BETWEEN EAST AND WEST

An iconic image by the Turkish painter Osman Hamdi Bey at Dorotheum’s sale of 19th-Century Paintings on 23 October 2019


Osman Hamdi Bey is considered to be the founder of modern Turkish painting. His opulent oil painting depicting a “Turkish lady”, one of the few works by the artist to come onto the art market, is the highlight of the “19th-Century Painting” auction on 23 October 2019. Its estimated value is between 1.5 and 1.8 million euros.

Osman Hamdi Bey shaped Turkey’s cultural life in the second half of the 19th century more than any other individual. Trained in Paris under Gustave Boulanger and the famous history painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, he was a significant figure in the cultural integration of the Ottoman Empire, oscillating between East and West, tradition and modernity. He was a pioneer in his roles as a patron of arts, museum director, archaeologist and guardian of the nation’s cultural treasures. 

Tradition and modernity
Osman Hamdi Bey was the first Turkish painter to draw on the Western style of painting. The picture up for auction at Dorotheum sees traditional Turkish values meet the latest Parisian fashion: the magnificent full-length portrait of a Turkish woman, dating from 1881, is undoubtedly one of Osman Hamdi Bey’s masterpieces. The lady looks directly at the viewer through her oriental veil (yaşmak). Atop her slip (anteri), she wears an outdoor coat (ferace) in a dark colour, reflecting the formal Turkish style and expressing a sense of tradition. The subject of the portrait is standing on an ornate Kazakh rug that may have been inspired by a piece from the artist’s famous collection of carpets. A sophisticated, gold-embroidered fabric forms the background.

Osman Hamdi Bey
was sent to Paris by his father, the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Edhem Pasha, to study law. However, he dropped out of his training and turned to painting, becoming a student in Gustave Boulanger’s studio. His first appearance at the Paris Salon was not as a painter, but as a painting: in the form of one of two works that Boulanger exhibited at the Salon in 1865, entitled “Portrait de Hamdy-Bey”. A year later, the subject himself was represented as an artist in the exhibition.

In Paris, the painter Jean-Léon Gérôme exerted great influence on Hamdi Bey in the early 1860s. The young Ottoman artist studied the opulent compositions of this famous Orientalist painter at the École des Beaux-Arts, where Gérôme taught as a professor of painting from 1864 onwards.

In 1867, three works by Hamdi Bey were shown at the Paris World’s Fair and awarded medals. In the 1860s, Hamdi Bey was considered to be one of the leading Ottoman painters in Paris. His French wife returned to Constantinople with him in 1869. However, he was immediately sent to Baghdad, where he entered into the service of the newly appointed governor.

At the Vienna World’s Fair in 1873, Osman Hamdi Bey represented the Ottoman Empire as Commissaire Général. It was the first major task entrusted to him by Sultan Abdul Hamid II in the field of cultural policy. To mark this occasion, together with the Parisian artist Victor Marie de Launay, he published a 500-page study of the traditional dress of the Ottoman Empire. This book, enriched with 74 photographs, still offers fascinating insights today.

In 1881, Sultan Abdul Hamid II appointed him director of the “Museum of the Empire” in Constantinople and, in 1883, made him head of the Constantinople Art School. In 1882, Hamdi Bey founded the Institute of Fine Arts so that young Ottomans would not have to travel to Europe to study art.

AUCTION WEEK 22 - 24 October 2019
Old Master Paintings    Tuesday, 22 October 2019, 5 pm
19th Century Paintings    Wednesday, 23 October 2019, 5 pm
Jewellery    Wednesday, 23 October 2019, 2 pm
Works of Art, Furniture    Thursday, 24 Octrober 2019, 2 pm
Viewing from    12 October 2019
Venue    Palais Dorotheum, Vienna 1, Dorotheergasse 17


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