Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism: Nathalie Bondil’s 5 must-sees

Nathalie Bondil, Director and Chief Curator of the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, talks to us about her favourite works in the exhibition Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism: From Spain to Morocco, Benjamin-Constant in His Time, at the Museum until May 31.

Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant
The Favourite of the Emir
About 1879
Oil on canvas
142.2 x 221 cm
Signed l.l.: Benj-Constant
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art
Courtesy of the United States Naval Academy Museum
2010.95.1

I discovered this huge painting on the wall of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, where it was on loan, holding place of pride in a room dedicated to Orientalism, facing superb paintings by Renoir et Delacroix. Next to these great masterpieces, it emanated strength and seduction, thanks to the brilliance of its colour and the beauty of its models. Here, the painter is interpreting the classic theme of the odalisque. Lounging languidly on rich fabrics, they are lulled by the sweet melody of the oud, played by a black slave. In the distance, the azure horizon of the Bay of Tangier bathes this masterpiece in light.

Of course, the painter never actually saw this scene, which was far removed from the reality of women in Morocco… except in the composition of his studio! This Eurocentric vision evokes, with a rarely achieved elegance, the mythical harem. The favourite redhead with the translucent skin is a recurring model in Benjamin-Constant’s works. Her fiery hair translates, in the imagination of the 19th century, the idea of burning passion and the seductive temptress.

Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant
Head of a Moor
About 1875
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
45 x 35 cm
Signed u.l.: BENJAMIN-CONSTANT
Collection Mr. Laurence Graff
Photo Courtesy Mr. Laurence Graff

I was dazzled by this stunning painting at a leading art and antiques festival that takes place every March in Maastricht, in the Netherlands, which is an absolute must for all art lovers and professionals. Already spotted in a Parisian gallery by one of my colleagues for an exhibition in Toulouse, it slipped from his hands only to turn up in this prestigious stand, and finally, in a special collection. Such is the destiny of artwork…

Who is this man of such fierce beauty? His commanding eyes convey the pride of his people in a single look. Is it a head study for a great painting? Is it a portrait? Because the physiognomy is breathtaking. Benjamin-Constant visited Morocco, an independent country not easily accessible, a number of times. He had a studio there as well. But he also created more Orientalist paintings in his Parisian studio. It’s a complete mystery.

HENRI REGNAULT
Hassan and Namouna
1870
Watercolour, gouache and black pencil on paper
56,5 x 79 cm
Private collection, courtesy of John E. Parkerson
Photo: MBAM, Denis Farley

When it was uncrated, I remember being dazzled by this watercolour’s utter beauty. Since the presence of Regnault, a brilliant artist whose promising career was cut short in his youth by war, seemed a little too limited in the corpus of the exhibition, I was able to add two watercolours at the end, thanks to the help of an excellent Parisian gallery owner, from a private American collection. I know them from having seen them when I was a student during a monograph exhibition at Saint-Cloud in 1991. But the catalogue that I kept from this retrospective didn’t reflect the incredible beauty of this work that had dimmed in my memory: you have to see the painting.

Its enormous dimensions along with its particularly successful execution are remarkable for a watercolour. The patterns interlaced across the entire surface of the canvas illustrate the profusion of decorative Oriental elements that fascinated Regnault, as they did friends such as Benjamin-Constant. Watercolour is a difficult art: it’s fast and can’t be redone, and their subdued effects rarely attain such intensity and density in the colouring. This stained glass effect in the light is perfect for conveying the scintillating nature of Orientalist subjects. The bodies can barely be distinguished from the textiles. Regnault is a true master.

Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant
Interior of a Harem in Morocco
1878
Oil on canvas
310 x 527 cm
Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais / Philipp Bernard

This monumental painting is the largest ever to be brought into the galleries of the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, unrolled and in one piece. It was quite the logistical challenge that the technical teams pulled off brilliantly… in -27°C weather this January! Benjamin-Constant is the painter of the oversize format. This exhibition gives us the chance to restore and reveal a number of his magnificent canvasses hidden in storerooms up until now. What a reversal for a painter who was so revered in his time!

But why did he paint on such a grand scale?  The evocative power of his paintings, whose size suggests a “cinematographic” relationship with spectators, explains in part this need to create the illusion of reality, to plunge us into a panoramic exoticism… a life-sized escape by the artist. The artist also needs to simply get noticed in a salon crammed with thousands of paintings piled up to impossible heights: a sheer clutter. To attract the attention of critics and potential clients, Benjamin-Constant goes big, this painting occupying an entire panel at the end of the Salon du Palais at the Champs-Élysées in 1878! His strategy was successful because he won an award, the State acquiring the painting for the Musée de Lille. This is the first time that it has been from there since.

LALLA ESSAYDI
Harem No. 2
2009
85 x 102 cm
Chromogenic print mounted on aluminum, 4/15
Courtesy of the artist and the Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York and Zurich
Photo: © Lalla Essaydi, courtesy of the Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York

From the beginning of this project, I felt it was impossible to show this exhibition without a critical look at the Orientalist harem scenes presented by many icons in this exhibition. In fact, my main interest was to deconstruct the iconographic schemes of these compositions that reveal existing, entrenched stereotypes. The power of the image speaks to me first. That is why I invited many Moroccan artists—since the exhibition showcases this specific part of the Orient—like Lalla Essaydi.

Her photographs of women revisit the composition of Orientalist imagery, a closed circuit made by Westerners for Westerners. If the beauty and the composition of these works claim the artistic tradition that first seduced the imagination of the Orientalists, Essaydi diverts this to defend the rights of Arab women through self-representation. Using photographs that imitate the Orientalist paintings, she subverts the spectator’s learned response by giving the deceptive impression of meeting expectations.