"In 1872 Weeks relocated to Paris, becoming a pupil of Léon Bonnat and Jean-Léon Gérôme.
After his studies in Paris, Weeks emerged as one of America's major painters of Orientalist subjects. Throughout his adult life he was an inveterate traveler and journeyed to South America (1869), Egypt and Persia (1870), Morocco (frequently between 1872 and 1878), and India (1882–83)."
Orientalism was a fasionalble painting genre in the last three decades of the 1800s. Typical subject matter was the Middle East, though French orientalists often favored scenes from France's North African empire thanks to its convenience. Weeks' teacher Gérôme is an important example.
British and the fewer American orientalists often cast a wider geographical net, taking in Turkey and British Empire locations as well are places of British influence such as Egypt and Persia.
So it was with Weeks, as noted above. Many of the scenes in the Gallery below are set in India, some in Persia, and others in unidentified locations (though a scholar of costumes and architecture could probably make a close guess).
Weeks had a strong representational style and was highly productive over a comparatively short 30-year career.
Note the size of some of his works.
Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI do like the Indian street scenes of hustle-and-bustle. Did orientalism ever involve merely landscapes?