Vienna was in turmoil in the mid C19th, starting with the October Revolution in 1848 when Austrian Empire troops battled in the street with workers fighting for democracy. By late Oct, the imperial armies had bombarded Vienna and executed many. Thus Austria suffered an ugly period that lasted until WWI
At the entrance to the palace garden
Rudolph Ernst (1854-1932) was born to architect Leopold Ernst, a man who encouraged his son’s interest in the arts. In 1869 dad sent Rudolf to study at the Academy of Fine Arts, where he himself had studied architecture in the 1820s. Rudolf’s drawing teacher was August Eisenmenger (1830-1907), a portraitist & mural painter famous for the Wiener Musikverein ceiling panels.
In 1869, Ernst joined the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna at 16! In 1873, Ernst also began studying under Anselm Feuerbach (1829-80) at the Academy, an artist who had travelled extensively and studied at the Düsseldorf Academy. Plus he studied Gustav Wappers’ romantic style at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Wappers was influential on many of the next generation of painters, especially Lawrence Alma-Taddema and Ford Maddox Brown.
In 1869, Ernst joined the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna at 16! In 1873, Ernst also began studying under Anselm Feuerbach (1829-80) at the Academy, an artist who had travelled extensively and studied at the Düsseldorf Academy. Plus he studied Gustav Wappers’ romantic style at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Wappers was influential on many of the next generation of painters, especially Lawrence Alma-Taddema and Ford Maddox Brown.
Ernst went to Rome to study classical and romantic landscapes. Ernst left the Academy in 1874 to study Old Masters in Rome, and two years later, he moved to Paris. Both of Ernst’s parents had died during his years at the Academy, which must have made his decision to leave Austria easier.
1876 was a great year for a young artist to arrive in a city that was now the centre of avant-garde art. In Paris Ernst Frenchified his name, Rodolphe, and settled in Montparnasse as both his home and studio. From 1877, he exhibited at the Salon of French Artists every year, then opted for French nationality, perhaps because of the increasing political tensions between France and the Austrian Empire. [This was lucky; as a French citizen, Ernst could remain in France during WWI while others had to leave]. In those early years in France, Ernst was exposed to Impressionism to academic art, from Barbizon painters to Realists.
Ludwig Deutsch (1855-1935) was another Viennese artist who arrived in Paris in 1878 to study with Carl Muller, genre painter specialising in peasant scenes from Hungary, Italy and North Africa. Deutsch and Ernst met in Paris and remained close friends forever.
What caught Ernest’s attention was Orientalist art, peaking in the C19th and depicting the imagined representation of the East by European artists. This movement blurred the line between fantasy and reality, largely because the scenes weren’t painted by locals. Ernst’s Orientalist era began in 1885 when he travelled to Spain, Morocco, Tunis and Turkey. There he was able to sketch and photograph the locals’ daily life so that these images could later transformed into colourful canvases and interiors. The trip marked a significant turning point for the artist; he was delighted to focus on colourful, exotic Orientalism, especially Islamic scenes eg the interiors of mosques and harem scenes.
After the Prayer
Back at home Ernst used genuine Orientalist artefacts that he had gathered, to create outstanding fantasy eg tiles, lamps, pottery, silks, satins and kaftans. His C17th Persian blue-white pot appeared in Perfume Makers. The C19th Syrian bronze lamp near the Chieftain appeared in After the Prayer and The Wedding Day. The red-gold embroidered silk Damask curtain was used in Smoking the Hookah, and the Moorish octagonal blue-green tiles were used in Reading the Koran. The C19th Syrian inlaid table near the Chieftain was seen in The Refreshment. And the Alhambra-style background was a favourite setting that Ernst reprised: Wedding Day, Moorish Harem Guard and Alhambra.
In the Alhambra
Ernst successfully submitted Orientalist paintings to the Salon beginning in 1887, and in 1889, he received a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle. Winning a medal meant that his prospects for a successful career increased, so he continued to exhibit at the Salon for another three decades. And like many artists, Ernst also opened his atelier to students, probably in the 1890s.
In 1890, Ernst and Deutsch travelled to Constantinople and Cairo, recording what they saw with photos and through buying photographs from local studios. Ernst also collected quite a number of objects that he sent back to Paris; these later became the props and backgrounds of his art and were often repeated in different canvases. See Deutsch's handsome Nubian Guard, painted in 1895 .
By 1900, Ernst added yet another medium to his oeuvre: ceramics. Included in his faience pieces were the expected Orientalist images and eventually he branched out into the production and sale of Orientalist tiles, inspired by the Islamic tiles he had seen. Ernst moved just outside Paris to a village c1900 and decorated his new home in the exotic Ottoman style.
The war years were grim and the art sales collapsed. It improved after the Treaty of Versailles was finalised in 1919, and Ernst again showed his work at the Salon in 1920. His friend Deutsch had returned to France by then, and had also become a French citizen.
Ernst worked at his various forms of art in the 1920s, occasionally visiting his old Montparnasse haunts. As one of the first artists to see the advantages of living in the left bank neighbourhood, he enjoyed the young artists, musicians and writers moving into the area. Rodolphe Ernst died in Paris in 1932 at 78.
In 1890, Ernst and Deutsch travelled to Constantinople and Cairo, recording what they saw with photos and through buying photographs from local studios. Ernst also collected quite a number of objects that he sent back to Paris; these later became the props and backgrounds of his art and were often repeated in different canvases. See Deutsch's handsome Nubian Guard, painted in 1895 .
By 1900, Ernst added yet another medium to his oeuvre: ceramics. Included in his faience pieces were the expected Orientalist images and eventually he branched out into the production and sale of Orientalist tiles, inspired by the Islamic tiles he had seen. Ernst moved just outside Paris to a village c1900 and decorated his new home in the exotic Ottoman style.
The war years were grim and the art sales collapsed. It improved after the Treaty of Versailles was finalised in 1919, and Ernst again showed his work at the Salon in 1920. His friend Deutsch had returned to France by then, and had also become a French citizen.
Ernst worked at his various forms of art in the 1920s, occasionally visiting his old Montparnasse haunts. As one of the first artists to see the advantages of living in the left bank neighbourhood, he enjoyed the young artists, musicians and writers moving into the area. Rodolphe Ernst died in Paris in 1932 at 78.
The Flower Seller
Thank you to Wikioog.org for the images
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12 comments:
The legendary Najd Collection provides a technicolour record of daily life in 19th century North Africa, the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. At a time when Muslim artists were not working in the same figurative tradition as Western paintings, the work of artists such as Jean-Léon Gérôme and Ludwig Deutsch provides an invaluable documentary of regions that have since changed forever. Get a First Look at one of the greatest collections of Orientalist paintings in existence before it was unveiled to the public for the very first time (Oct London). This unprecedented exhibition was followed by a dedicated evening sale.
The Najd Collection – A Visionary Record of a Bygone World
Thank you !! I didn't know of the Najd Collection. And while I was looking, I found
"Rudolf Ernst - Ottoman Empire paintings" which has some amazing images.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-dRwdnLOEM
Looking at the Najid Collection took me immediately back to North Africa. The paintings could have been done today. Your post on Rudolf Ernest was very interesting and not an artist I have ever looked at before. Thank you.
I can well understand Ernest's attraction to oriental art. It's rich, colorful, exotic,focusing on subjects taken from everyday life.
The images in your post faithfully display the above mentioned features.
Boa noite. Mais um grande artista e tema, que muitos brasileiros não conhecem. Obrigado pela excelente matéria.
Rachel
People like Rudolf Ernst, Jean Discart, Ludwig Deutsch and Jean-Leon Gerome were risk takers. Even the Impressionists were rejected by the traditionalist art world, and the Orientalists were not trusted because 1] noone knew what the European artists actually saw in those "foreign" countries, 2] North Africans and Middle Eastern people were considered uneducated and licentious, and 3] Europe already had a perfectly fine classical art form that should have been carefully studied and developed.
No wonder we find Ernst's paintings exciting :)
DUTA
the features of Orientalism that you mentioned are exactly what attracts the eye, even now, 150 years later. A Constable landscape is refined, green and serene, but hardly colourful and exotic. "In the Alhambra", on the other hand, arouses our interest in textiles, beautifully crafted brassware, wall and floor decoration, tea drinking customs, men's head gear etc etc
Luiz
Thanks for reading the post.
Even though I did art history at uni, I too had little knowledge of Orientalism in general and no knowledge of Rudolf Ernst in particular. The 1978 book on Orientalism by Edward W Said was very useful.
What luscious and exotic paintings and I'm going to look online to see what else he painted.
Andrew
read The Problem with Orientalist Art
https://www.sacredfootsteps.org/2021/04/10/the-problem-with-orientalist-art/
to see why it was so feared by the European art authorities in the late 19th century and why it is so loved now :)
Photos were used by artists who were not able to travel to the Orient, like Gérôme, to create entirely imagined scenes. Artists who visited the Orient also drew from imagination, particularly in the popular genre of harem scenes since the harem was prohibited to male visitors. Ingres, a prolific painter of harem scenes including Grande Odalisque, was an armchair Orientalist, a word to refer to those who totally relied on others accounts. Said describes these paintings as showing the Orient as a place where one could look for a sexual experience unobtainable in the West. The harem became a place where European male artists could paint out their sexual fantasies in a socially acceptable way. Despite the fictionalised nature of these paintings, they were presented in a factual manner through their painstaking detail.
Sartle
that answers one of the biggest dilemmas - did all Orientalist artists actually get to see the scenes they painted. It seemed improbable to me that no foreign tourist would be allowed into a harem, however well he behaved. But I had no idea that some Orientalist artists used photographs handed to them, rather than seeing the scenes with their own eyes in Tunisia, Algeria etc. Thus these photos confirmed Europeans' interest. Thank you for the link
Hels
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