Provenance:

Galerie Motte, Geneva, sale of May 11, 1957, Lot 118.

Literature:

Anne Burdin-Hellebranth, Félix Ziem 1821-1911, Paris, 1998, vol. II, p. 313, no. 1708, illustrated.

Lot Note:

Street in North Africa exemplifies Felix Ziem’s dreamy depictions of reality, in which he aimed to distill the poetic essence of a place. Ziem originally trained as an architect in Dijon, but while working on the Canal de Marseille project in the late 1830s, his artistic interests superseded those of architecture and in 1840, he opened his own studio in Marseille. It was also this year that he began his peripatetic travels, rarely staying in one location for more than a few months at a time. The artist’s wide-ranging journeys took him to Italy, Constantinople, Russia, and London, as well as to the Middle East and North Africa at least five times between 1847 and 1859.

The present painting was likely inspired by one of these trips to North Africa. Unlike his contemporaries who practiced realism in landscape art, Ziem favored a brilliant palette and was more interested in capturing the effects of sunlight on architecture, landscape, and water. Street in North Africa depicts a teeming mass of humanity confined within a narrow lane, with figures bartering over produce in the foreground. The inner building walls are shadowed due to their nearness, but are dazzlingly bright near their roofs, as is the mosque spire, bathed in a pearly pink-white light. Strokes of vivid yellows, rosy pinks, and deep reds describe the crowd that equally contrasts against the darkness of the street. The composition perfectly captures the unique effects of light as it falls onto a plethora of surfaces and textures.

Framed: 42 x 31 1/4 x 3 in.

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