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Lot Essay
Leaving the Grand Socco by the rue de la Liberté and crossing the Place de France, the traveller joins the rue de Fez, one of the main exit routes from the city of Tangier. At the Place de Maroc, the road turns south west and rises towards the hills, giving, as you look back, a splendid panorama of the city. It was this which attracted Lavery's attention when, after 1910, he produced the present sketch. Although views of the 'white city' had been painted on many occasions - from the beach to the south-east and from the hills on the west, the road provided a new vantage point, similar to that obtained above the market place, but at a greater distance (see lot 98).
Constructed on a hill overlooking the Straits of Gibraltar, the 'white city' glistened against the deep blues of sea and sky. Ever since his first major portrayal of the Moroccan port in 1893 (fig. 1, Christie's, 21 November 1995, lot 131), this sight never ceased to capture Lavery's attention.
In the present sketch we see both the ville ancienne and a section of the modern ville nouvelle along the shoreline on the right. The city was expanding in spite of the fact that Morocco, ruled by a weak Sultan, was near to chaos. Motorised transport, whilst not unusual at this time, was still largely confined to the environs of the city due to the poor condition of the roads. Donkeys, as is clear from the foreground of the present picture, remained the principal means by which its inhabitants moved around the city. No improvements were made until after the French intervention in 1912, whilst the Spanish Protectorate, the barren sketch of Barbary Coast, remained undeveloped into the inter-war period. Although Lavery visited Fez in 1907, the journey remained hazardous up until the imposition of French rule. Indeed travelling much beyond the section of road shown in the foreground of the present sketch was considered unsafe.
None of this deterred the painter. On the Fez Road, Tangier is boldly painted in the characteristic manner of the artist-reporter. For him the priority was to find new ways of looking at familiar scenes, and at this moment in the strong North African sunlight, a fitting record of the white city has been achieved.
K.M.
Constructed on a hill overlooking the Straits of Gibraltar, the 'white city' glistened against the deep blues of sea and sky. Ever since his first major portrayal of the Moroccan port in 1893 (fig. 1, Christie's, 21 November 1995, lot 131), this sight never ceased to capture Lavery's attention.
In the present sketch we see both the ville ancienne and a section of the modern ville nouvelle along the shoreline on the right. The city was expanding in spite of the fact that Morocco, ruled by a weak Sultan, was near to chaos. Motorised transport, whilst not unusual at this time, was still largely confined to the environs of the city due to the poor condition of the roads. Donkeys, as is clear from the foreground of the present picture, remained the principal means by which its inhabitants moved around the city. No improvements were made until after the French intervention in 1912, whilst the Spanish Protectorate, the barren sketch of Barbary Coast, remained undeveloped into the inter-war period. Although Lavery visited Fez in 1907, the journey remained hazardous up until the imposition of French rule. Indeed travelling much beyond the section of road shown in the foreground of the present sketch was considered unsafe.
None of this deterred the painter. On the Fez Road, Tangier is boldly painted in the characteristic manner of the artist-reporter. For him the priority was to find new ways of looking at familiar scenes, and at this moment in the strong North African sunlight, a fitting record of the white city has been achieved.
K.M.