The Czech-Swiss artist Otto Pilny (1866-1936) became famous for his extraordinary paintings depicting the life and manners of the East. In those years, the East was still a closed book for many Europeans. Few people were there, because the trip there was expensive, not too comfortable and often even dangerous for life, suitable for strong men, but certainly not for women, girls or the elderly. However, interest in the mysterious East has always been very high, and therefore artists and writers who could afford such a trip and later reflected their impressions and memories at a decent level, were usually never without artwork.
Trading in the desert
All this is quite applicable to Otto Pilny. He visited Egypt several times, as a young man he made a difficult crossing of the desert with a caravan from Cairo to Tripoli, and gradually became his own for the inhabitants of this country, even received an honorary position as court painter of the Egyptian viceroy. But in addition to pompous court portraits Pilny painted for Europeans quite different pictures: colorful, exotic, not neglecting nudity, good for it was always in good demand, and the unusual environment - slave markets and harems with odalisques, allowed to avoid any problems with censorship, even in the prim British society.
The Slave Market
This is also the case with the painting “Slave Market”, which Pilny painted in 1910. Here Oriental exoticism is in full glory: slave traders bring slave girls to two noble Oriental bayas, who sit calmly, with the consciousness of their own superiority, on a carpet and smoke hookah. The slave trader has already stripped one of them to show the goods in all their glory, and the same humiliation will soon await the second girl. They will probably ask a lot: the girl is a real beauty, suitable for the harem of some shah.
An exotic beauty in the harem
She clutches the edge of her dress, hoping to cover her nakedness in some way: although, of course, this gesture looks a bit fake, Pilny just wanted to observe some limits of decency, so he portrayed the girl in such a way.
A dance in the desert
She still tries to resist, to break free, but the slave traders hold the girl tightly, and where can she go when the desert is all around her? So her fate is unenviable, although the fate of many European girls, who were forced to work as prostitutes or in hard physical work, is hardly better. She will probably live in some harem until she grows old or her master gets bored.
Sklavenhändler
By the way, Pilny painted in the standard academic manner, which in those years already seemed hopelessly outdated. That's why there are a lot of beauties and conventions in his paintings, they are distinguished by somewhat muted colors, smooth strokes, carefully worked out, although somewhat “glamorized” image. However, Pilny did not travel in vain: he was not a “sofa dreamer”, so many things in his paintings are very accurately conveyed, including amazing desert sunsets and sunrises.
Sunset at the oasis
To write like this, you need to see it in reality, and more than once. Everything about clothes, accessories, general appearance of the desert, oases and eastern cities is conveyed with almost documentary accuracy.
Orientalischer Basar
Pilny allowed himself artistic liberties only in the depiction of half-naked concubines - of course, with open breasts they hardly traveled through the desert, and in the construction of some compositions for paintings.
Crossing the Desert (Karawane mit Sklavinnen in der Wüste)
Even so, however, credit should be given to the artist's skill and his genuine interest in the Orient.
Buy handmade goods or modern art you can on artAlebrio - is an international marketplace for people who want to create, sell, buy and collect unique items and art - buy the best with us artAlebrio.com.
By confirming your order you unconditionally accept these General Conditions of Sale
