a shootings in Istanbul (Constantinopole), together with a professor at Novorossiysk University N.P. Kondakov. In the end, after he did what all people dream of - he dumped to Europe (to his homeland in France), where he died in 1890.

Photos of Odessa from the "Album of Folk Types of Russia", shoted by Jean Xavier Raoul in 1878

Source: Odessa History