Two Studies of a Seated Arab with a Pipe

Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps

1820–60 · Black and white chalk, charcoal, traces of graphite on light brown paper; some stumping · Drawings and Prints

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.

Artist

Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps

Date

1820–60

Medium

Black and white chalk, charcoal, traces of graphite on light brown paper; some stumping

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Spencer Samuels, in memory of Mitchell Samuels, 1991