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Lot Essay
'THE QUESTION AMOUNTS TO KNOWING WHETHER THE ORIENT YIELDS TO INTERPRETATION, TO WHAT EXTENT IT IS OPEN TO THIS AND, IF TO INTERPRET IT IS NOT TO DESTROY IT... THE ORIENT IS EXTRAORDINARY... IT ESCAPES CONVENTIONS, IT LIES OUTSIDE ALL DISCIPLINES, IT TRANSPOSES, IT INVERTS EVERYTHING, IT OVERTURNS THE HARMONIES WITH WHICH LANDSCAPE PAINTING HAS FOR CENTURIES FUNCTIONED' (EUGèNE FROMENTIN, UNE ANNéE DANS LE SAHEL, 1858).
IN 1858, EUGèNE FROMENTIN, THE FRENCH PAINTER AND WRITER, WAS STRUGGLING TO CAPTURE, IN HIS POETIC MEMORIES AS WELL AS IN HIS FAMOUS PAINTINGS, 'THE ORIENT WHICH SO TANTALISED HIM' (M.A. STEVENS, IN THE CATALOGUE OF THE EXHIBITION THE ORIENTALISTS: DELACROIX TO MATISSE, ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON, 1984, P. 15). HIS ENTHUSIASTIC COMMENT EPITOMISES MANY OF THE QUESTIONS, DOUBTS AND PARADOXES WHICH CHALLENGED ALL THE ARTISTS FROM EUROPE AND AMERICA IN THEIR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE LANDS OF NORTH AFRICA AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE BETWEEN 1798 AND 1914.
EUGèNE FROMENTIN WAS ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED AND CULTIVATED OF THE 19TH CENTURY ORIENTALISTS. IN 1839 HE LEFT LA ROCHELLE, HIS PROVINCIAL NATIVE CITY, WHICH, AS THE ARTIST AND HIS CRITICS ALWAYS POINTED OUT, EXCEPTIONALLY INFLUENCED HIS AESTHETIC VISION FOR ITS FLATNESS AND DRAMATIC SKIES, RECALLING THE RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE FLEMISH LANDSCAPES.
SENT TO PARIS BY HIS FATHER TO TRAIN UNDER THE CLASSICAL LANDSCAPIST RéMOND, FROMENTIN DECIDED TO BECOME A PUPIL OF THE MORE NATURALISTIC CABAT, WHO NURTURED HIS DEEP FASCINATION FOR THE WORK OF DELACROIX (SEE LOT 47), DECAMPS AND MARILHAT. THESE PAINTERS AROUSED HIS INTEREST IN THE ORIENT AND ENCOURAGED HIM TO EMBARK ON HIS FIRST TRIP TO ALGERIA IN 1846 WITH CHARLES LABBé, WHO ALSO BECAME AN ORIENTALIST PAINTER. 'ASTONISHED TO FIND THAT IT WAS QUITE UNLIKE THE ORIENT DEPICTED BY HIS PREDECESSORS, HE SOON REALISED THAT HE COULD PAINT ALGERIA IN A WAY THAT HAD NEVER BEEN ATTEMPTED BEFORE' (L. THORNTON, THE ORIENTALISTS, PAINTERS-TRAVELLERS, PARIS, 1994, P. 95). AFTER HIS FIRST VISIT TO ALGERIA, HE DEVELOPED A PERSONAL, ORIGINAL STYLE, PRAISED BY THE MOST PROGRESSIVE CRITICS AND ARTISTS OF THE TIME, SUCH AS BAUDELAIRE AND THE YOUNG DEGAS. HE RETURNED TO ALGERIA IN 1847 AND CAME BACK WITH A NUMBER OF WORKS, ELEVEN OF WHICH WERE SUCCESSFULLY EXHIBITED AT THE SALONS OF 1850-51, ESTABLISHING HIS REPUTATION FOR PAINTING ORIENTALIST SUBJECT-MATTER.
HE PAID A THIRD VISIT IN 1852 WHILST ON HIS HONEYMOON, STAYING FOR NINE MONTHS IN MUSTAPHA AND BLIDAH, BEFORE UNDERTAKING A LONG, ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH, AS FAR AS LAGHOUAT. 'THIS LAST SOJOURN WAS TO REMAIN IN HIS MEMORY FOREVER. HE BROUGHT BACK A MASS OF PAINTED AND DRAWN STUDIES, MANY OF WHICH WERE AUCTIONED IN HIS STUDIO SALE. HE FOUND THAT THE INTENSE LIGHT OF THE VERDANT AND CLOUDY SAHEL, AND EVEN THAT OF THE PARCHED AND SEVERE SAHARA, WAS NOT BLINDING BUT MADE EVERYTHING SEEM GREY. AS FOR THE SHADE, IT WAS TRANSPARENT, LIMPID AND COLOURED, NOT OBSCURE AND BLACK, AS IT WAS GENERALLY PAINTED' (IBID.). BY 1861, HIS PALETTE CHANGED AGAIN. DEEPLY INFLUENCED BY COROT'S LANDSCAPES, HE ELABORATED NEW, PURE HARMONIES OF COLOUR, REACHING A DISTILLED, NEARLY MONOCHROMATIC STYLE.
BATELEURS NèGRES, PAINTED IN 1867, IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THIS LATER STYLE. THE CHROMATIC CHOICES ARE EXTREMELY SOPHISTICATED, PLAYED ON THE EARTHY TONES OF THE DESERT. THE INSPIRATION FOR BATELEURS NèGRES CAME TO FROMENTIN FROM A SCENE HE HAD WITNESSED AND RECORDED IN HIS BOOK UN éTé DANS LE SAHARA (1856). HE WAS FASCINATED BY A GROUP OF TRAVELLING MUSICIANS, WHICH PROMPTED HIM TO PAINT BOTH BATELEURS NèGRES DANS LES TRIBUS (1859) AND THE PRESENT WORK, EXHIBITED AT THE PARIS SALON OF 1867, ALONG WITH FEMMES DES OULED-NAYLS; DANS UN VILLAGE DU SAHARA (THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO).
WE ARE GRATEFUL TO DR. JAMES THOMPSON FOR HIS ASSISTANCE WITH THE PREPARATION OF THIS CATALOGUE ENTRY.
IN 1858, EUGèNE FROMENTIN, THE FRENCH PAINTER AND WRITER, WAS STRUGGLING TO CAPTURE, IN HIS POETIC MEMORIES AS WELL AS IN HIS FAMOUS PAINTINGS, 'THE ORIENT WHICH SO TANTALISED HIM' (M.A. STEVENS, IN THE CATALOGUE OF THE EXHIBITION THE ORIENTALISTS: DELACROIX TO MATISSE, ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON, 1984, P. 15). HIS ENTHUSIASTIC COMMENT EPITOMISES MANY OF THE QUESTIONS, DOUBTS AND PARADOXES WHICH CHALLENGED ALL THE ARTISTS FROM EUROPE AND AMERICA IN THEIR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE LANDS OF NORTH AFRICA AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE BETWEEN 1798 AND 1914.
EUGèNE FROMENTIN WAS ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED AND CULTIVATED OF THE 19TH CENTURY ORIENTALISTS. IN 1839 HE LEFT LA ROCHELLE, HIS PROVINCIAL NATIVE CITY, WHICH, AS THE ARTIST AND HIS CRITICS ALWAYS POINTED OUT, EXCEPTIONALLY INFLUENCED HIS AESTHETIC VISION FOR ITS FLATNESS AND DRAMATIC SKIES, RECALLING THE RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE FLEMISH LANDSCAPES.
SENT TO PARIS BY HIS FATHER TO TRAIN UNDER THE CLASSICAL LANDSCAPIST RéMOND, FROMENTIN DECIDED TO BECOME A PUPIL OF THE MORE NATURALISTIC CABAT, WHO NURTURED HIS DEEP FASCINATION FOR THE WORK OF DELACROIX (SEE LOT 47), DECAMPS AND MARILHAT. THESE PAINTERS AROUSED HIS INTEREST IN THE ORIENT AND ENCOURAGED HIM TO EMBARK ON HIS FIRST TRIP TO ALGERIA IN 1846 WITH CHARLES LABBé, WHO ALSO BECAME AN ORIENTALIST PAINTER. 'ASTONISHED TO FIND THAT IT WAS QUITE UNLIKE THE ORIENT DEPICTED BY HIS PREDECESSORS, HE SOON REALISED THAT HE COULD PAINT ALGERIA IN A WAY THAT HAD NEVER BEEN ATTEMPTED BEFORE' (L. THORNTON, THE ORIENTALISTS, PAINTERS-TRAVELLERS, PARIS, 1994, P. 95). AFTER HIS FIRST VISIT TO ALGERIA, HE DEVELOPED A PERSONAL, ORIGINAL STYLE, PRAISED BY THE MOST PROGRESSIVE CRITICS AND ARTISTS OF THE TIME, SUCH AS BAUDELAIRE AND THE YOUNG DEGAS. HE RETURNED TO ALGERIA IN 1847 AND CAME BACK WITH A NUMBER OF WORKS, ELEVEN OF WHICH WERE SUCCESSFULLY EXHIBITED AT THE SALONS OF 1850-51, ESTABLISHING HIS REPUTATION FOR PAINTING ORIENTALIST SUBJECT-MATTER.
HE PAID A THIRD VISIT IN 1852 WHILST ON HIS HONEYMOON, STAYING FOR NINE MONTHS IN MUSTAPHA AND BLIDAH, BEFORE UNDERTAKING A LONG, ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH, AS FAR AS LAGHOUAT. 'THIS LAST SOJOURN WAS TO REMAIN IN HIS MEMORY FOREVER. HE BROUGHT BACK A MASS OF PAINTED AND DRAWN STUDIES, MANY OF WHICH WERE AUCTIONED IN HIS STUDIO SALE. HE FOUND THAT THE INTENSE LIGHT OF THE VERDANT AND CLOUDY SAHEL, AND EVEN THAT OF THE PARCHED AND SEVERE SAHARA, WAS NOT BLINDING BUT MADE EVERYTHING SEEM GREY. AS FOR THE SHADE, IT WAS TRANSPARENT, LIMPID AND COLOURED, NOT OBSCURE AND BLACK, AS IT WAS GENERALLY PAINTED' (IBID.). BY 1861, HIS PALETTE CHANGED AGAIN. DEEPLY INFLUENCED BY COROT'S LANDSCAPES, HE ELABORATED NEW, PURE HARMONIES OF COLOUR, REACHING A DISTILLED, NEARLY MONOCHROMATIC STYLE.
BATELEURS NèGRES, PAINTED IN 1867, IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THIS LATER STYLE. THE CHROMATIC CHOICES ARE EXTREMELY SOPHISTICATED, PLAYED ON THE EARTHY TONES OF THE DESERT. THE INSPIRATION FOR BATELEURS NèGRES CAME TO FROMENTIN FROM A SCENE HE HAD WITNESSED AND RECORDED IN HIS BOOK UN éTé DANS LE SAHARA (1856). HE WAS FASCINATED BY A GROUP OF TRAVELLING MUSICIANS, WHICH PROMPTED HIM TO PAINT BOTH BATELEURS NèGRES DANS LES TRIBUS (1859) AND THE PRESENT WORK, EXHIBITED AT THE PARIS SALON OF 1867, ALONG WITH FEMMES DES OULED-NAYLS; DANS UN VILLAGE DU SAHARA (THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO).
WE ARE GRATEFUL TO DR. JAMES THOMPSON FOR HIS ASSISTANCE WITH THE PREPARATION OF THIS CATALOGUE ENTRY.