The biographical details of this studio’s proprietor are not yet known. It is likely that Manuk had moved to Marseille from the Ottoman Empire due to the Armenia Genocide, opening his studio in the early 1930s at the 116 La Cannebière address. Many of his clients were from the city’s Armenian community. The limited number of Manuk’s photographs that are known to us indicate that the photographer specialized in family and wedding photography. These are masterfully made portraits that fully follow the protocols of popular taste between the 1930s and 1940s.

Vigen Galstyan, 2016