EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
Sexing the Canvas: Art and Gender
Jeanette Hoorn, The University of Melbourne
 |
C O U R S E L E C T U R E John Lavery in Morocco: Orientalism and the Academy Notes taken on June 26, 2017 by Edward Tanguay |
•
John Lavery (1856-1941)
•
an Irish painter best known for his portraits and wartime depictions
•
1913 lived and painted in Morocco
•
Lavery was living in Northern Morocco in the city of Tangier with his wife and daughter
•
they lived in that city from time to time over a 30 year period
•
Australian artist Hilda Rix Nicholas (1884-1961) visited him
•
"In Morocco" painting
•
wife and daughter were models for the painting
•
color scheme is delightful
•
there is a little Arab boy in a djellaba (a long loose-fitting unisex outer robe with full sleeves, worn in the Maghreb region of North Africa)
•
a vibrant, almost cinematic painting
•
1915 acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria
•
was regarded as one of his masterpieces
•
the brilliant evocation of the fleeting effects of sunlight
•
shows a talent for brilliant composition with a striking use of color and light, and an attention to local costume
•
provides a record of the incursions of Europeans into Morocco
•
an example of orientalist painting in academia in the early 20th century
•
an evocative study of light and color
•
we see the artist's family in the compound of Dar-el-Midfa
•
the daughter's stallion is dressed in lavish Arabian trimmings
•
a Moroccan lad restrains the family's greyhound
•
his wife, Hazel Lavery, was herself an artist
•
power and agency of figures presented
•
are the women active or passive figures
•
what role does the young boy play in the setting
•
how do the animals interact with the human figures in the composition
•
the appearance of the Lavery family in oriental costume has political overtones
•
it's not merely relevant from a decorative or artistic viewpoint
•
this was a theme mostly of British and French artists, even before Napoleon
•
intellectual interest followed economic ambition
•
artists of the 20th century were more concerned about the formal qualities of paint, color, light, and composition
•
focusing on the every day life of the Maghreb (area of northwest Africa) and their enjoyment of it
•
Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863)
•
French Romantic artist regarded as leader of the French Romantic school
•
visited Morocco in the 1830s
•
painted themes centered on the harems and paschas
•
17th century writers such as Racine (1639-1699) and Moliere (1622-1673)
•
produced written works based on narratives around Turkish themes
•
Turkish art, sculpture and architecture became the subject of sustained French scholarship
•
artists such as Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-1789) and Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
•
visited the Turkish court in Constantinople
•
painted portraits of Turkish dignitaries in what the West described as Oriental costume
•
1704 The Arabian Nights were translated into French, 1706 into English
•
1885 translation by Richard Burton made it a well-known work in the West
•
after Napoleon's incursion into Egypt (1788-89)
•
Orientalism became more popular in cosmopolitan centers throughout Europe
•
there had been interest in Morocco by European artists over many centuries
•
Spain claimed control over the North African coast in the early 17th century
•
England established a naval colony in Northern African in 1661
•
France formerly annexed Algeria later in 1830
•
it became France's largest and most prosperous colony
•
1832 prepared to send a delegation to Morocco
•
sent a diplomatic mission which included Eugene Delacroix
•
he was 34 in 1832
•
wrote Moroccan diaries
•
spent three days in Algiers
•
1834 made sketches for Women of Algiers
•
1954 Picasso remade this painting
•
David Roberts (1796-1864)
•
Scottish painter
•
known for a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced from sketches he made during long tours of the region (1838–1840)
•
1830s, traveled to Tangier
•
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
•
visited North Africa
•
"the light and vivid colors of North Africa contained the germ of my future researches"
•
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
•
visited North Africa
•
a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality
•
Delacroix's diary and his work inspired many other artists to visit Tangier
•
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)
•
an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass
•
associated with Art Nouveau
•
Robert Swain Gifford (1840-1905)
•
an American landscape painter influenced by the Barbizon school (an art movement towards Realism in art arising out of Romanticism in the 19th century)