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Artist or Maker: Alberto Pasini (Italian, 1826-1899)

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Provenance: Private collection, Los Angeles.
with the Adamson-Duvannes Galleries, Los Angeles circa 1990.

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Literature: A. Dragone and J. Dragone Conti,paesaggisti piemontesi dell'ottocento, Milan, 1947, p. 179, no. 153.
V.B. Cardoso, Pasini, Genova, 1991, p. 296, no. 485.

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Notes: A Vision of the Orient

We are proud to present this remarkable collection of Orientalist paintings, which by its breadth and the quality of the artists featured reflects the different styles, geographic span, and fascinating subjects that surfaced in a century-long exchange with the Orient. All of the chief destinations of the 19th century 'voyage en orient' are represented in this selection of paintings, watercolours and drawings. From Cairo to Tangiers, these works capture the variety of oriental life as seen by the most accomplished European artists.

Orientalism as it is generally understood is complex and many scholars have shown how the movement, broadly defined, partakes both of cultural imperialism and a genuine fascination with distant cultures and a new aesthetic experience. Though it is very problematic to group all of these artists under the homogenous term of Orientalism - many of these painters had very different agendas - the guiding principle that underlies this collection is its characteristic as a sweeping 'reportage', to borrow a term from the Orientalist scholar Professor Gerald Ackerman. The collection takes us on a swirling trip through distant topographies, architectural settings, local practices, customs and costumes, all heightened by different artistic perspectives ranging from the Romantic visions of Horace Vernet, Eugène Delacroix, and Théodore Chassériau to the more Realist conceptions of Edwin Lord Weeks, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Alberto Pasini.

The highlight of the collection is undoubtedly A midday meal, Cairo by John Frederick Lewis, which he himself considered as one of his most accomplished pieces. The splendid architecture, notably the screen and acacia tree in the background, are inspired directly from the 'Hosh' or courtyard of Lewis's own palatial house in the old Ezbekieh district of Cairo where he lived the life of an Ottoman nobleman. From the rich life of the inner courts we move to the street with Ludwig Deutsch's exceptional painting of a sahleb vendor in the streets of Cairo. This work is outstanding in its details, its focus on vernacular stone carving and especially in the ingenuity the artist shows in capturing the various types of individuals, gathered around this traditional warm drink. Deutsch was very much appreciated by Jean-Léon Gérôme who, as a central figure of academic Orientalism, is also represented in this collection by two paintings including his Recrues égyptiennes traversant le désert. Gérôme first went to Egypt in 1856 and returned frequently until 1875. In Recrues égyptiennes traversant le désert, the artist features conscripts forcibly taken into the service of the Khedive (Egyptian Viceroy) to be enrolled into the army or forced to work on projects such as the Suez Canal. In his inimitable style, Gérôme conveys the fierce struggle of man against man, and of man against nature itself as embodied by the vast majesty of the desert. Egypt is also the subject of Théodore Frère's A late afternoon meal at an encampment, Cairo and of two paintings by the little known but admirable Paul Pascal.

However, the collection swiftly moves over to Morocco and Algiers, not with landscapes but figurative works such as the striking Morrocan Chieftain by Eugène Delacroix, which Professor Lee Johnson dates to circa 1838, and the Petit taleb (Poète arabe) painted by Théodore Chassériau after his return from Algeria in 1850. The careers of Delacroix and Chassériau, arguably two of the premier French Orientalist painters, were profoundly influenced by their trips to North Africa. Frederick Arthur Bridgman's small drawing of two Arabs was certainly taken in situ during one of his sojourns in Tangier and Algiers in 1872-73 or in Egypt in 1873-74. Edwin Lord Weeks takes us to Cordoba with a study of a Moor in white squatting (Moor at prayer, mosque in Córdoba, Spain) and Alberto Pasini escorts us through the market of Constantinople. Pasini's painting also shows the extent to which the artist was fascinated by not only the traditional occupation of the inhabitants of the countries he visited but also by the particular light and atmosphere he found during his travels. Horace Vernet, the chief painter of the French conquest of Algeria, is represented by his Lion Hunter from 1833. Painted upon Vernet's return from his first sojourn in North Africa, the picture captures the Orientalist enthusiasm for big game hunting.

One of the most important motifs of 19th Century Orientalism was the journey in search of the exotic alternative to an increasingly industrial Europe. The poets Gérard de Nerval, Alphonse de Lamartine, and the painter Eugène Delacroix leave us detailed accounts of their exploration of the Middle East. From Cairo to Tangiers, these paintings capture the variety of oriental life as seen by the most accomplished European artists.

Alberto Pasini is indeed the most celebrated among Italian Orientalists. At the beginning of the 1850s he left Italy for Paris where he met the artist Théodore Chassériau and through him, the diplomat Prosper Bourée, who was about to leave on an official mission to Persia. Pasini was invited to accompany Bourée as his personal painter and, in March 1855, he started his long trip to the Orient, which was to last a year and a half. In the course of this adverturous journey, the artist visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia, South Yemen and the Persian Gulf. He was commissioned by the Shah of Persia to execute numerous paintings. Pasini returned East in 1856 this time via the Black Sea and Constantinople and continued to travel returning to Constantinople in 1868-69.

Alberto Pasini painted this work on one of his trips to Constantinople, having left behind his friend and fellow painter, Jean-Léon Gérôme, who was ill at the time. The painting depicts an area outside Istanbul known for its fresh water where people would gather frequently to trade. Pasini was struck by the delicacy of the light in the East and here we typically see him exploring the contrasts between the deep shadow and the bright sun. He shows us in spectacular colour the charm of the Turkish women. Here they are seen gathered in small groups picnicing and gossiping in a relaxed and leisured enviroment. Their bright robes and headdresses are respectful and modest, a distinct contrast form the dancers, slave girls and harem scenes often shown in Orientalist paintings that were made for the western public.

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