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Sotheby’s Orientalist Sale on the Rise

April 13, 2018 by Marion Maneker

Sotheby’s says its having its largest Orientalist sale since the category was launched in 2012 as a stand-alone sale. On April 24 in London, 60 lots of paintings and sculpture representing the landscapes, people, and customs of North Africa, Egypt, the Levant, Arabia, and the Ottoman world during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Buyers in this category are now often residents of the Gulf and North Africa looking for European depictions of their native locales.

Here is a selection of the sales top lots:

Anders Zorn (Swedish, 1860 – 1920)
Women outside the Sidi Abderrahman Mosque, Algiers, 1887, watercolour and
gouache on paper
Estimate £300,000-500,000 / $420,000-700,000
This rediscovered work, executed in March 1887, belongs to the small series of watercolours Zorn made in Algiers, during an extensive journey with his wife Emma to Constantinople, Greece, Italy, and North Africa. The artist depicts the Sidi Abderrahman Mosque in Algiers, Algeria, painted five years earlier, in 1882, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This work shows Zorn’s mastery and virtuosity in the medium of watercolour which first brought him fame.

Edwin Lord Weeks (American, 1849 – 1903)
Rabat (The Red Gate), 1879, oil on canvas
Estimate £200,000-300,000 / $280,000-420,000
This monumental view of the inner gate of the Kasbah of Oudaïas in Rabat was painted during Weeks’ third trip to Morocco with his wife Frances Rollins Hale, taking in Tangier, Tetuan, and Rabat. In Rabat, Weeks became fascinated by the kasbah, a fortified citadel built in the twelfth century during the time of the Almohad Caliphate (AD 1121- 1269). The gate was a spectacular example of highly ornamented Almohad architecture, characterised by a horse-shoe arch and intertwined arabesques which conveyed elegance and grandeur. Morocco’s imposing city gates formed the backdrop to several major French Orientalist works by Eugène Delacroix and Benjamin-Constant.

Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, 1824 – 1904)
A Sultan at Prayer, 1887, oil on canvas
Estimate £200,000-300,000 / $280,000-420,000
A respectful and moving observation of a man of high rank worshipping God, this recently rediscovered work stands out not just by virtue of its exceptional detail and palette, but on account of the frontal view, rare in the artist’s work in
which worshippers are predominantly seen from behind or in profile. Gérôme’s fascination with Muslim prayer began from the moment he set foot in Constantinople in 1852, and Egypt in 1856, and would become a central tenet in his oeuvre. Here, a single figure stands silhouetted against a darkened yet architecturally distinctive backdrop, his silken robes crafted from the most vibrant confectionary of colours and his fur gown rendered in photographic detail. His only company is a seated man, possibly a dervish, also in prayer, and an attendant drinking from an urn. The colour palette of blue and turquoise may also well have been an inspiration to the Ottoman Orientalist painter Osman Hamdy Bey, who met Gérôme in Paris in the 1860s.

Theodoros Ralli (Greek, 1852-1909)
Stringing Pearls, 1882, oil on canvas
Estimate £80,000-120,000 / $112,000-168,000
Stringing Pearls is a rediscovery in Ralli’s oeuvre, and perfectly captures the artist’s exceptional skill at depicting intimate scenes of daily life in Egypt. Seated on an ornamented wooden bench adorned with elegant silk cushions, a Nubian man dressed in yellow silk carefully strings white teardrop pearls into a necklace. Picking them one by one from a small ceramic bowl, he appears fully concentrated on his task, unaware that he has dropped two on the floor. Pearl cultivation and the pearl trade were integral to the Middle East region’s economy before the discovery of oil and gas, and the advent of industrially produced pearls. Fashioned into necklaces and bracelets, or to embellish jewellery, natural pearls supplied from the region were prized by jewellers all around Europe.

Alfred Dehodencq (French, 1822 – 1882)
An Audience Outside the Kasbah Gate, Tangiers, oil on canvas
Estimate £100,000-150,000 / $140,000-210,000
In this rediscovered panoramic view, animated figures crowd around the Sultan’s sage or fortune teller on the steps of the gate of the Kasbah in Tangiers. Dehodencq moved to Morocco by way of Spain in 1853, and settled there from 1854 until 1863, during which time he produced many of his most famous paintings of Moroccan life. All of them are distinguished by their intense colour palette and sense of dramatic movement. This work was probably acquired by its first owner, Sir John Hay-
Drummond-Hay, while he was serving in Tangiers, and it has remained in the Drummond-Hay family ever since.

Paul Joanowits (Serbian, 1859 – 1957)
Bashi-bazouks before a Gateway, oil on panel
Estimate £100,000-150,000 / $140,000-210,000
Bashi-bazouks were irregulars in the Ottoman army and hailed from lands across the Ottoman empire, from Egypt to the Balkans. The two soldiers, in all their regalia, converse in an Egyptian setting, the gate topped by Mamluk carvings and flanked by East African ‘Grandees’ chairs’, amalgams of Mamluk, Portuguese, and Indian influence. Both men are armed with Ottoman flintlock rifles from Algeria, and the standing guard smokes an Ottoman chibouk pipe with a tophane bowl. On the left, a seventeenth-century Ottoman Tulip-period Tombak ewer rests on the arm of one of the chairs.

Jean Discart (French, 1844 – 1944)
The Cobbler, oil on panel
Estimate £150,000-200,000 / $210,000-280,000
Discart captures his subject, a cobbler watched by his companion, in a moment of rapt concentration, conveyed by his expression and expert hand. The craftsman is surrounded by objects and products of his trade painted in exquisite detail: all manner of babouche slippers, a pair of soft kidd boots, and his stitching kit. The result is a fascinating evocation of a Moroccan street scene, with references to the town’s architecture in the form of the white washed houses and a magnificent riveted copper door. Along with Ludwig Deutsch and Rudolf Ernst, Discart established himself as one of the foremost Vienna-trained Orientalist painters of his day.

Alberto Pasini (Italian, 1826 – 1899)
Market in Constantinople, oil on canvas
Estimate £150,000-200,000 / $210,000-280,000

Market in Constantinople epitomises Pasini’s carefully observed, naturalistic market scenes, capturing the hustle and bustle and diversity of the mercantile city. The composition is distinguished as
much by the artist’s fine draughtsman as by the vivid palette, punctuated by brilliant turquoises, pinks, and greens. The exact
setting is not known, however it may have been inspired by the entrance to the Mısır Çarşısı, also called the Egyptian or Spice Bazaar. Pasini first travelled to Constantinople on his landmark journey to the East in 1855, which began his career as an Orientalist painter. In this work Pasini deploys his observations of life in the Ottoman Empire: traders setting out their wares, tethered horses, a rider emerging from the shadow of the gate, and groups in animated discussion or negotiation.

Eugène Girardet (French, 1853 – 1907)
Evening Prayers, oil on canvas
Estimate £150,000-200,000 / $210,000-280,000
Scenes of prayer occupy a central position in nineteenth-century Orientalist art. Evening Prayers is not only a splendid evocation of the North African desert, but affords a fascinating glimpse into the rituals of Muslim worship. In the cool shade cast by the building behind them, a group of men on a rooftop face Mecca in prayer. In 1874, Girardet embarked for Morocco, then travelled to Tunisia and Algeria, for which he developed a particular fondness. He spent subsequent visits in Algiers and Boghari, but above all in El Kantara and Bou-Saâda, in the foothills of the Saharan Atlas, painting scenes of daily life.

Charles Wilda (German, 1854 – 1907)
A Souk in Cairo, 1887, oil on panel
Estimate £120,000-180,000 / $168,000-252,000

Painted in 1887, this street view of Cairo is a striking example of the nineteenth- century Orientalist views which opened up a new world to European viewers. The hustle and bustle of women carrying water jugs and snake charmers, rendered with photographic realism, brilliantly evoked the souks and streets of a city beyond the reach of many. In the background, the striated red and white brick buildings so typical of the Egyptian capital inspired artists and architects alike. Like many of his fellow Orientalist painters, Wilda travelled to Egypt in the early 1880s and set up a studio in Cairo where he developed a keen interest for the depiction of everyday Egyptian life.

Rudolf Ernst (Austrian, 1854-1932)
The Fountain of Ahmed III, Constantinople, oil on panel
Estimate £80,000-120,000 / $112,000-168,000

Set just outside the gates of Constantinople’s Topkapı Palace, the fountain of Ahmed III was built in 1728-9, during the Tulip Era (so-called because of the popularity of this flower and the flourishing of the arts in the Ottoman Empire between 1718 and 1730). There are water taps set into the shallow niches on each of the four sides, and at each corner is a sebil, or kiosk, where drinking water was dispensed in cups to passers-by. Each sebil has three tall windows which, as Ernst’s painting attests, are covered with elaborate bronze lattices. Erected across the city as acts of charity by notable families, these monuments soon became the favourite gathering places of traders, travellers, and townspeople. Ernst travelled to Constantinople in the 1870s and would have been familiar with this -even at that time – famous site.

Rudolf Ernst (Austrian, 1854 – 1932)
Tending the Lamp, oil on panel
Estimate £100,000-150,000 / $140,000-210,000
In this richly finished work, a turbaned man pours oil into glass receptacles suspended from an ornate nineteenth-century Syrian bronze lantern stand. The fuel in the glasses can then be lit using wicks to create a circle of lights. The figure is framed by blue and green Moroccan octagonal tiles and inlaid marble wall panels in a Moorish setting. A veritable tapestry in pattern and texture, the composition is a cumulative memory of Ernst’s disparate travels in the Orient. After studying at the Vienna Academy, he travelled to Rome and, in the 1880s, to Andalusia, Morocco, and Tunisia. Later travels would take him to Egypt and, in 1890, to Turkey. From 1885 Ernst turned exclusively to painting Orientalist subjects, which he worked up from the sketches, photographs, souvenirs, and memories accumulated during his travels. Almost all his paintings were executed in his studio in Paris, which he decorated in an eclectic Eastern style, and in which he would paint wearing a taboosh, the better to transport himself mentally into the world created in his panels and canvases.

Quantifying Orientalism

January 20, 2011 by Marion Maneker

Georgina Adam focuses on the rebound in Orientalist art and comes up with some numbers to illustrate the strength in the category:

As for the commercial arena, while 19th-century painting is one of the few areas not to be lifted by the rising tide of a booming art market—indeed, it has been flat for decades—Orientalism seems to be bucking the trend. Art Market Report’s European 19th-century art 100 Index peaked in September 2008 at 10,099 from a base of 1,014 in 1976—a tenfold increase, but relatively low compared with European impressionists who peaked at 26,651 in October 2008 against a base of 1,014 in 1976. Orientalists do better: a separate index of these artists (including Bridgman, Gérôme, Dinet and Goodall) jumped in 2007, and in October 2010 reached its peak—at a buoyant 52,524 (base, 920 in 1976).

The Lure of the East (The Art Newspaper)

A New Gerome for Our Generation

June 13, 2010 by Marion Maneker

Jori Finkel has a good essay in the Los Angeles Times aimed at cutting off criticism of the Getty’s Gerome show before it even starts. The issue is Gerome’s role in Orientalism, the European painting movement that has been associated with imperialism for a generation of scholars. Interestingly, the residents of the countries that were once occupied could care little about the cultural politics of Orientalism. Collectors in those regions just want to buy pictures that depict famous landmarks in their hometowns:

Scott Allan and Mary Morton, who curated the Getty’s version of the show, call it the first major survey of Gérôme’s work in over 30 years. The last was organized in the early 1970s by Gerald Ackerman, whom they credit with nearly single-handedly keeping Gérôme scholarship alive in the interim.

Both curators admit that that their initial conversations about bringing the show to the Getty raised eyebrows of colleagues and superiors. “For many scholars Gérôme represented all that was abhorrent and insidious about Orientalism,” says Allan. “And it’s all the more insidious because he was so talented a craftsman, so meticulous, not just recycling the stereotypes of other painters.”Continue Reading

Christie's Orientalist Sale

November 26, 2009 by Marion Maneker

Christie’s was looking to make £8m from their very compact sale of 24 Orientalist works in London yesterday. With 71% of the lots–or 17 out of 24–selling for £10.57m, they ended up doing quite well. One reason was this John Frederick Lewis watercolor called The Arab scribe, Cairo which had a £700k high estimate but was bid to almost three times that, finally selling at slightly more than £2m. A Frederick Bridgman, The Nubian Storyteller in the Harem is another reason though the £769k paid was only slightly above the high estimate.

Orientalism with Provenance

July 27, 2009 by Marion Maneker

A Street Scene, CairoOver and over again in 21st Century market we’ve seen the extraordinary power of provenance in generating strong prices. Despite the rocky state of the Orientalist picture market–or perhaps because of it–Sotheby’s has just announced that it will be selling a Leopold Carl Müller painting A Street Scene, Cairo that was bought be William Vanderbilt weeks after it was finished in 1880. The picture stayed in the family for 65 years before being sold at Parke-Bernet. Something seems to have happened in the 64 years since then because the work was forgotten and its provenance lost until Sotheby’s specialists put the pieces together.

The painting will be sold on October 22nd in New York. It’s estimated at $600,000-$800,000. Müller’s top price was achieved last year when An Almée’s Admirers sold for $1.65m which explains the extra attention Sotheby’s devoted to this work.

Sotheby’s Muller/Vanderbilt press release

Rehs on Orientalism: Give It a Rest

July 21, 2009 by Howard L. Rehs

While I tend to agree with Economist.com’s final paragraph:

Their success on a flat July afternoon offers two crucial lessons for vendors in recessionary market: don’t sell unless you have to, and don’t be greedy in setting estimates. If the low estimate is pitched at a high level, buyers sense greed in the air and tend to hold off from bidding. In a buyers’ market, purchasers like to feel they have got a bargain, especially if they are spending a lot of money.

I also think it is vitally important to remember that this sale was another prime example of a saleroom not taking the hint … there are many areas of the art market that need a rest, and the Orientalist market is one of them.  Continue Reading

The Rise, Fall and Rise of Orientalist Art

July 20, 2009 by Marion Maneker

The Orientalist art market has been a consistent bright spot even as other genres crashed back to earth. Not that it was immune to overselling and volatility. But demand from North Africa and the Gulf seemed to be steady and secular–meaning part of a longer term shift toward regional interest in having their history and landmarks depicted in 19th Century painting. Economist.com drills down into the July 9th sale at Christie’s where there was bad news but also some good:

7741-lot-23Christie’s Orientalist sale in London on July 9th did not go well. Of the 59 lots on offer, 27 failed to sell despite every effort by the auctioneer, Alexandra McMorrow, to squeeze bids out of those attending. It was an afternoon of thin trading, with reluctant bidders and bargain-hunting buyers. The entire sale was despatched to just 14 purchasers.Continue Reading

Orientalism Preview, Cross-Country Edition

April 10, 2009 by Marion Maneker

Wendy Moonen leads her antiques column in the New York Times with a mini-essay on the range of Orientalist collectors in America and abroad. She mentions both Sotheby’s upcoming April 24 Orientalism sale and the Dahesh Museum’s temporary show in a New York townhouse. She also interviews a leading American collector of Orientalist works:

Most Orientalist painters recorded apolitical, timeless, picturesque subjects (mosques, markets, desert caravans), and these works can command huge prices at auction, especially those by Gérôme. (A retrospective of his works will open next year at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.) A year ago Gérôme’s “Rustem Pasha Mosque, Istanbul,” was the top-selling painting in the Orientalist sale at Sotheby’s New York, fetching $1.9 million. In October his “Barde Noir” sold for $1.2 million there.

For the last hundred years collectors of Orientalist art have tended to be Western. Today, for example, Terence Garnett, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, may have the best-known private collection in this country, with works by Gérôme, Bauernfeind and Deutsch. (Some of Mr. Garnett’s collection was exhibited at a show last November at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington.)

“Most people think of 19th-century art as Impressionist,” he said in a telephone interview. “People have never seen Orientalist paintings. I find them aesthetically beautiful for their realism, rich colors and the culture they portray. They are strong images and show the Gulf region in a positive light.”

Recapturing the Allure of Orientalist Art (New York Times)

The Myth of the Orient

March 26, 2009 by Marion Maneker

More on Orientalism. Forbes discovers the popularity of the style among Middle Eastern buyers.

In 2008 Orientalist works grossed $70 million at auction worldwide, an eightfold increase from 2004, partly a reflection of the auction houses’ decision to add more sales to the calendar. In March Sotheby’s introduced its first Orientalist sale in Doha, Qatar. Last May an Orientalist session at Sotheby’s in London brought in $16 million for 90 works, setting records for ten artists.

Leading the charge of newly appreciative Orientalist collectors: Shafik Gabr, 56, the Cairo chief of Artoc Group, Egypt’s largest private developer, with $1 billion in annual sales. Gabr’s collection of 96 Orientalist pieces, accumulated over the last 15 years, is probably worth at least $40 million. Gabr first attracted FORBES’ attention when a Dubai publication described him as a billionaire. (Maybe he was before the recession arrived; now, we figure, his net worth is around $700 million.)

Embracing the Past (Forbes)

Two Views of Orientalism

March 19, 2009 by Marion Maneker

Howard Rehs of Rehs Galleries offers this comment on the Doha sale of Orientalist paintings. Which prompts some worthwhile debate.

Rehs points out that the Doha sale was no different from the Winter and Fall Orientalist sales. That is to say uneven with strong prices for some works and many that failed to find buyers. The market churn (recently purchased works placed back on the market at higher estimates) is especially strong in this field.

It’s a trend that worries Rehs who feels, “if the salerooms continue to offer recently sold works at high estimates they are going to make this an even longer recovery for the general art market. Smaller sales, filled with good quality works in all price levels, will result in higher sell through rates and will go a long way to restore confidence.”

To support this view, Rehs offers these interesting numbers (emphasis ours):

According to the posted results, of the 78 lots offered only 37 found buyers, leaving 41 unsold … that is a 52.56% BI rate — not a very strong showing.  In addition, 50 were sold within the last 2 years and 29 of those were among the BIs.

But it’s not all gloom from Rehs, he sees the positive side. Though it does raise another interesting question about Orientalist works. Is there a geographic arbitrage taking place here with works that sold recently in Europe being essentially fresh to the Gulf States’ market? That would seem hard to imagine with the strong representation of Middle Eastern buyers in European and North American sales. But not out of the question. Here’s Rehs’s final thought:

The Doha sale offered Orientalist paintings to an Orientalist group of buyers … and those that found a work of interest bid.  Great works will always find a buyer and the Ernst paintings were top notch examples … at least from the photos.  The work that really shows how the overall market has done is the Fabio Fabbi — that sold in 2002 for $47,800 … 7 years late $320,500.

Rehs Galleries

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