10 Watercolor artist | APRIL 2020
Anatomy of a Painting
I
n the 19th century, Europe’s guilty
pleasure was Orientalism, a term
that included the fascination with
all things Middle Eastern. References
to Eastern people and materials go
back much further in Western art,
but it was during the Romantic move-
ment that Orientalism gained the-
matic prominence. Eugène Delacroix’s
paintings Th e Death of Sardanapalus,
Women of Algiers and Jewish Wedding
in Morocco were highly infl uential.
Given thecontext of a foreign and
exotic culture, even Neoclassical
artists took advantage of the opportu-
nity to depict subjects that would have
been otherwise considered licentious;
Ingres’ most languid works were of
odalisques. Orientalism became a
recognized genre through the end of
the century and well beyond; Matisse
was memorably aff ected by Morocco.
Our perception of the genre was
revised dramatically with publication
of an eponymous study by academic
Edward Said in 1978, which framed
the Western attitude as largely patro-
nizing. For European artists in the
19th century, Middle Eastern subjects
often were shown through an imperi-
alistic lens. Whether an artist’s work
was a product of genuine interest or
voyeuristic tourism depended, of
course, on the artist’s motive.
Mariano Fortuny y Carbó (1838–
1874) was the most important Spanishpainter of the mid-19th century. As
a young man, he was commissioned
to create a canvas memorializing his
country’s victory in the Spanish-
Moroccan War. Although he never
completed the painting, he, like many
Western artists, traveled to Morocco
to study the region and was intrigued
by its cultural and visual properties.
An art historian wrote of Fortuny’s
ability to depict Middle Eastern life
free of prejudices: “Th is is no Parisian
East ... everyone here speaks Arabic.”
A Street in Tangiers presents
Morocco as Fortuny found it. Th e
people are seen without a cultural
agenda, resting amid the local archi-
tecture, everything bathed in light
and heat. It’s a scene of understated
beauty, an example of academic mas-
tery that lays the groundwork for the
pictorial splendor of the next genera-
tion of Spanish painters, particularly
that of Joaquín Sorolla. WAJerry N. Weiss is a contributing writer
to fi ne art magazines and teaches at
the Art Students League of New York.Fortunybuilt
theshadows
onthewalls
withmultiple
washesof
variouscolors,
a reminder
of how
chromatic
and varied
grays can be.“Oh, Fortuny, you give
me sleepless nights!”
Like many European artists of his time,
MARIANO FORTUNY Y CARBÓ was captivated
by the Middle East.By Jerry N. Weiss
A Street in Tangiers
(ca 1860 or 1862; watercolor
on paper, 147⁄1₆x19¾ )
by Mariano Fortuny y Carbó