His efforts resulted in a first-of-its-kind album of 100 years of photography in the Gulf region.

Gueyle's album featuring photographs from the 1800s to 1900s will be printed by November-end and copies of it will be gifted to all heads of state, shaikhs, rulers and monarchs at the annual GCC summit in Qatar.

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'Arabia Felix'

The volume, which has high historical and artistic value, is titled “Arabia Felix” (Happy Arabia in Latin language), the name given by the Romans to the Gulf region.

Published in Paris by Culturesfrance, a government department in France, under the patronage of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the 300-page album will be trilingual - Arabic, French and English.

Gueyle stressed that the project received great support from Cartier, Bank of Sharjah and Dr. B.R. Shetty of New Medical Centre.

The essays and a small introduction are written by Gueyle. The book also contains a 20-page presentation from Mounira Khemir, a French scholar who specialises in the history of Arabian Peninsula.

Apart from the black and white photographs, each of the seven chapters on the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Yemen will contain up to five history-related essays. For the UAE, these will include the discovery of Abu Dhabi Island and the practice of pearl diving.

“The idea of this research stemmed from the straightforward observation that no book on photography covers all seven countries in the Arabian Peninsula,” said Gueyle.

He also explained that the album pays tribute to public and private photographic collections from all across the region, most of which have never been published.

The photographs were taken by both famous and anonymous artists, explorers and travellers through the region.

Pre-oil era

According to Gueyle, they portray the Arab life long before the discovery of oil - “the long, hypnotic march of caravans across the desert, the traditional harvest of dates, the endless depart of divers in search of priceless pearls also known as fish eyes, the endless discussions by men sitting around the bonfire, commenting on day's events or listening to a poet's interpretations of Bedouin life, nature, brave deeds, hopes and despair.”

For Gueyle, the project had a much deeper and personal value than just revealing an important part of Arabian patrimony. “I spent two years moving up and down the peninsula, becoming ever more aware of the intrusion of modern society into these traditional worlds. I was struck by the harsh confrontation between the traditional Bedouin world and the temptation of consumerist society,” remarked Gueyle.