Arab Woman

Gustave Boulanger

1845–88 · Black chalk, blue, yellow and white pastel, shell gold, with graphite · Drawings and Prints

Boulanger began producing works of Orientalist subjects following his first visit to Algeria in 1845. He returned to North Africa multiple times throughout his career, including a trip with his friend Jean-Léon Gérôme in 1872. This refined study demonstrates both the artist’s ethnographic interest in costume and his sacrifice of a degree of detail in favor of evoking the model’s pensive mood.

Artist

Gustave Boulanger

Date

1845–88

Medium

Black chalk, blue, yellow and white pastel, shell gold, with graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of Harvey Salzman, 2022