09 Paintings by Orientalist Artist Otto Pilny's Desert dance scene, with footnotes, #98

Otto Pilny, Budweis 1866–1936 Zurich

Dance in the Desert, c. 1918

Oil on canvas, unlined

112 x 161 cm.; 47¾ x 63½ in.

Private collection

Sold for 100,800 GBP in March 2021

Though little is known of Pilny's early artistic career, it may have been during a brief period of study in Vienna that he was encouraged to travel abroad. Ludwig Deutsch (1855–1935), Rudolf Ernst (1854–1932), and Carl Leopold Müller (1834–1892) had all made this city synonymous with Orientalist art, exhibiting their pictures of Middle Eastern life to great acclaim. Pilny's first trip to Egypt – the favorite destination of the Austro-Hungarian school – took place in 1889; a second journey followed three years later. The paintings that resulted record not merely the landscapes and people that Pilny encountered but also the magical effects of Eastern light and sun. More on this painting

Otto Pilny, (Schweitz, 1866-1936)

Desert dance scene

Oil on canvas

111 x 160 cm.

Private collection

Sold for 25,400 GBP in April 2024

Otto Pilny (SWISS, 1866-1936)

A dance in the desert, c. 1898

Oil on canvas

31 ½ x 47 ½ in. (80 x 120.5 cm.)

Private collection

Sold for GBP 12,500 in Mar 2017

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

The best dancer, c. 1913

Oil on canvas

120.5 x 185.5cm (47 1/2 x 73in).

Private collection

Sold for US$132,000 in May 2010

The best dancer is a particularly virtuoso representation of one of the artist's favourite themes. The painting is a fine example of the luminosity which is so typical of Pilny's work. As the sun sets, the silhouette of the dancer and her audience become clearer. The orange tones, unique to the desert sun, were of particular interest to the artist. Pilny retells the simplicity of Bedouin life by illustrating the enjoyment of the viewers. He also invites us to watch the almost life-size dancer by creating a direct line of sight to the performance without any obstructions. He was a prolific painter and fuelled by his love for the Orient he left behind a wide oeuvre in which the warm tones and vibrant atmosphere of tribal desert dominate the scene. More on this painting

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

The Dancer

Oil on canvas

111.5 by 160cm., 44 by 63in.

Private collection

Sold for 63,650 GBP in May 2011

Otto Pilny

Dancing at Sunset, c. 1905

Oil on canvas

120.5 by 179.5cm., 47½ by 70¾in.

Private collection

Sold for GBP 22,500 in May 2013

Otto Pilny

Dancing at Sunset

Oil on canvas

80.5 by 120cm., 31½ by 47¼in.

Private collection

Sold for 63,650 GBP in May 2011

Pilny was especially interested in capturing the effects of directional light on the sand and figures in order to evoke a powerful impression, sometimes at the expense of ethnographic accuracy, as in the present work. While the individual figures and their costumes are minutely observed, they in fact hail from different parts of the Middle East: the figure on the left wears a Tunisian style fez, while the two seated men in the left foreground wear the headresses unique to modern-day Iraq and Saudi Arabia, respectively. The girl herself appears, judging by her complexion, to be North African, probably Egyptian. More on this painting

Otto Pilny

The desert dance

Oil on canvas

31 ¾ x 47 ½ in. (80.6 x 120.7 cm.)

Private collection

Sold for USD 4,375 in Dec 2018

Otto Pilny

DANCE OF THE SEVEN VEILS, c. 1916

Oil on canvas

130 by 160cm., 51 by 63in.

Private collection

Sold for 51,650 GBP in May 2011

Otto Pilny was a Swiss painter. He was born in 1866 in Budweis and died in 1936 in Zürich. He began his artistic education in Prague and lived in Vienna for a time before ultimately settling in Zurich. He travelled to Egypt twice, making his first visit in 1875 where he stayed for two years. He was so captivated by the landscape, people and their mores that he spent the rest of his career painting Orientalist works. He was particularly taken by the Bedouin customs and often travelled with them into the desert where he could sketch the evening entertainment which he would later use on his massive canvases. His second visit to the East was from 1889 to 1892. It was at this time that his work pleased the King of Egypt, Abbas II, and he was asked to decorate the order of the Medjidije. More Otto Pilny

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01 Painting by Orientalist Artists. Cesare Felix Georges dell' Acqua's Greek mother, with footnotes, #97

Cesare Felix Georges dell' Acqua (ITALIAN, 1821-1904)

Greek mother, c. 1860

Oil on canvas

86 x 66 cm.

Private collection

Sold for £938,400 in December 2007

This painting is an archetypal image of the Greek War of Independence and a classic document in the history of 19th century Philhellenism. As noted by F.M. Tsigakou in her seminal book The Rediscovery of Greece.

Cesare dell Acqua's Greek Mother is a scene full of drama and emotion. Frightened yet fierce, the young mother leaves the spectator in no doubt that no enemy will ever take her child from her arms. Such a scene not only moves the heart but sanctifies the Greek cause, while alluding to a heroic, glorious past. 

The war provided European artists with a wealth of themes. Pictorially, the heroic, religious, classical and oriental elements of the Revolution offered them particularly sensational subject matter. Furthermore, the theme was so familiar to the European public that artists utilised it to allude to the oppression in their own countries. More on this painting

The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution of 1821 was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by the British Empire, France, and Russia, while the Ottomans were aided by their North African vassals, particularly the eyalet of Egypt. The war led to the formation of modern Greece. The revolution is celebrated by Greeks around the world as independence day on 25 March. More on The Greek War of Independence

Cesare Felix Georges dell' Acqua was born in Pirano d'Istria near Trieste in 1821 and died in Brussels in 1904. He entered the Venice Academy in 1842 and studied painting under Ludovico Lipparini, Odorico Politi and Michelangelo Grigoletti. One of his early works, The Meeting of Cimabue and the Young Giotto (1847) was noticed and acquired by Archduke Johann of Austria. In this period he also received commissions from Prince von Lichtenstein. Soon after, the artist continued his studies in Paris and in 1847 he moved to Brussels where his brother Eugène lived. There he became a student of Gallait. Following his studies, he travelled to Vienna, Munich and Paris, along with his patron, the Hungarian Baron Ludovico Luigi Reszan. Soon after, he painted two large pictures for the Greek Orthodox Church of Trieste, one of which, The Sermon of John in the Dessert, was so acclaimed that he was awarded town citizenship in 1851. The other painting, Jesus Calling the Small Children to Him, was shown in the 1854 Brussels Exhibition, where he received the gold medal. 

Dell' Acqua always knew how to pick attractive or interesting historical subjects. He also painted watercolours, a large collection of which was in the hands of Countess Duval de Beaulieu in Brussels. Some of his works were acquired by the collection of the Belgian Royal Palace. Besides historical romantic motifs he also painted subjects drawn from daily life. Between 1858 and 1866 he produced a number of large works in the Miramare Palace of Kaiser Maximilian, recounting the long history of the area. Works by Dell' Acqua are included in major private and public collections, such as the museums of Brussels, Antwerp, Trieste and Bruges. Besides this rich output, Dell' Acqua painted many attractive female half-length portraits clad in traditional Greek and oriental garb. More on Cesare Felix Georges dell' Acqua

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01 Work , Orientalist Artist, Adiodun Olaku's The Crest Chargec, with footnotes #134

Adiodun Olaku. Nigerian

The Crest Chargec, c. 1993

Oil on canvas

102 by 120cm., 40⅛ by 47¼in.

Private collection

Estimate for 5,000 - 7,000 GBP in Sep 2024

Abiodun Olawale Olaku was born in 1958 in Ibadan. He completed his Higher National Diploma at the Yaba College of Technology between 1976 and 1981 before joining the Federal civil service, where he served while creating art for the next seven years, resigning in February 1989 to pursue a full-time studio practice. Olaku combines a calm realism with subtle contrasts of light and shade to convey a heightened sense of drama in his canvases. Working from dark to light, he builds up his forms in increasingly lighter tones from a fairly consistent underlay of grays, and then applies the strongest highlights. Olaku’s success is hinged largely on this masterful play of shadows and half-lights in creating mood and suggesting thought and feeling. 

Olaku is a member of the Society of Nigeria Artists (SNA); a founding member, inaugural vice president and trustee of the Guild of Professional Fine Artists of Nigeria (GFA); and a founder and trustee of The Universal Studios of Art, National Theatre, Lagos. More on Abiodun Olawale Olaku

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01 Painting by Orientalist Artists, Amelia Goddard's The orange sellers, with footnotes, #96

Amelia Goddard (British, 1847-1928)

The orange sellers, c. 1875

Oil on canvas

104.5 x 76.5cm (41 1/8 x 30 1/8in).

Private collection

Sold for £16,575 in June 2022

Amelie Goddard was born in Christchurch, Hampshire, close to the New Forest in southern England but lived most of her life within the boundaries of the national park. Both Amelia and her elder sister Eliza (b. 1840) became artists and travelled to France to further their studies when Amelia was still in her late teens. The sisters would show their work at exhibitions together and the height of their careers came in 1904, when a show entitled The Knot of Grass, composed entirely of Amelia and her sister's work, was held at the Dore Gallery in New Bond Street, London.

Much of Amelia's subject matter was drawn from the lives of those who lived within the New Forest, principally gypsy families who had roamed and lived in harmony with the forest for generations. Amelia and Eliza's grandfather, John, had been a doctor who had always been prepared to help the poorer members of society. It was Amelia's experience as a young girl, seeing him tending to the poorest souls of the Forest that formed her close affiliation with these people who existed on the very edge of society. More on Amelie Goddard 

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01 Painting by Orientalist Artists. Prosper Marilhat's Ezbekiyah Street in Cairo, with footnotes, #92

Prosper Marilhat  (1811–1847)

Ezbekiah Street in Cairo, c. 1833

Oil on canvas

height: 54 cm (21.2 in); width: 42 cm (16.5 in)

Hermitage Museum

Azbakeya is one of the central districts of Cairo, Egypt. It contains many historically important establishments. One of these is the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, which was inaugurated by Pope Mark VIII in 1800 and served as the seat of the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria from 1800 to 1971. Azbakeya was the place where the first Cairo Opera House was established, in 1869. More on Azbakeya

Antoine-George-Prosper Marilhat, usually known as Prosper Marilhat, (26 March 1811 – 13 September 1847) was a French Orientalist painter. Many of his most successful works were based on the sketches he drew during the time he spent in Egypt in 1831–1832.

He was born in Vertaizon. Encouraged by local artists, Marihat began painting at an early age. Although his parents wanted him to work in the cutlery business of Thiers, Puy-de-Dôme where he lived, the Baron de Barante convinced them he was more suited to an artistic career. He went to Paris in 1829 where he studied under Camille Roqueplan, exhibiting for the first time at the Paris Salon in 1831 with his Site d'Auvergne.

In May 1831, Marilhat was invited by Charles von Hügel to join him on a lengthy expedition but he only accompanied him as far as Alexandria. Over the following months, from October 1831 to May 1833, he completed ten albums of sketches there which would form the basis of his later paintings. In 1835, he travelled through Italy and spent 1836 in Provence. He exhibited in all the Paris Salons from 1837 to 1841 as well as at the Salon of 1844. While he specialized in architectural paintings and landscapes, he also painted portraits.

From 1840 to 1844, Marilhat painted a number of works inspired by his travels including Ruines de la mosquée El-Hakem au Caire, said to have captured the monumentality of the ruins and the romanticism of the location. Theophile Gautier was deeply moved by his Place de l’Esbekieh au Caire, remarking: " On seeing this painting, I became sick at heart, and yearned for the Orient, in which I had not yet set foot." At the Salon of 1844, his Souvenir des bords du Nil was praised, as was Arabes syriens en voyage, now in the Musée Condé, Chantilly.

Suffering from syphilis, Prosper Marilhat became insane and died in a Paris asylum in September 1847, only 36 years old. More on Prosper Marilhat

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01 Painting by Orientalist Artists. Julio Romero de Torres' Personaje marroquí, with footnotes, #90

Julio Romero de Torres, (Spanish, 1880–1930)

Personaje marroquí/ Moroccan character, c. 1903

Oil on canvas

43.5 x 27 cm. (17.1 x 10.6 in.)

Private collection

Julio Romero de Torres (9 November 1874 – 10 May 1930) began to paint under the instruction of his father, the well-known Andalucian artist and teacher, Rafael Romero Barros. Whilst growing up and studying art, he was exposed to the exciting emergence of Realism, Impressionism and Symbolism, giving rise to a unique style in which he combined the Realist traditions of Gustave Courbet and Mariano Fortuny, the photographic portraiture of Federico de Madrazo and the Impressionism of Aureliano de Beruete, Dario de Regoyos and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida. His early career developed well and he was rewarded with a mention of honour at the 1895 National Exhibition went on to win third class medals in 1899 and 1904.

Romero de Torres once described himself as a 'painter from the soul of Andalucia’. In the present work we see how he focused upon subjects based on folklore, in particular 'la mujer morena’ or brown skinned beauty. The strongly drawn sitter leans elegantly on a glazed ceramic amphora. She gazes directly at the viewer in a calm and cool manner inviting admiration and interest. Her elegant draped clothing and jewellery contrast with the mundane task of gathering water, but the work is pervaded by a sense of nobility and timelessness.. More on Julio Romero de Torres

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03 Works , Orientalist Artist, Unknown artist, Reclining Arab warrior woman odalisque with fruit, with footnotes #133

Unknown artist

Reclining Arab warrior woman odalisque with fruit

AI Generated

1024 x 1024

deviantart

The image of a reclining Arab warrior woman as an odalisque, surrounded by fruit, is a captivating blend of strength, beauty, and sensuality. 

Picture a beautifully adorned warrior, draped in intricate fabrics that blend traditional and modern elements. Her armor is ornate yet practical, signifying her prowess in battle, while her poise and expression reflect confidence and contemplation.

Unknown artist

Reclining Arab warrior woman odalisque with fruit

AI Generated

1024 x 1024

deviantart

She reclines gracefully, perhaps against a backdrop of an array of fruits—pomegranates, figs, and dates—scatter around her, symbolizing fertility, prosperity, and the sweetness of life. The contrast between her warrior spirit and the gentle abundance of nature paints a powerful narrative of balance between strength and nurturing.

Unknown artist

Reclining Arab warrior woman odalisque with fruit

AI Generated

1024 x 1024

deviantart

The scene captures the essence of a multifaceted identity, merging the roles of warrior, protector, and bearer of life’s bounty. 

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

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