My mind is very much set on Mariano Fortuny de Madrazo at the moment for many different reasons, so it was a great coincidence to see the painting “Arab Chief” (1874) by his father at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The painter Mariano Fortuny y Marsal was called by the Spanish government to depict the campaigns of the Spanish-Moroccan War in 1859.
His role was essentially that of a journalist, since he had to record through his works the war.
Fortuny arrived after the fall of Tetuan and was also commissioned to paint the capture of the camps of Muley-el-Abbas and Muley-el-Hamed by the Spanish army and, though he began his composition of "The battle of Tetuan" on a 15 metre-long canvas, he never finished it.
Yet his journey to Morocco deeply changed his style and influenced his paintings, inspiring him exotic themes.
Throughout the six months spent in Morocco, Fortuny drew, sketched and painted lanscapes, people and palaces.
His portraits were characterised by colourful brushstrokes and vivid nuances and attention for ornamental details (preciocismo) - such as clothes and accessories - though one of the most important points of his works was the representation of light.
"Arab Chief" features a sharp chiaroscuro and a sort of realism in the rendition of the weapons and the fabric of the chief's costume.
Art historian Richard Muther stated about Fortuny: “His residence in the East, which lasted from five to six months, was a discovery for him - a feast of delight. He found the opportunity of studying in the immediate neighbourhood a people whose life was opulent in colour and wild in movement; and he beheld with wonder the gleaming pictorial episodes so variously enacted before him, and the rich costumes upon which the radiance of the South glanced in a hundred reflections. And, in particular, when the Emperor of Morocco came with his brilliant suite to sign the treaty of peace, Fortuny developed a feverish activity. The great battle-piece which he should have executed on the commission of the Academy of Barcelona remained unfinished. On the other hand, he painted a series of Oriental pictures, in which his astonishing dexterity and his marvellously sensitive eye were already to be clearly discerned: the stalls of Moorish carpet sellers, with little figures swarming about them, and the rich display of woven stuffs of the East; the weary attitude of old Arabs sitting in the sun; the sombre, brooding faces of the strange snake-charmers and magicians. This is no Parisian East, like Fromentin's; every one here is speaking Arabic.”
There is another painting exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that makes me think about Fortuny's Moroccan works and that's "The Moorish Chief" by Austrian-born artist Eduard Charlemont (fourth image in this post).
In a way the comparison is almost obvious since Charlemont focuses in this painting on the use of light and on the details of his subject's costume.
Life in Morocco inspired Fortuny’s paintings, in the same way it inspired many artists and fashion designers who followed him, among them also Yves Saint Laurent.
Saint Laurent's creations borrowed from traditional Moroccan clothing, from the exotic colours of Marrakech - including orange, pink, red and "Majorelle" blue (the shade of his garden’s villa) - and from local natural materials such as wood and raffia.
To discover Fortuny the painter further you can check out the eponymous book (in French) by Charles Yriarte (Artistes célèbres series) (Paris, 1889 – though it's a rare book, it's stocked in the best libraries, but it can also be downloaded in different formats here).
For what regards fashion and Moroccan inspiration, you can check out my previous post, and remember that, if you happen to be in Marrakech between 27th November 2010 and March 2011, you can see the exhibition “Yves Saint Laurent and Morocco”.
If Morocco is not on your agenda, well, don't despair, you can always get yourself an Yves Saint Laurent book and pretend you are in Marrakech or use it to discover which contemporary designers have been pilfering his archives to produce their latest collections...
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