Two Studies of a Seated Arab with a Pipe

Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps French

Not on view

Decamps—a prosperous painter, draftsman, and printmaker—was one of the first major European artists to travel extensively in the Near East. As he toured throughout North Africa and Asia Minor in 1828, he developed an interest in Orientalist themes. In this drawing, he used chalks and charcoal to draw two bold studies of the same seated Arab man with a pipe. The figures’ stillness and variation in scale encourage the viewer to imagine the artist’s voyage and his experience as he approaches or distances himself from the weary man.

Two Studies of a Seated Arab with a Pipe, Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (French, Paris 1803–1860 Fontainebleau), Black and white chalk, charcoal, traces of graphite on light brown paper; some stumping

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