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拍品专文
BIRGITTE VON FOLSACH SINGLES OUT ELISABETH JERICHAU-BAUMANN AS THE ONE WHO 'AMONG DANISH ARTISTS... CAN MOST APTLY BE CLASSIFIED AS BELONGING TO INTERNATIONAL ORIENTALISM' (OP. CIT., P. 89). BORN IN WARSAW IN 1819, SHE SETTLED IN DSSELDORF WHERE SHE TOOK PRIVATE LESSONS TO BECOME A PAINTER. ALTHOUGH AT TWENTY ONE IT WAS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT FOR A WOMAN TO BE ADMITTED TO THE OFFICIAL ART ACADEMIES, SHE SHOWED REMARKABLE DETERMINATION AND DRIVE, WHICH WERE TO BECOME HER KEY TO SUCCESS IN HER ADVENTUROUS TRAVELS THROUGHOUT EUROPE AND THE EAST. AFTER COMPLETING HER TRAINING IN POLAND, SHE WENT TO ROME, WHERE SHE MARRIED THE DANISH SCULPTOR JENS ADOLF JERICHAU IN 1846. THE COUPLE SETTLED IN DENMARK AND ELISABETH, DESPITE BEING THE MOTHER OF MANY CHILDREN, CONTINUED TO TRAVEL AND LIVE ABROAD FOR EXTENDED PERIODS WITHOUT HER HUSBAND AND CHILDREN.
AMONG THE MANY JOURNEYS SHE UNDERTOOK, HER TWO EXTENDED STAYS IN TURKEY IN 1869 AND 1874 WERE TO BE PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT AS IT WAS AT THAT TIME SHE WAS INTRODUCED TO ORIENTAL SUBJECTS. BEING A WOMAN, SHE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO BE ADMITTED TO A HAREM AND, FOLLOWING A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION FROM THE PRINCESS OF WALES, SHE WAS PERMITTED TO VISIT A PRINCESS NAMED NAZILI HANUM IN HER HAREM IN CONSTANTINOPLE. OF HER PORTRAIT OF THE PRINCESS, BIRGITTE VON FOLSACH HAS WRITTEN, IN THE CATALOGUE OF THE EXHIBITION BY THE LIGHT OF THE CRESCENT MOON. IMAGES OF THE NEAR EAST IN DANISH ART AND LITERATURE, 1800-1875 (COPENHAGEN, THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, THE PREHISTORIC MUSEUM MOESGARD AND THE DAVID 1996, P. 86): 'WITH ITS WARM, DENSE COLOUR SCALE AND ITS UNMISTAKABLY SENSUOUS AND EROTIC AURA IT IS ONE OF ELISABETH JERICHAU-BAUMANN'S MOST ORIENTALIST WORKS'.
IN CAIRO, SHE WAS DEEPLY FASCINATED BY THE WOMEN WHO FETCHED WATER ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE IN GREAT POTTERY VESSELS THAT THEY CARRIED ON THEIR HEADS, AS WELL AS BY THE WOMEN SELLING POTTERY. AN EGYPTIAN POTTERY SELLER IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL OF HER PORTRAITS OF THESE WOMEN, AS OBSERVED BY BIRGITTE VON FOLSACH WHO COMMENTED ON ANOTHER VERSION OF THE PAINTING: 'THE VERY YOUNG WOMAN IS SITTING AS A MONUMENTAL FIGURE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CANVAS ON A COLOURFUL, WOVEN RUG WITH ALL HER POTS BEHIND HER AND DRESSED IN THE CHARACTERISTIC BLACK ROBE WORN BY FELLAH WOMEN. THERE IS ABOUT THIS WOMAN AN INNOCENCE, WHICH THE SENSUOUS DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCESS NAZILI HANUM, FOR EXAMPLE, IS UTTERLY WITHOUT' (IBID., P. 88). THE ARTIST WAS SO IMPRESSED BY THE BEAUTY OF THE WOMEN THAT SHE WROTE IN HER MOTLEY IMAGES OF TRAVEL, 'IN EGYPT ... THE WOMAN - AS IF SHE WERE A WONDERFUL ANTIQUE STATUE WHO WITHOUT A THOUGHT OF HER GREAT BEAUTY BECOMES DOUBLY ALLURING BECAUSE OF THE UNSELFCONSCIOUSNESS AND PURITY WITH WHICH SHE IS MARKED - OFTEN MOVES ABOUT IN THE NUDE DOING HER DAILY TASKS WITHOUT GIVING OFFENCE'.
A XYLOGRAPH OF AN EGYPTIAN POTTERY SELLER (FIG. 1) WAS ALSO INCLUDED AMONG THE STYLISH ENGRAVINGS EMBELLISHING MOTLEY IMAGES OF TRAVEL.
WHAT MAKES THE PRESENT PAINTING EXCEPTIONALLY INTERESTING IS INDEED THE ATTITUDE OF THE WOMAN WHOM THE ARTIST CHOSE TO DEPICT. THE POTTERY SELLER, IN FACT, SEEMS EXTREMELY SELF-SATISFIED, CHALLENGING THE SPECTATOR WITH HER DIRECT, ALMOST CONTEMPTUOUS, GAZE.
AMONG THE MANY JOURNEYS SHE UNDERTOOK, HER TWO EXTENDED STAYS IN TURKEY IN 1869 AND 1874 WERE TO BE PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT AS IT WAS AT THAT TIME SHE WAS INTRODUCED TO ORIENTAL SUBJECTS. BEING A WOMAN, SHE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO BE ADMITTED TO A HAREM AND, FOLLOWING A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION FROM THE PRINCESS OF WALES, SHE WAS PERMITTED TO VISIT A PRINCESS NAMED NAZILI HANUM IN HER HAREM IN CONSTANTINOPLE. OF HER PORTRAIT OF THE PRINCESS, BIRGITTE VON FOLSACH HAS WRITTEN, IN THE CATALOGUE OF THE EXHIBITION BY THE LIGHT OF THE CRESCENT MOON. IMAGES OF THE NEAR EAST IN DANISH ART AND LITERATURE, 1800-1875 (COPENHAGEN, THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, THE PREHISTORIC MUSEUM MOESGARD AND THE DAVID 1996, P. 86): 'WITH ITS WARM, DENSE COLOUR SCALE AND ITS UNMISTAKABLY SENSUOUS AND EROTIC AURA IT IS ONE OF ELISABETH JERICHAU-BAUMANN'S MOST ORIENTALIST WORKS'.
IN CAIRO, SHE WAS DEEPLY FASCINATED BY THE WOMEN WHO FETCHED WATER ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE IN GREAT POTTERY VESSELS THAT THEY CARRIED ON THEIR HEADS, AS WELL AS BY THE WOMEN SELLING POTTERY. AN EGYPTIAN POTTERY SELLER IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL OF HER PORTRAITS OF THESE WOMEN, AS OBSERVED BY BIRGITTE VON FOLSACH WHO COMMENTED ON ANOTHER VERSION OF THE PAINTING: 'THE VERY YOUNG WOMAN IS SITTING AS A MONUMENTAL FIGURE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CANVAS ON A COLOURFUL, WOVEN RUG WITH ALL HER POTS BEHIND HER AND DRESSED IN THE CHARACTERISTIC BLACK ROBE WORN BY FELLAH WOMEN. THERE IS ABOUT THIS WOMAN AN INNOCENCE, WHICH THE SENSUOUS DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCESS NAZILI HANUM, FOR EXAMPLE, IS UTTERLY WITHOUT' (IBID., P. 88). THE ARTIST WAS SO IMPRESSED BY THE BEAUTY OF THE WOMEN THAT SHE WROTE IN HER MOTLEY IMAGES OF TRAVEL, 'IN EGYPT ... THE WOMAN - AS IF SHE WERE A WONDERFUL ANTIQUE STATUE WHO WITHOUT A THOUGHT OF HER GREAT BEAUTY BECOMES DOUBLY ALLURING BECAUSE OF THE UNSELFCONSCIOUSNESS AND PURITY WITH WHICH SHE IS MARKED - OFTEN MOVES ABOUT IN THE NUDE DOING HER DAILY TASKS WITHOUT GIVING OFFENCE'.
A XYLOGRAPH OF AN EGYPTIAN POTTERY SELLER (FIG. 1) WAS ALSO INCLUDED AMONG THE STYLISH ENGRAVINGS EMBELLISHING MOTLEY IMAGES OF TRAVEL.
WHAT MAKES THE PRESENT PAINTING EXCEPTIONALLY INTERESTING IS INDEED THE ATTITUDE OF THE WOMAN WHOM THE ARTIST CHOSE TO DEPICT. THE POTTERY SELLER, IN FACT, SEEMS EXTREMELY SELF-SATISFIED, CHALLENGING THE SPECTATOR WITH HER DIRECT, ALMOST CONTEMPTUOUS, GAZE.