Under Southern Sun. The Orient and Orientalism in Art

Summer is the time of travel, both short and long-distance. We, therefore, take you on a unique, artistic journey while the holiday season is still in full swing. Our auction offer presents you with over thirty works on various subjects, among them, views of the coasts, desert sands, and the charms of exotic towns. The broadly understood world of the Orient, which includes both the nearby regions like the south of France or Italy and the farther ones like the regions of North Africa or the Middle East, serves as a unifying factor in this collection.

Human curiosity and interest have always been piqued by the unfamiliar, strange, and "exotic." Travelers and artists were drawn to the mystic Orient as early as the 19th century. Many such trips were organized at that time, despite the difficulty of traveling to such far-flung regions of the world. There are many ways to approach the topic of orientalism. For a northern European, however, the southern region of the continent was already a remarkably exotic place. The people living in its western regions viewed the Balkans, or the eastern borderlands of Europe, as entirely oriental countries. Due to the diversity of viewpoints and perspectives, there are surprisingly many allusions to the widely recognized culture and landscape of the Orient in both foreign and Polish art.

Traveling to distant regions of the globe takes us straight to the Middle East and North Africa. Adam Styka was by far the most famous orientalist painter in the history of Polish art. He had a big impact on other artists working at the time and opened up the somewhat exotic world to a larger audience that had never had the chance to experience it firsthand. A well-known group of artists-travelers also includes Alexander Laszenko, a painter of desert vistas, oases, and Bedouins, as well as the well-known Howard Carter, the man who found the legendary Pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb. It would be also impossible to forget Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski, whose works take us to distant lands of endless deserts traveled by caravans and praying Arabs. Włodzimierz Terlikowski's biography is also full of sensations. Books were written about his travels already during his lifetime, and the artist spoke about them himself as well. Today, it is hard to tell what was true and what was a lie; what actually happened and what was just a myth, a creation of Terlikowski's vivid imagination. Nonetheless, his art speaks for itself. Last but not least, we should bring up the intriguing figure of Bolesław Cybis, who, along with his wife Maria and friend and fellow painter Jan Zamoyski, embarked on a 1930 journey through Austria and Italy to North Africa, where they eventually arrived in Tunis and Tripoli, as shown by a large body of drawing and painting work.

However, exoticism is not limited to Africa or Asia. From the Polish perspective, southern European countries like Italy, France, Greece, and Spain also appear to be oriental. Artists were eager to travel there to paint the southern panoramas bathed in sunlight. Such a mountainous landscape was once painted by Mela Muter, an experienced traveler and artist who appreciated the beauty of nature. The view from Villeneuve-lès-Avignon presents buildings on the slopes of the hill. It is both a record of reality and a picture proving that the artist was an outstanding colorist. It was not only Mela Muter who found France and the French Riviera fascinating; Szymon Mondzain and the aforementioned Terlikowski also traveled and painted there. Their canvases present us with picturesque ports and tiny towns with narrow stone streets. The Mediterranean metropolises, preserving the ancient tradition and culture from previous centuries, drew a lot of artists as well. Venice, known as the Pearl of the Adriatic, and Rome, the Eternal City, were the two most popular sites. The works by other creators, such as Bronisława Rychter-Janowska, Roman Bratkowski, Jerzy Ascher, and Jan Styka, also play their part in creating a general perspective on the fascinating Mediterranean region. 

The extensive selection of our summer auction titled "Under Southern Sun"/"Pod Słońcem Południa" allows us to revisit the fascinating world of the Orient. Additionally, it's a great chance to stop the summer for a little longer, as the original works of art will enhance many collections.