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Lot Essay
Bargue was a contemporary and collaborator of Jean-Lon Grme, though he is often incorrectly described as the latter's student. Bargue made his living primarily as a lithographer. Since he only painted during the last decade of his life, and made no more than two pictures a year, his oil paintings are few in number. Bargue shared Grme's fascination with Orientalist subjects and in fact, during the 1870s, the two artists shared a studio in Paris. Bargue would borrow costumes and props acquired by Grme during his travels to Egypt, Turkey, and the Middle East. The present work reflects the Orientalist theme of his paintings and shows artifacts from various middle eastern and ancient near eastern cultures.
Arab Dealer among his Antiques shows a man in an Arabic costume sitting amid a dazzling array of decorative objects, including tapestries, ornamental tiles, metal urns, patterned woodwork, and small figurines. He is seen smoking a hookah pipe, and appears dazed, as if about to exhale tobacco smoke. In a 1926 New York Post article on Bargue, the writer describes the present painting and titling it, Arab Dealer among his Antiques: "Here, as usual, the detail is overwhelming and not the slightest note of these wares of the Oriental merchant is slighted: Surfaces gleam, carvings are picked out exquisitely, carpets glow with the wealth of their rich piles and elaborate patterns. Yet in all this accumulation of minutia there is unity of composition" (New York Post, March 6, 1926).
It is only through fate that this painting has survived. A previous owner, Karl Loevenich spotted it in a New York antique shop, whose proprietor was convinced it was a retouched chromolithograph. He had been fooled by its microscopic detail. According to the account in the New York Times (15 February 1926), Loevenich was examining the painting when the dealer took it out of his hands: 'Don't bother about that', said the dealer. 'It's something that I got stung with,' 'Let me see it. I like to be stung,' said the customer. 'It's a worked-over lithograph,' said the dealer. 'Just the same I like it,' said the customer. 'What do you want for it?' Loevenich walked out of the shop without waiting for the painting to be wrapped. He had paid a price of $200.
Arab Dealer among his Antiques shows a man in an Arabic costume sitting amid a dazzling array of decorative objects, including tapestries, ornamental tiles, metal urns, patterned woodwork, and small figurines. He is seen smoking a hookah pipe, and appears dazed, as if about to exhale tobacco smoke. In a 1926 New York Post article on Bargue, the writer describes the present painting and titling it, Arab Dealer among his Antiques: "Here, as usual, the detail is overwhelming and not the slightest note of these wares of the Oriental merchant is slighted: Surfaces gleam, carvings are picked out exquisitely, carpets glow with the wealth of their rich piles and elaborate patterns. Yet in all this accumulation of minutia there is unity of composition" (New York Post, March 6, 1926).
It is only through fate that this painting has survived. A previous owner, Karl Loevenich spotted it in a New York antique shop, whose proprietor was convinced it was a retouched chromolithograph. He had been fooled by its microscopic detail. According to the account in the New York Times (15 February 1926), Loevenich was examining the painting when the dealer took it out of his hands: 'Don't bother about that', said the dealer. 'It's something that I got stung with,' 'Let me see it. I like to be stung,' said the customer. 'It's a worked-over lithograph,' said the dealer. 'Just the same I like it,' said the customer. 'What do you want for it?' Loevenich walked out of the shop without waiting for the painting to be wrapped. He had paid a price of $200.