L'EMIR

ALTHOUGH AUSTRIAN BY BIRTH, LUDWIG DEUTSCH'S ENTIRE MATURE CAREER WAS BASED IN FRANCE. HE HAD BEEN A STUDENT AT THE VIENNA ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS BEFORE SETTLING IN PARIS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 1870S, WHERE HE ENROLLED AT THE ECOLE DES BEAUX ARTS AND FIRST MET RUDOLF ERNST, A COMPATRIOT AND NEAR-CONTEMPORARY WHO WAS ALSO TO BECOME A LIFE-LONG FRIEND. FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ERNST, FROM 1883 HE ABANDONED THE PORTRAITS AND GENRE SCENES THAT HE HAD TRADITIONALLY SUBMITTED TO THE SALON AND INSTEAD DEDICATED HIMSELF TO ORIENTAL SUBJECTS. IT WAS TO BE THESE ORIENTAL WORKS WITH THEIR METICULOUS DETAIL AND SCINTILLATING TECHNIQUE WHICH SAW DEUTSCH ATTAIN A REMARKABLE LEVEL OF POPULARITY IN THE 1890S.

DEUTSCH'S SHARP AND, AT THE SAME TIME, VERY SYMPATHETIC EYE FOR THE SMALL GESTURE OR THE FLEETING EXPRESSION, ALLIED TO HIS VIRTUOSIC PAINTERLY SKILLS, WAS ALMOST UNRIVALLED IN THE DEPICTION OF SCENES OF EVERYDAY LIFE IN CAIRO. HIS FABULOUS ACUITY WAS DOUBTLESS IN LARGE PART DUE TO THE SKETCHES HE EXECUTED IN SITU AND FROM STUDY OF HIS OWN GREAT COLLECTION OF ISLAMIC TILES, TEXTILES AND METALWORK WITH WHICH HE DECORATED HIS STUDIOS IN PARIS AND THE SOUTH OF FRANCE.